According to a Newsweek article from 2014, every one in five American adults struggles with mental illnesses each year.
Growing up, I have come in contact with many people struggling with mental disorders such as: depression, anxiety, and even eating disorders, as well as living with anxiety myself. Although loving someone with a mental disorder is never easy, here are a few things not to say to someone with a mental disorder.
It's all in your head.
Well, yes. It's not called a 'mental' disorder for nothing. You telling someone to get out of their head is not going to help them get out of their head.
But you look good already, why would you worry about what you look like?
Truly when it comes to someone who believes they look a certain way, nothing you or anyone else says will help change their mind. That can only come from them. Just being by their side and waiting until they ask for help is the way to go.
I know how you feel.
Honestly, no one will ever feel the same as someone else. We all take in things differently and react to things differently. I do believe we all may come in contact with similar situations and feelings but justifying that you may have gotten through something hard or harder does not mean whatever this person is feeling is not hard for them.
Look how lucky you are.
Feeling unlucky in the moment or struggling with something does not mean that a certain person does not realize how blessed they are, it just means something they are dealing with is controlling their life and feelings in the moment.
Just calm down.
That is the thing about panic or anxiety disorders, you cannot calm down. Don't you think that person would love to not feel like their whole world is crashing down in one second? I can promise they would love nothing more than to calm down.
You just want attention.
Someone with a mental illness definitely is not wanting attention due to having a mental illness. They may want attention in life (who doesn't?) but this is not the way they would want to be known.
Conquering your fears is how you get rid of them.
Where this could be true eventually, the steps getting to conquering your fears are just as terrifying as the fears themselves. Telling a person that if they will just go for it and trust everything will be okay is much harder than it seems.
It will pass.
That is the thing about mental illnesses. It isn't a cold you can cure or a broken arm you can wait for to heal. These people struggle the rest of their lives.
It's important to realize that mental disorders are just as real as physical disorders. That if someone struggles with reacting to people with these illnesses, to think about how one would react if the same person told you he/she had been diagnosed with a physical disorder.
