I was going to wait until tomorrow to blog this, but it's been weighing on me so much and I couldn't focus on anything until I got this off my chest. Mental Illness is not taboo. We need to talk about it.
Here's the Grey's Anatomy quote I referenced.
What stories and characters helped you throughout your battle with mental illness?
Along with Enna Burning, I relied a lot on How to Train Your Dragon and old comforts like Star Wars. Basically anything not in our world helped me escape. That's why I write fantasy novels.
~Allie
3 comments:
I love your point that we are attracted to stories because we can't see our own resolution. So true!
I also have depression and I'm not sure if I always have or if it's a transitory thing. It seems to ebb and flow and right now I'm in a good place. But my experiences do remind me to slow down and be considerate of others' space and needs.
Also your dog is adorable.
Thanks for sharing - this must have been a difficult post for you to share.
I'm someone on the other side of the fence. I don't have a mental illness (just a few quirks haha) and it's something I find difficult to understand. Over the last few years I've had friends with mental illness and have struggled to try and make myself understand it better.
It's hard to take on board that there is no quick fix and that it's difficult to help people. It's hard to see that it's the chemicals in their brain making them behave in certain ways and that they cannot help this.
I've learnt that the resources for helping people with mental illness are terrible. If you get the wrong doctor or a doctor with no experience it can really screw up the person with the problems. A lot of help is given by charities and very little by the government, especially for teenagers. It seems one has to be at rock bottom before one is taken seriously - which in some cases is too late.
The other thing I have learnt is that standing by your friends, however hard it is, and whatever they go through, is what matters. Just knowing a stable person is there offering support seems to be very important. And this is something the medical community can't offer on a long term basis.
I agree that more awareness and understanding is needed of these conditions - because at any time they could affect us or our nearest and dearest.
Thank you for sharing this.
I have had to deal with my share of depression. Stories were my saviours at these times.
Yes, it is difficult to talk about and even if you do, people don't always get what you are going through.
Post a Comment