#Mental Ilness

[beautifulbookishdisaster]

Susan Sontag wrote that "Depression is melancholy minus its charms." For me, living with depression was at once utterly boring and absolutely excruciating.

John Green, The Anthropocene Reviewed (Harvey)

[schizopositivity]

It's interesting that when the topic of schizophrenia or psychosis is brought up (especially on the internet), people who don't have it are so often willing to dole out the personal information of someone who does have it. It's usually a family member of the person talking. And these people seem to have no problem revealing this person's most sensitive and embarrassing information.

I understand you are trying to find connection in some way. And you have a loved one with schizophrenia/psychosis so you feel that you should chime in. But tbh I don't want to hear about a stranger's most vulnerable moments. And I don't think the person who experienced it would be happy to hear that their family member/neighbor/etc is just spreading that around online. And it rarely adds anything helpful to the discussion, just an anecdotal story that is typically used to generalize an entire group of people.

So if you know/knew someone with schizophrenia or psychosis and you want to tell their story for them, please consider these things: Would they be alright with me sharing this publicly? Does this add anything meaningful to the discussion? Am I speaking over people who have experienced schizophrenia or psychosis themselves? Am I using this as a justification to generalize a group of people?

[zachywackyman]

God thought my personality was lacking so he gave it a ✨disorder✨

[beseeingyouinmydreams]

You know I get Liam made some bad choices and did some dumb things, but can someone explain to me why the conversation around his death is not what led him to that place? He didn’t just wake up one day and decided to do drugs and alcohol and make bad decisions and be supposedly abusive. There were a lot of things that happened in the hands of other people that pushed him to place and the fact that that’s not a real conversation happening right now is really disheartening for the future of humanity. The fact that there are no consequences for how you treat people on social media how there’s barely consequences for how you treat people in every day life … is seriously messed up

[safe-haven-safe-place]

[slayingsadly]

I would like to fulfill other people's dreams and disappear from this earth

[teacup-captor]

Why self diagnosis is valid, the incomplete list:

1. Not everyone is in a safe situation. Some people may live with or otherwise be closely attached to an abuser or several abusers, who will not allow them to go to therapy or seek out other professional help. It's cruel and unfair to expect these people to wait patiently until their situation is no longer unsafe to let them understand how their brain and body works. Understanding that you are struggling physically and/or mentally can be lifechanging in these situations, as it can help people cope or at least understand themselves better. Recognizing a harmful line of thinking can be the thing needed to save a life.

2. Not everyone lives in the same country as you. Some countries don't offer the same kind of professional help that yours does. Some countries will go by different diagnostic criteria, and may straight up not recognize certain disorders.

3. Stigma against mental help exists. Some places stigmatize mental illness heavily, going to a therapist or psychologist can be heavily frowned upon. Even for a neurotypical, it could be extremely hard to seek out the help needed.

4. Other kinds of stigma exist. A disabled person may not be diagnosed because they're "too young" to be disabled, or they "look okay". Some people may not be properly diagnosed due to their sex. People may be discriminated against due to their race. I can't say too much about race since I'm white, but are you aware that people used to believe females couldn't be autistic? Did you know there's still remnants of this belief everywhere?

5. A medical professional doesn't have your brain or your body. This may be a surprise to some, but a doctor isn't magically able to feel that their patients have liver failiure, and a therapist doesn't magically gain their patients' memories and trauma. Sometimes doctors and therapists just don't want to listen. Sometimes patients lack the proper words to describe things in a way that makes sense to their doctors and therapists. Sometimes patienta can't express how much they struggle because they don't know how much they struggle until someone with the same/similar disorders as them start speaking about it in detail.

6. Poverty and discrimination exist. Some people can't afford that shit! And if they can't afford going to a doctor or therapist to get a legal diagnosis, they definitely can't afford getting fired over their diagnosis or struggling to find a job because they're disabled.

7. The government sucks! This one is targeted to the people who read point 6 and said "Well they can get paid by the government if they're disabled, right?" I live in Norway, and I'm very privileged in that respect, we're a rich country with good healthcare and such for our people, but even WE can't always afford to pay disabled people enough to survive! AND WE TAX THEM ON TOP OF THAT!

8. A majority of people who self diagnose do not watch 1 single joke video where they relate to 2 things and self diagnose off of that. People who self diagnose often (but not always) read a lot of resources about the illnesses or disorders they suspect they have. A majority of people will understand that it's not fun to be disabled, and that it negatively impacts a person. Most people will not self diagnose with autism because they flap their hands and really like trains, most people will self diagnose with autism because they have difficulties with social interaction, they struggle with sensory input, etc etc. Most people who self diagnose understand that this is serious stuff. The disabled community constantly reminds people that this is serious. And all of us are trying to spread the most accurate information about this as we can, because we're all struggling and want people to understand us.

