Mental Illness: Breakdown.

Alright, this might be a bit of a soap box post...so consider that fair warning....


Have you ever come away from a situation and thought, dang it I should have said something, why did I say this or Why didn't I stop them. Well it happened to me last week and I was disappointed in myself for not having the balls courage to speak up....

So consider this my courage:

It was a casual social setting, acquaintances but mostly friends, people were invited to share experiences on a specific topic....

Mental Illness was NOT the assigned topic.

For reasons completely unclear to me....Someone decided to share experiences they had had with people behaving badly...bizarre, weird, unkind, misunderstood behaviors in a group their peers...

"Well you know they were MENTALLY ILL." "They had to be MENTALLY ILL" "They were CRAZY"

The monologue went on for several minutes with increasingly worse behaviors experienced, all being attributed to mental illness and not one person stopped them. I locked eyes with more than one who acknowledged my discomfort...but it just continued. Why didn't I say something or why didn't someone else, at least why didn't I get up and walk away....

It wasn't my activity, I wasn't in charge....but that shouldn't have mattered.... I should have said something....

20% of Canadians will personally experience a mental illness in their lifetime. {Facts and Figures here}

Okay, Our family has been hit a little heavy handed {statistically} in the mental illness department, so no worries we have some of y'all covered ;)

I know the heart ache and triumph of mental illness and would just like to clarify one thing....

Behaving badly means you are behaving badly.

Behaving badly does not mean you/they are mentally ill....You can be mentally ill and your behaving badly might have nothing to do with your illness and everything to do with your choices. All most all with mental illness do not behave badly. They win a daily victory over a devastating illness.

Anxiety....Depression....Bipolar type one....Bipolar type two....These are no longer illnesses on the pages of a medical text book. These are faces with beautiful smiles, with eyes that light up the room and strength measured against Olympians....

They were  my mother, they are  my husband,  they are my many dear friends.

So please in the future be kind and careful with your words....for you know nothing, for that which you speak. 

{behaving} badly [ˈbædlɪ]

adv worse, worst

1. poorly; defectively; inadequately

2. unfavourably; unsuccessfully;

3. severely; gravely

4. incorrectly or inaccurately

5. improperly; naughtily; wickedly to behave badly

6. without humanity; cruelly

mental illness - any disease of the mind; the psychological state of someone who has emotional or behavioral problems serious enough to require psychiatric intervention...