When someone breaks a leg, people “get” it. They understand it. They empathize with it. They’re compassionate about it. The same thing is true when people get cancer or undergo surgery for a heart condition or even get the flu. And yet when someone has a mental illness, people just don’t “get” it. And because its not openly discussed in our community, This tends to make people with mental illness feel alone.
People Identify with Non-Neurological Illness, meaning illnesses not to do with the brain.
People identify with illnesses that happen outside the brain because people have experience with illnesses that are non-neurological in nature. Many people have broken a bone or know someone going through cancer treatment or have had the extreme displeasure of having surgery. People “get” these things because they have lived experience with them.
The thing about serious mental illness is that people have not lived experience with it. It’s almost impossible for a neurologically-well person to understand the concept of something misfiring in the brain. They just don’t “get” it because to them, they are their brain and their brain is them. And what could possibly go wrong with “them?”
People Don’t Get Brain Illnesses Even Though the Brain is Just an Organ.
But those with serious mental illnesses can tell you that your brain (and your bipolar thoughts and your BPD and anxiety) are not you. Your brain is just an organ. Your brain is just a fancy computer. And computers and organs break down and have problems just like hearts, lungs or pancreases. And I would suggest that due to the fact that your brain is a much more complicated one than simply secreting insulin or pumps blood, it has many more possibilities of something going wrong with it.
How Do We Help Others “Get” Mental Illness?
A really effective way of getting a person to “get” mental illness is to give them lived experience with it. And no, I don’t mean giving everyone a mental illness, I mean giving them direct experience through means of storytelling. As someone said, "I tell my story of bipolar disorder to hundreds of people a year in person (and thousands online) and it really is effective in changing people’s minds about bipolar disorder and mental illness". Truly. If your average person with no experience with mental illness takes an hour to hear someone with a mental illness talk, minds change. Of course, you can’t change every mind, eradicate every stigma, or make everyone treat you with dignity and respect, "but I do make a pretty good impact where I can". She quoted.
Can You Tell Your Story of Mental Illness to Help People “Get” It?
I’m not saying wear a neon sign here, but can you talk about your mental illness in a real and honest way with people that gives them a window into your experience? You’re probably not going to do it in front of crowds or with strangers at a wedding, but can you do it with one person in your life? Can you change one mind? Can you offer one person a glimpse of what it’s really like to have bipolar, depression, schizophrenia or another mental illness? Can you do it?
People Will “Get” It If We Make the Effort
I feel like I am helping people “get” it; by opening a blog and haveing people read it. Sure, on the bad days it feels like I’m swimming against a tsunami, but on other days, I do see the changes I create around me and I know that there are effects that I will never know about but that are positive.
But we have to make the effort to make this happen. If accurate information hadn’t been widely spread about HIV and AIDS, for example, we’d all still be walking around afraid to shake hands with people. If people with cancer hadn’t spoken of their illness widely then we wouldn’t see early screening and detection for better outcomes. In short, if these people didn’t do the work, we wouldn’t “get” their illnesses either.
Now, I know it’s unfair to say to someone who is sick to make additional effort. I know that sucks and I know that many people won’t want to do it. But if you’re well enough, and strong enough, I do hope you’ll consider it because in the end it really is in our own best interest. People “getting” it is what will end the discrimination, prejudice and stigma once and for all.
Why Don’t People Get Help for Mental Illness?
Many people with mental illness have explained, educated, calmly described, screamed from the top of their lungs, all to no avail. They. Still. Don’t. Get. It. What’s most disturbing about this is that the parents with kids don't educate themselves about whatever mental illness their child has wich makes it much harder for both of them to get through it.
Sometimes you might not even "get" your own mental illness. It’s very frustrating when people tell you just to “cheer up” or "just snap out of it"
I agree totally that the brain is an organ like heart, liver etc and can malfunction. I also know it is the seat of higher order functions like cognition and emotions so when things go wrong there it has very serious ramifications for the individual affected. But psychological reactions like excess stress can trigger or worsen symptoms. Medication can and does help manage but usually not cure the illness. Psycho Therapy plus meds may provide relief.
Basically if your loved one is suffering from any type of mental illness, please take time and educate yourself about it. It will only benefit you and her/him. So you know what to say and what not to say. So you know what to do when she/him has an episode.
Support is huge part in the healing process. It's not his or her fault. Nobody asked for it. Mental illness is real. It's not to be ashamed of. But it does need to be brought out into the open.
