Young Writers Society

Hi Guys! I'm doing a paper on Mental Illness Stigmas and the effect it has on teens, and I was wondering what your experiences with mental illness is? Have you or a friend ever been met with things like "You're just in a phase" or "Seeking attention"? Have you ever come into contact with people who didn't believe you or someone you know had/have a mental illness?

Thanks!

'There's no such thing as normal,' is a difficult one.

It's true that everyone is different and that we're all equal, but it's also true that some people fall further outside the social norm than others. I've found that when this pushes over into the boundaries of denial or ignorance it's just as harmful.

We all need to accommodate for who we are. Short people need to tiptoe to reach high things, migraine sufferers are better off avoiding bright lights and loud noises, and it's only polite for winter snifflers to carry tissues in their pocket instead of sneezing on passers by.

The same counts for people with mental illness. As an example I have a friend with Asperger's syndrome. People with Asperger's aren't as naturally aware of social boundaries than others.

For him, his parents took the effort of teaching him to always stand a certain distance from people unless they make the move forward. It's one of a few things that helped him make friends in school and get along with his siblings, partly because he doesn't make other people feel uncomfortable and partly because having these rules gives him more confidence in the things he's doing.

It also means that now he has set phrases he can use in different situations so that people will understand what he's trying to express, rather than the anger and tantrums that he was accustomed to as a small child.

The other option is to say that he's no different from the rest of us and leave him to struggle to try to understand on his own why nobody wants to talk to him.

I don't want to delve into it too much, but growing up I developed a guilt complex because I behaved in ways that quite frequently upset others, and assumed that it was because I was bad. Rather than someone saying 'this makes sense to you, but to us it looks like that,' I had to figure it out on my own and that meant leaving a lot of upset peers and disconcerted grown ups in the wake.

Nobody has ever doubted my ADHD, however many have mocked me, considered how I act freakish and weird, and been annoyed at how hard it is to keep a stable conversation with me.

Hm...I have some thoughts on the matter, but I wasn't diagnosed (with bipolar) until I was 20, so it didn't really affect me as a teen.

I've never been told that my illness wasn't real, but a big part of that is I don't tell people. I've been stable for a year and a half now. As long as I follow up on meds and therapy, there's no real difference. I've only told one non-doctor here in my current city of residence. I wouldn't care if people knew, but I'm too scared of how they'd react. The stigma situation has improved, but it could always be better.

With teens, I think a big issue could be IDing symptoms and getting treatment. Adolescence is naturally a time of hormones and mood swings, so it might be harder to differentiate between "normal" teenage behavior and signs of something more serious. Plus a struggling teen may not know who to turn to or feel comfortable explaining their feelings to an adult.

Also, teens are minors, which means they probably need parental consent to see a doctor. What if, say, Jane is feeling depressed but her mother doesn't buy it or doesn't trust psychiatrists or something? That could make it really hard for Jane to get help she needs.

This is a fascinating topic! Good luck on the paper!

I try to keep my "mental illness" relatively hushed up. It's not really something that affects any social interaction or learning or anything. (If you're wondering, I believe I have a bit of very mild Schizophrenia.) Since I've kept this really quiet (I've told like, two people), no one has come to me about those kind of reactions. So yeah, I don't think most people "believe I have it."
But my brother has/is struggling with depression and it's pretty obvious. So no one has questioned that he has a mental illness.

Ooh, look what I found (without even really looking)! http://health.usnews.com/health-news/fa ... -treatment

Basically says what I thought--that teens feel more stigma and so they don't get treatment.

Found the link from this article (warning for language and sexual references, but it's funny and spot-on).

This is a great topic!

I myself have a very mild form of Autisum ( that may or may not be spelt right ), and I am blessed to have awesome friends/family who just love me, and suport me in every way.

Now I've noticed alot of people seem to think that people with Autisum don't get the help they need, and they're thrown aside... this might be the case for many, but for alot of us there's tons of programs and just everything, to give kids with Autisum a leg up. Because really, for the most part, all we need is someone to tell us 'clearly' what it is we need to know.

Like for myself, math is a huge pain in the woohoo... as is spelling ( some of you may have noticed ).

When I was just a wee thing, I could not, for the life of me remember symbols... *hint hint* the alphabet also numbers... So learning to read was a big challange!

