What Do People Think About The Term 'mental Illness'?

[Tinyflame]

Ya healing sounds better than 'illness'.

Makes me feel like more reason to slap one of those Warning/ Toxic!/Danger! signs on myself. I swore for years I should come with a Disclaimer.

 

[Queen Boudica]

I guess in some of my worst moments I think of myself as 'damaged goods' which I have heard others refer themselves as. Doesn't mean I don't know I can heal. Just that broken, damaged feeling so fits.

 

[Tinyflame]

Yes me too @Queen Boudica . Healing I've been losing heart in, short of a miracle. But, I'm trying to start not thinking in that way, just ignoring that belief. Supposedly it's a process, I don't remember that much. I guess too it's possible we can't see if we have any progress, or see we have any worth.

It's funny there's an actress I like, can't recall her name but years ago they wrote an article saying she was attractive & sexy because she was like a china doll that was broken & put back together with the parts 'not quite right'. Sometimes that makes me feel a little better, the 'because' part. Not denying the brokenness, just some people might see it a bit differently. I know for sure I'm not so harsh on others as I am on/ towards myself.

 

[EveHarrington]

At this point, the term mental illness doesn't really bother me. I don't condone the stigma prevalent in society. I don't condone the discrimination. I believe that PTSD is a unique cross between a mental illness and a physical illness. I oftentimes stress to people the physical part of it so that they understand. Other disorders do indeed have mental and physical aspects, but it seems that most lean heavily to one side. PTSD seems to have a hearty dose of both. I'm not completely "out" about my disorder and oftentimes say it's just anxiety as nobody digs when you say "I have anxiety issues." I think my tipping point was being able to say "I have a mental illness" as opposed to "I am mentally ill." It may seem like semantics, but it has really helped me accept that this disorder is just a part of what I deal with in life as opposed to something that defines me.

 

[Queen Boudica]

Oh that does fit @Junebug . The psychiatric nurse of my sister described my mother as we were her china dolls we were supposed to be perfect and the image she wanted us. And I always think she smashed us both to bits. And I am still putting the bits together, but yes, they don't fit properly. There are huge cracks. I can't find all the bits.

 

[Tinyflame]

But that does not make you less beautiful @Queen Boudica . :hug:

 

[oasis2003]

I don't like the term mental illness. I have been affected by trauma all through my life I am not crazy, any sane person would have ptsd symptoms if they had gone through some of the things that we have. When someone says I have a mental illness it makes out that I am going mad and I am not. I do not tell anyone about my ptsd apart from my husband docs, and therapists only because they will judge and not understand. It took me long enough to ask for help from the doc. The problem is you are referred to mental health services here. They have been brill and due to them I am not so much as a wreck any more though.

 

[The Albatross]

Frankly I could care less. It's just a label. I decide whether to wear it or not.

 

[Tinyflame]

I do get rolled-eyes if/ when I call myself crazy. I just might feel even crazier than others see me. :(

 

[oasis2003]

@The Albatross you are so strong about this reaction admiration directed towards you

 

[Deleted member 20978]

My one ex-friend informed me before leaving that my other ex-friends all think I'm "batshit crazy". On reflection I'm not sure a term like "mentally ill" would have fared me much better with this group as I know from past experience around other "crazies" that they simply have a zero tolerance attitude towards it. Even depression is viewed as a character defect. The one guy who most embodies this attitude of this ex-circle once told me, I guess meaning it to be helpful to me somehow "J, [my wife] and I both grew up with big, loving families, so you maybe can't understand this" -- awesome way to begin a sentence to anyone, really -- "but gossiping about our friends is just a normal way to blow off steam..." It got better from there.

I don't like the widespread connotation of "mental illness", even among "sufferers". I think my biggest problem with it is the implication that unlike almost all other types of illness, mental illness is intrinsic to a person, is present (undiagnosed) from birth, and is a permanent trait. The term itself is accurate, but the connotation is so often that it is a root cause, rather than an effect. So everyone in the family or community feels comfortable knowing where the problem lies. But mental illness is just that -- an illness. The opposite of healthy, whole. And illnesses can improve or get worse. It's just that mental illness, more so than most other forms of disease, is especially impacted by the relationships and network one is in. So it's a lot easier for most people to conceive of a *person* as "mentally ill" as a euphemism for "f*cked up" than to use a term that implicates partners, families, and society. I'm not sure what that term would be, but sufferer is pretty accurate.

 

[Tinyflame]

Yes put that way it is. @Jemini .