What to Do If Someone You Love Struggles with Mental Illness
Mental illness has become such a taboo word. People are afraid of the word, and frankly, they are afraid of people who fall into that category. Now, mental illness is spread over most social media sites with a bunch of phony articles and BS strategies to cure mental illness. People forget this though: mental illness cannot be switched on and off, mental illness is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. If you tell someone struggling with mental illness to just 'stop', you're not helping them and you're probably just going to piss them off. If someone trusts you enough to tell you that they struggle with mental illness, you should probably research the illness and figure out the signs and symptoms. A lot of mental illness is hidden behind a nasty stigma, so fight the stigma and actually research it! Mental illness is not scary, so you should not be afraid of someone with mental illness. They can't help that their mind doesn't work in all the correct ways so it's up to you to help them through the bad times.
I once knew someone with a mental illness called schizoaffective disorder. The National Alliance of Mental Illness would describe it as a chronic mental health condition characterized primarily by symptoms of schizophrenia, such as hallucinations or delusions, and symptoms of a mood disorder, such as mania and depression. This illness will never go away, but its symptoms can be managed. Like most mental illness, schizoaffective disorder can come in waves. These waves can be managed if someone spots an episode prior to something bad happening. Like I said before, research the illness! Become an expert! You could literally save someones life. Mental illness is scary and no one wants to be alone during an episode. You can save someones life just by spending the night and talking with someone. Encourage the affected person to talk or ask them what their favorite thing to do is! Mental illness is something that can be managed with friends, family, medication, or therapy. People who know someone affected by mental illness should be privileged to know that someone trusted them enough to let them know. Mental illness isn't scary if you research it and learn how to help.
