A Letter To The World Regarding Mental Illness:

I've rewritten this letter seven times, and yet I can never seem to say what I need to say without being cruel or angry. In this, my seventh and final attempt, I will attempt to be straightforward, mature, and informative.

That said, I need one sentence to say something that has been angering me for a very long time.

Mental illnesses are not a joke and cannot be simply forfeited, and anyone who believes that they can is a complete and total imbecile.

Last week, an article was posted on one of my least favorite sites labeled 9 Signs Your Mental Illness Is Made Up For Attention.* I have many, many things to say, but foremost, I must mention how utterly absurd this article is and how ashamed I am to share the title of 'author' with the brash and crude woman who penned the aforementioned article.

I shall give her no more attention, because she deserves no acknowledgement for her verbal crimes against other humans.

To those of you currently suffering from mental illnesses, I deeply apologetic that there are so many people in the world who don't understand your struggle and who tease you for the things that cannot explain or control. To those of you who are blessed to be "fully healthy" mentally, be thankful, for you are blessed. And to the many of you sweet friends who know little about mental illnesses, I would like to share with you a few facts:

First, having a mental illness doesn't make a person crazy. It doesn't make a person unloveable. It doesn't make a person any less of a person.

Second, there are two ways that mental illnesses come about, genetically or situationally. Mental illnesses can be biological, passed down from parent to child. They can also come about in a more immediate fashion because of a traumatic situation.

Third, mental illnesses encompass so much more than depression and anxiety. They can be divided into three categories, which can be split into subdivisions of multiple illnesses/struggles:

Mood/Personality Disorders include Anxiety disorders, Depression, Phobias, Cyclothymic Disorder, and Bipolar Disorder.

Psychotic Disorders include Psychosis, Schizophrenia, Paranoia, Alzheimer's Disease, and Dementia.

And Impulse/Control Disorders include: Anorexia, Bulimia, Binge-Eating Disorder, Alcoholism, Drug Addiction, Kleptomania, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Attention Hyperactive Deficit Disorder.

Lastly, I am a young woman that suffers from genetic depression and anxiety. These have implemented and manifested themselves in ways throughout my life that are different than in the lives of others. I am still a fully functioning member of society. The only difference between me and another woman my age without these illnesses is that I take medicine in the morning and sometimes I have lower, more stressful days than others.

No one in the world enjoys having a mental illness. Those of us who have them never intend to capitalize on them. They are a test for us, and each of us are faced with different tests in life. Everyone struggles with something different.

To those of you who don't agree with my words, thank you for your time and acknowledgement of my thoughts. To those of you who decide to share these thoughts, thank you, for this is a topic I truly believe needs to be introduced to and discussed in our culture.

To all who have supported me in my struggles with mental illness, thank you. I would not be who I am without you, and I am proud to be the person I am today.

To all that have given me the honor of reading my words, thank you, and I hope you take them to heart.

Many thanks,

Emily Faulk, More Than "Mentally Ill."

*Note from the Editor: This article has since been deleted from the site on which it was published.