You are not alone. Four words. Four words that can take you from feeling like an isolated nobody to someone that is actually a part of something. Usually we look at areas of mental health as being scary; these big disorders that everyone runs away from and are too afraid to speak about. Well if you’re afraid, start running now because here it comes. To name a few groups of people that too often go overlooked, we have individuals living with schizophrenia, those living with depression, and those living with anxiety.
I have chosen to look at these specific disorders in the perspective that one is often avoided in conversation whereas the others are something that many people are dealing with on a day to day basis. Also, I have purposely pointed out that all of these “disorders” are symbiotically living with the individual rather than the individual being defined by the label of a disorder. Disorders are not who a person is but rather a part of who they are.
Let’s talk about schizophrenia – I know…scary right. No, this is not the case for those living with it nor is it for the individuals that support someone dealing with it. Now the beginning symptoms before the proper therapeutic tools are in place can be scary for the individual. Feelings of confusion, a questioning of reality, and a twisted image of what the world is can all be brought to the surface. The fascinating aspect about this world though is that there are so many opportunities to learn different coping strategies for symptoms, there are support groups, and if needed there is medication.
It seems however that in this world we expect there to be a cure all medication for any medical problem that comes up but unfortunately the dark reality is that this isn’t true. Medication doesn’t always work for those living with this condition. Do we think of this? Often not. In this situation, we would rather put individuals living with this condition in some type of home where we do not have to think about them, don’t have to worry about them, or how they are feeling- ya know because apparently, they’re just a schizophrenic- not your mother or your uncle. They are the disease and that’s all that society seems to care about. Sorry for a little rant there, but I become very passionate about these topics and the ways in which society comes to handle them.
In transitioning, I would like to look at depression and anxiety. I’m grouping them together for the means that it is so common for them to both be occurring at the same time. Also, in order to fully grasp these disorders, I have personified them to be an actual being. Now if depression and anxiety were a person that would be one bitch that I would not want to be hanging out with. On one hand, you think that it’s all going to be great and filled with planning for the future, but then the other side comes to light and all she does is follow you around playing sad music and putting the worst thoughts into your head that she can.
Unfortunately, I have been living with this friend. At times, she’s just there in the background and I can work around her but at other times we are handcuffed together; so, if I push her off a cliff I’m the one that falls too. It has taken me a long time to keep my friend depression away from the cliff; at certain points, it honestly felt fine to just drift over that cliff and not have a worry in the world anymore. Luckily though my other friend anxiety would never let this happen because I have too many other things to think about and worry about and express my concern about. Thankfully, I have also met another friend though, Emily -that’s me by the way.
Yourself! You are the one that can solve all of your confusion, your questioning, your sanity, your life. You have the choice- you have the choice to let a disorder define you, or you can have the ability to define the disorder. It saddens me to think that others in the world just don’t have the right glasses on to see this. We ALL are living with something that causes us to do things against our control so quit pre-judging people for something that they are dealing with.
They ARE DEALING with it and with mental disorders that is a huge accomplishment. Don’t think that just because physical progress isn’t seen doesn’t mean that there isn’t a super sensational mental, emotional, and spiritual revelation occurring in the individual. We are all here to push the limits and show the world what we can do, so don’t stop someone from doing this because of a label that they were born with. We, me, you, they, are more than a label- I beg of you do not forget that; because in the grand scheme of things we are all the same. We are never truly alone.