Anyway, when we found out last year that it was Autisum, we were more releaved than anything. ( sorry for rambling )

@Holysocks, my four year old step-son is mildly Autistic! It's so nice to read about your experience with Autism! Though his is a mild form, it is still difficult to handle at his young age. He is in an Autistic Pre-K class at his school and goes to therapy once a week.

as a sufferer of three separate mental syndromes, my teen life was a nightmare. it wasn't that people treated me badly because of how i acted, but rather my fear that if people got to know me too well, they'd get sick of my blank stares and stammering responses. so i only had a few close friends that i hung with, and eventually i stopped talking to them cause i was still afraid they didn't like me.

i've been told by my adoptive father that its all in my head, which really hurt me.

i have general anxiety disorder, bipolar and dissociative disorder. this combo has cost me two jobs in the past year because i couldn't handle the social stress, and because i'm always juggling new medications. doing this changed my mental state severely and made me paranoid, anxious and distrustful. obviously not a great combo for holding down a job.

i'm currently pretty level, and cut my drug cocktail down to just one medication. my advice to any young person who has racing thoughts, mania, depression, or any other symptoms of mental disorder, go to the doctor and explain your situation. i waited til i was 18 and suffered all through my adolescence. the sooner the better.

and if you don't have anyone to confide in, ask your doctor to recommend a therapist. therapy is amazingly helpful, i didn't expect it to be, but it really is.

I have a very very very mild case of Asperger's Syndrome (ie not diagnosed, but noticable to those who have known me for a long time and see me often) that I found hard to deal with when I was younger (say 10-ish). I was bullied because of it and found it really hard to interact with other people. It didn't help that we moved every few years. At my last British school, the councellor gave me... lessons of a sort on personal space (I do so love the bubble metaphor) and became quite a bit better with it. I'm now just known as the girl who's very affectionate and cuddly, and a little loud. It's definitely important to have some help, even if you don't think what you have is very bad, or even if you have something at all.

PS: I do think that optional social skills classes for people who need/want them should be offered in every school...

FireFox wrote:@Holysocks, my four year old step-son is mildly Autistic! It's so nice to read about your experience with Autism! Though his is a mild form, it is still difficult to handle at his young age. He is in an Autistic Pre-K class at his school and goes to therapy once a week.

That's good, mine is very mild too!

I feel that their is a very big stigima toward mental illness.

I wrote an essay on it for English that is on YWS. I would suggust checking it out, It may help you.

I feel that my parendt don't understand. Last summer I ended up in a mental hospital and had major deppresson. My family did not understand me at all.

Currentaly I am trieing to get help, it's soooo difficult, I feel that no one belives me and all. It's fustering, for the past few weeks i have been sliping, and I was stable on an anti deppressent for weeks. And I have schizophria--idk what kind yet, but i need to go to a doctor. It's bad.

People do not understand my illness, so far, schizophrian sucks. I try talking about it with my family, but when I tell them the reason why i don't want to take my meds, they just call me psyco. And they wounder about my future due to this and they think that i will get put in an institution and that no one will hire me for a job becasue i have a mental illness. I hate my parents veiw on mental illness. And they have no idea that I am schizophric.

I am probaly the only schizo person on here...

Outside of my illness, I'm a pretty cool person. Nothing stops me, not even my visual impariment.

I've definately had my fair share of run-ins with mental illness problems and one of my parents has a severe one. It definitely does make things difficult. It's certainly not easy for the person with the illness, but I know from experience that being someone close to them without the same illness is hard too. I have struggled with OCD and Anxiety for a very long time and can honestly say that nothing is harder than trying to cope without help and support from those around you. For me, that support didn't come until very recently in the form of great friends and a clinical psychologist.

And YES! There is definitely stigma attached to mental illness. I often neglected to tell the people closest to me that I felt like something was wrong because of the fear of being labeled as crazy or abnormal. I mean, someone with a mental illness is technically, "abnormal", but I think that absolutely everyone is is some way. I think people should just treat it like they would any other harmless quirk.

What I think the largest stigma towards mental illness is for teens is that people often don't know how to react when they find out you have a mental illness, so they label you as being a compulsive attention seeker. There is, in fact, nothing farther from the truth. People with mental illnesses (the ones I've known at least, including myself) don't go around telling everyone about their illnesses. Instead, they often try to hide them. It's when things start to seem abnormal that we have to let someone in on it.

I think Anxiety is part of who I am, but I don't see it as a limit. The hardest part of this whole experience was coming to terms with the fact that having a mental illness doesn't make me any less awesome. I think that everyone, mental illness or not, has to come to the realization that they are awesome just the way they are and that everyone is flawed. It's those who try to pretend that they aren't who end up not being able to enjoy all of life's splendor.