Sincere thanks again to Ysabeth Wordsmith for her extensive comments on he stigma of mental illness. At the end of her comments Ysabeth writes:
"Because ... when your mind is bleeding to death, most people can't see that kind of blood."
She explains as follows:
"...not everyone has the experience of mental complaints. That makes it harder to understand and sympathize what someone else is going through. It is *easier and simpler* to assume the person is just undisciplined and should pull themselves together. They don't recognize the severity of the problem.
I think this is a very obvious point which I simply missed. In stark terms, physical illness is much easier recognised, it is also something most of us can empathise with - unlike mental illness which for many is unknown territory and full of the old cliches. Yes, it is much "easier and simpler" to make false assumptions a bit like all the misinformed though well-intentioned advise, for example, for someone who is suffering from severe depression. "Shake it off, think positively, stop moaning". This entirely misses the point that the actual inability to do such things is, de facto, a part of the illness. Why in society today is this so difficult for most people to understand?
"Because ... when your mind is bleeding to death, most people can't see that kind of blood."
She explains as follows:
"...not everyone has the experience of mental complaints. That makes it harder to understand and sympathize what someone else is going through. It is *easier and simpler* to assume the person is just undisciplined and should pull themselves together. They don't recognize the severity of the problem.
I think this is a very obvious point which I simply missed. In stark terms, physical illness is much easier recognised, it is also something most of us can empathise with - unlike mental illness which for many is unknown territory and full of the old cliches. Yes, it is much "easier and simpler" to make false assumptions a bit like all the misinformed though well-intentioned advise, for example, for someone who is suffering from severe depression. "Shake it off, think positively, stop moaning". This entirely misses the point that the actual inability to do such things is, de facto, a part of the illness. Why in society today is this so difficult for most people to understand?
