People with mental illness live quite different lives from those who do not have mental illness. It can be hard to get into the heads of those with mental illness, simply because their suffering cannot be seen by others. However, on a Reddit thread, many people revealed things they wish other people would understand about themselves and their mental illnesses. In the spirit of advocacy, empathy, and understanding, I've decided to share some of these things with all of you.
Source for all of the below here. Some are edited for clarity.
1. How completely stuck you can feel.
There are these moments where everything overwhelms you and you have no idea what to do and the only thing that would make it better is if you just stop existing. But you also don't really want to die. So you're stuck.
- Reddit user ButterhamSprinkles
2. I'm just as annoyed by myself as you are.
- Reddit user TheMightyBaugh
3. If you hate me because you think I'm not trying hard enough, I can assure you that I hate me more.
The reason getting angry at people with mental illness never works to motivate them is because you're never saying anything they haven't already said to themselves 1000+ times.
- Reddit user JuPasta
4. It gets really, really tiring after many years.
- Reddit user alittle_extreme
5. You are not obligated to be my friend or my therapist.
You are allowed to set and enforce reasonable boundaries in our relationship. My mental illnesses are my problem and if you reach a point where you need to take a step back for your own well-being, that is okay. My illnesses do not entitled me to your time, attention or support, especially when I am not capable of reciprocating.
- Reddit user transamination
6. That I WANT to want to hang out. I sometimes just can't make myself leave the house.
- Reddit user ivybelle
7. Please don't ask if I have taken my meds.
Yes, I have. No, they obviously aren't working. Yes, I've tried calling my doctor.
- Reddit user ivybelle
8. I'm on disability because I'm disabled.
Sometimes i seem less disabled than at other times. I'm not running some kind of scam on the American taxpayers. I really cannot maintain gainful employment for any length of time. At almost 37 years old I've never had a job in my life last longer than 6 months and I've only had one full time job ever. That one lasted less than 3. It isn't that I haven't tried. I have two bachelor's degrees. They took ten years to get and I got them by strategically picking classes I didn't have to go to. I've tried to make something of myself. I feel that failure every day. You don't have to help.
- Reddit user ivybelle
9. It physically hurts, not just emotional pain.
- Reddit user Thewonderingent1065
10. Depression isn't an emotion that just happens on a day to day basis.
Severe depression is lacking any motivation, drive, and desire. It's fighting with your brain to do anything constantly and it doesn't just simply go away because something good has happened. Nor am I magically cured of depression because there's a few good things going on in my life.
- Reddit user TicTacGone
11. You cannot fix my schizophrenia by talking to me logically in the same way I cannot give you schizophrenia by talking to you illogically.
- Reddit user only_glass
12. Therapy is not always available for everyone.
- Reddit user only_glass
13. For me, when I say I'm feeling anxious, it doesn't mean I feel nervous. It means I feel anywhere from agitated to outright terrified and it's a reaction I generally can't control.
- Reddit user thatstoomuchsauce
14. That it doesn't matter how "I seem" to you in person, you have no idea what's going on inside of me.
- Reddit user here4fun30
15. That we can't simply "stop" things like depression, anxiety, schizophrenia. They aren't something that can just be turned off. If we could, we would!
- Reddit user Jenny_Starpepper
16. Yes, it is all in my head. That doesn't make it any less real!
- Reddit user DissatisfiedPenguin
17. That I might literally never be 100% "better" and your relationship with me probably shouldn't be based on the assumption that I will be.
- Reddit user pleasureheads
18. I know my apartment is messy, and trust me, I'm sure it will help my depression a lot to clean it, but I just don't have the ability to clean it.
- Reddit user oxvd
19. It's not about willpower.
- Reddit user Allisade
20. That when we say we can't do something or have trouble doing something because of anxiety, OCD, etc... We aren't trying to use that as a free pass or an excuse to not do something.
I've been told many times that I need to "stop using your illness as an excuse to act a certain way, etc." Listen, if I could control the behaviour and the panic attacks, I would.
- Reddit user moonfauning
