I’ve kept it to myself for years, but now I believe the only way to fight the stigma of mental illness is to talk about my own.
Mark Joyella in Journalism, Deliberated
Substitute anchoring the 10:00 news for New York’s WNYW-TV, 2003. Undiagnosed, untreated, unhappy.
I remember sitting in my psychologist’s office in a Miami high rise a few years ago, gazing out the window at the sunny, South Florida sky—from inside, it was serene—and perfectly quiet.
It was early on a Saturday morning. I’d chosen my therapist in part because she offered weekend appointments, and I always grabbed the first-of-the-day appointment on Saturdays, when I could almost always walk through the lobby, ride in the elevator, and sit in the waiting room without seeing another person. There wasn’t even a receptionist in the office on weekends.
I agree to this 100%. If more functional people come out and say “I have this, but see what I can do” then the news can’t always say how dangerous we are.
The few who make the news for all the wrong reasons will be the exception, not the rule. Plus there will be better treatments because we won’t be written off as dangerous or hopeless.
I know I’m a bit odd because I tell people. I say it all the time. It makes me glad to see that I’m not the only one in my boat.
Starting to come out of the closet on this myself lately. I told one of the managers of a Barnes and Noble bookstore I frequent yesterday I was SZ. She didn’t even blink an eye. I was trying to get her to turn the music off. I told her it caused me to hallucinate. I have to remember to say I have SZ not that I am SZ.
I agree. I posted the article to my facebook, because the people I facebook with post photos of bloody mary’s, martini’s and drunken tail gating, and reminded them that substance abuse and alcoholism is also under SAMSA, and is considered a mental illness. So, anyone bragging about a drunken tailgate party is advertising their substance abuse disorder. That really shut people down, been quiet group on facebook ever since. I thought everyone knew that, my father was an alcoholic.