Is It Really Ok In Western Societies To Be Mentally Ill???

[joeylittle]

Craziness, fear of it, dealing with feeling crazy - my belief is that these are important and on-topic. It's a word that's profoundly linked to stigmatization, and it's a thread about stigmatization.

I really don't disagree. I've just observed that @MT Johnny has only two words for mental health - crazy and sane.

I also think you're pointing out an important distinction - it's one thing to say "I feel crazy", or "I'm afraid of insanity" - it's another to say "I am crazy"

I surrender. It wins. I'm crazy. Cra-cra. Looney tunes. Whatever you wanna call it...When I was told I was crazy in 2012, my instant reaction was "that's it, I'm a walking dead man, American society in all aspects does NOT tolerate the mentally ill."

These, as applied to a diagnosis of Bi-polar disorder and PTSD. Two disorders where there are regular periods of time (generally) when one can function well enough to eat, sleep, clothe, bathe, and worry about whether or not one should take medication.

I think it's a hot button for me because I've got "crazy" in my family, and to me it just isn't a black or white conversation. There's what it is, then what it feels like, then realistically how it affects you, whether or not you can maintain a life in the world at large (albeit a struggling one)....It somehow doesn't seem helpful to think that the answer is to throw up ones' hands and say "Ok, I cop to it, I'm crazy as a loon". How about just "I have a mental illness" or "I have PTSD"?

Part of the stigmatization comes from exaggeration, and fear of exaggeration. Thinking about it the way I've observed the OP doing only buys into the stigma in the most base ways.

I'm not sure I'm making sense here....I do agree that there's stigma, of course. But I also think a diagnosis is a fact, not an option. And the way to accept it is not to blow it up to stigma-size.

 

[Mallaky]

I thought for the longest time that I was batshit insane, crazy.

But when I found out about PTSD and Dissociation I saw the method behind my madness. I do not consider myself crazy anymore, at least not when my mood is tolerable or high.

An illness that is difficult to understand, or not yet fully understood, is not the same as the unhinged randomness associated with crazyness.