9. People who self diagnose aren't stealing any resources. This is because people who self diagnose cannot access certain resources. People who self diagnose won't get the same accommodations at school or at work. The resources they WILL have access to are those that are less limited, such as apps (which cannot run out), fidget toys (which are constantly being produced due to their popularity with adults and especially children, disabled or not), things such as communication cards (which a lot of people make themselves) and mobility aids. In addition, they cannot be "stealing" these resources if they genuinely need them. Unless they physically steal a cane or something from someone else.

10. Self diagnosing and getting it wrong has the greatest impact on the person who self diagnoses than on anyone else. If someone self diagnoses, the greatest risk in it all is them getting it wrong. This could lead to some problems with readjusting to how they look at themselves, for more complex disorders like DID it might lead to some troubles with their sense of self, but all in all they would get the same consequences as if a medical professional misdiagnosed them, which can happen all the time.

11. You wouldn't judge someone for self diagnosing with an allergy. If someone feels their throat close up whenever they eat strawberries, it's safe to assume that person is allergic. No one would judge them for not eating strawberries if they found out they're allergic. Why shouldn't this apply to other things? If someone finds out they get very tired when they read, and often they don't remember what they've read, and they figure out it's because they're most likely dyslexic, why should anyone get mad at them for listening to audiobooks instead?

12. How the fuck else is anyone gonna get diagnosed? You don't go to the doctor because you think everything is fine. Yes, someone might go if their back suddenly starts hurting every day for 2 weeks, but when your back has been hurting your entire life you might not think something is wrong. If you really don't like wearing socks, you don't immediately think of seeking professional help, do you? But if someone starts talking about how their autism makes it hard to wear socks, and you start realizing you relate to a lot of autistic traits, then you suddenly have a reason to seek help. You don't go to a doctor because you think everything is okay.

[the-recovery-diaries]

"It might seem small to you,” she says. “But it was enough to wreck me."

My Dark Vanessa, Kate Elizabeth Russell 

[equestrianfate]

People who struggle with anxiety and depression can't remember a lot.. because they're too busy focusing on how to get through each moment, so they don't actually experience what is happening to them. Causing them to not form the memory they were supposed to.

[very-sleepy-bees]

Hey mentally ill trans people inside my phone is it just a me thing or do you just have the sudden urge to murder anyone who you have gender envy for? Like pick up an axe and just drive it into them kinda thing. It sounds worse than it is.

[cerealdesignation]

what if instead of murder drones it was called freaky drones and instead of ultrakill it was called ultrafreak and freaky designation N and Vfreak were siblings

I feel like there's several layers of mental illness to this and its kind of breaking my brain :D!

[schizopositivity]

Happy holidays! This is your reminder to check what days your pharmacy will be closed this month, and keep track of when you'll need to refill your meds!!

[thedisablednaturalist]

Kaiser mental health care is absimal. There is ONE mental health contractor that does psychiatry and there's no information on it other than a phone number that I have a sneaking suspicion would just take me to kaisers "behavioral health line". The rest of the contractors? Are shit like Calm and better help (not specifically those but similar companies) the link on the website to make an online appointment just takes me to my main account page.

[safe-haven-safe-place]

[e-xolite]

Mental illness is sick asf cos yeah I’m mentally ill, but I’m also making some sick asf art

[cobaltsoulsearcher]

After first starting the show in January during a months long bout of ilness and getting 46 episodes into M9 as a way to stay awake, binging LOVM, and jumping to C3 after the Laudna in Whitestone Arc…

I have now caught up to campaign three. Which is insane. I have spent the last six months in a critical role blender. Time is a wierd soup.

Some of that time, I’ve felt really bad about it, as (like everything) an imperfect fandom, with my OCD trying to latch on to every bit (both small and unfortunately huge) of drama. But even then, I didn’t have an excuse; the cast has been extremely clear not to forget to love each other, that struggles are human, and that even these painful stories are meant to be sources of community and joy. For the first time, my own brain had no choice but to shut up and listen.

I’ve been triggered by character’s struggles too close to my own. But the fact they were so similar drove me to huge realizations: It got me to protect myself in a relationship everyone around me told me had way too many red flags. I’m still in that relationship, because I have compassion for the other person, and CR has been monumental in giving me the strength to do this, too.

It’s made me so intensely lonely, and jealous, never having had friends like that, not having hope in my ability to make them, either. But it also got me through that loneliness, through flares and being so tired I didn’t want to live and my first college semester where I wasn’t allowed to do horrible things to cope, and it let me be happy, let me be hopeful. It’s made me want to have things to look forward to in the short and the long term, and half of those things were either inspired by CritRole or the actors, or I had the courage to do them knowing I could put their voices on in my headphones and calm down and have a safe Exandria to escape to.

I fear when it isn’t as big a part of my life anymore. But I also realize that its existence is a huge huge gift I have been given and few works of art will ever have the opportunity to have so great an impact on my life.

I am far from the only critter with such a story, and if you want to share yours, I’d be glad for it. But this is my sincere thank you to every cast member and everyone who has encouraged them and every fan artist and every random corporate intern who convinced their boss to sponsor an episode and every cameraman and everyone who sent something for Critmas in the early days and made this a touch more real