Stop the Stigma

Break the Stigma

We walk beside you each and everyday, yet you have no clue who we are. We could be your brother, your sister, your mother, and your father, even your children; yet you have no clue as to who we are. You use words like crazy, insane, mental, strange, and so on; yet you have no idea how we cringe inside when you use those words to describe people around you. You associate all of us with what Hollywood and the media has shown you. Your quick to think all of us are evil and violent.

Everyone has issues; the deciding factor is how you handle yours. Yes we have a mental illness. No it isn’t detectable on the outside yet we are still here. Many of us work beside you everyday; fighting our grief and our pain, yet you pay us no mind. Mental anguish is a killer, a silent one but deadly one.

There are children who cry out for help, but no one notices. They cut themselves, they burn themselves, they have eating disorders, they sleep with who ever will accept them, they drink, they do drugs, and anything else they can do to rid themselves of their pain. But yet you don’t notice or you do and instead you choose to do nothing about it because you’re ashamed of them. Take off the blinders and see that your child needs the help. Who cares what your friends will think about your family. Your children and their wellbeing should rate higher then the next luncheon. Talk to your child to prevent further damage. Get them the help they need, don’t yell and scream at them about what they are doing, instead sit down with them and show them that you care by showing them that it’s okay to open up and talk about what is going on with them.

We are afraid to seek out the help we need because many of us have been shamed by you and made to feel less then welcomed, slowly festering and dying as we seek to fight with-in ourselves the need for survival. Many of us lose the battle and give up, taking out our pain on ourselves. Better to have died, then suffer with the dying inside we would say, but that’s not the answer. We need the shame to stop so that we as a whole can get the care we need instead of feeling like we are broken down. We as a whole need to be able to feel accepted, so that we can open up and feel loved. We as a whole need the abuse to stop so that we can feel safe and secure, not just in our own minds but also in the public eye as well.

Recovery isn’t just for those who have a sickness or a psychical ailment, but for those who have psychological issues as well. Sure we will always have our Bipolar, Schizophrenia, or whatever other mental illness we have, it’s biological and will never go away, but we CAN and DO recover enough to lead a normal life if we so desire. We run fortune 500 companies, are doctors and lawyers, educators, senators and congressmen, we can be anything we want to be just like you if people would just give us a chance. That being said, we NEED you to back off! We need to feel secure enough to leave our homes and get the help we need. We need better care for mental illness. We need to be able to get the health care we need to succeed in our own care so that we can get the required help. We need understanding, not pity. We need to educate the world about mental illnesses instead of the world trying to find a way to rid us or hide us.

Break the stigma of mental illness. Help your friend or family member find the help they need. Help us not feel ashamed to get the help we need. Help us reach out and have a brighter future. Thank you to those who do help us fight the battle!