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Health and Wellness

Escaping The Stigmas Of Mental Illness

You are not your illness. You are loved.

Taylor Horton

Nov 20, 2016

Wittenberg University

Healthy Place

You are not alone.

Anxiety affects more than 40 million adults, about 18% of the population.

Depression affects more than 15 million adults, about 7% of the population.

More than 2 million adults suffer from a bipolarity disorder, around 1% of the population.

Around 20% of children and adolescents are affected by mental illness in themselves.

You are not your illness.

You are not "crazy".

You are not weird.

You are human.

Mental illnesses are not adjectives.

We must eliminate the stigmas that go along with mental illness. Have you noticed that very few people admit out loud to having a mental illness or disorder? That's because those with these disorders are trained to believe that they are abnormal and weird because of their illness; less of a human, not able to be helped. Mental illness is not related to a person's intelligence. It is not related to their character. It does not mean you are broken and it does not mean you cannot be fixed. Suicide is not the answer. I have lost friends and loved ones to suicide and I can tell you; it is not the answer. Get help, talk to a loved one, calm yourself down from those negative thoughts telling you that you are not good enough, that you are weird or strange, that you are dumb.

You are not your illness.

You are loved. ♡

Suicide Hotline: 1-800-273-8255

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.

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Escaping The Stigmas Of Mental Illness

You are not your illness. You are loved.

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For better or for worse

1. Pets

2. Mornings

3. Mistakes

4. Cooking for yourself

5. Hosting

6. Taking care of yourself

7. Holidays

8. Roommates

9. Keeping focused and getting stuff done

10. Cleaning

11. Social life

No, really. I'm not mad. Just hungry.

1. You’re tired of people asking you if you know what “RBF” stands for every time you zone out.

2. You’re constantly using the excuse, “I’m just tired” when people ask you if you’re mad.

3. Or “I’m just thinking.”

4. In fact, you’re rarely ever actually mad.

5. But when you are, people usually can’t tell.

6. You find other people with RBF’s and have to convince yourself that you don’t look like them.

7. You constantly remind yourself, “At least I’m not a psycho.”

Some of your best ideas come through boredom.

1. If the professor is late by one minute, I'm leaving.

2. Oh crap, that's due TODAY?!

3. Can I nap in here?

4. I wonder what they're serving at the cafeteria.

5. How much does my teacher even get paid?

6. How much will I get paid?

7. This is the longest 50 minutes of my life.

8. Maybe if I call mom, she'll give me money.

9. How much do street performers make anyway?

10. Why am I here? I could be a street performer by now.

11. Oh right, I'm not talented.

The Belchers hold the key to a better life.

because none of us actually do have it all together

1. Making yourself dinner

2. Wearing real clothes to class

3. Steering clear of procrastination

4. Doing your laundry

5. Keeping your notes organized

6. Cleaning your room

7. Going to the gym

8. Actually doing well in school

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