Mental Illness is Just That...Illness
I don't think I'll ever understand the stigma that still surrounds mental illness. I am an insulin dependent diabetic. If someone finds out my blood sugar is too high or that I left my insulin at home, they are immediately panicked and I am flooded with questions about what we need to do or how they can help. Same is true of anyone who receives a cancer diagnosis, a blood pressure or heart related diagnosis or any other number of things that could be mentioned here. Why is mental illness so vastly different? Why is someone labeled as "crazy" or "disturbed" because of an imbalance of chemicals in their brain? Why is having depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, coping with self harm or suicidal thoughts so taboo? Because people think that only "certain types" of people deal with those type of disorders? Maybe putting it in a little perspective would help. When I went into first grade, I started having panic and anxiety att...