Venting The way people with mental illnesses get treated

[Mara09]

I think it's ridiculous how badly people with mental illnesses get treated in society, but then people cry when they commit suicide. For example. I used to have (and still have to an extend) bad social anxiety and would often stutter, talk too quietly and start shaking because of it, generally my mind was often hazy and I was aloof, sometimes people just get mad at me for acting this way or treat me badly because of it. I know people hate the victim mentality, but it hurts, it's not like I'm harming anyone and I can't really control it. And the worst part is that getting treated this way just makes things worse for your mental illness, it's basically a cycle.
All my life there was one teacher (and I've been in plenty of schools, mind you) who actually bothered to send me to the school therapist, but other than that nobody ever bothered, was dismissve and although some were well-meaning they never really seemed to bother actually reaching out to help.

I've had a few situations where I broke down in front of my family and then they're worried for a day before going back to being nonchalant and seemingly uncaring, especially my mother. I still remember when one day she told me to stop pitying myself for getting bullied and being unhappy with myself when I finally confessed that I was getting bullied in school when I was like 14, it's like she was mad at me.

Tbh I feel like if I would've gotten help early enough I still might've had a shot at life, but now it's just too messed up and I'm pretty sure I have no choice but to ctb. I do feel bad for my family, though I can't deny I harbor a bit of a grudge.

Also another thing I've noticed is that you can't really criticise people or society becaue you'll just be called edgy. I've been treated like shit for so long because of factors out of my control by the most random of people and now I can't even complain about?

 

[Lost in a Dream]

I've had a few situations where I broke down in front of my family and then they're worried for a day before going back to being nonchalant and seemingly uncaring, especially my mother. I still remember when one day she told me to stop pitying myself for getting bullied and being unhappy with myself when I finally confessed that I was getting bullied in school when I was like 14, it's like she was mad at me.

This sounds like my dad when I was growing up. He was the kind of parent that would scream in your face over getting a "D" on a report card and would be more concerned about the fact that I was weak mentally and physically than the fact that bullying was taking place. I also was less mentally mature than most people my age when I was a kid and because of the sense of humor I had, I sometimes heard him say things like, "No wonder you get bullied at school..."

It's a strange thing that he seems so different now from the way he was then, but like you, I'm messed up enough that I feel like CTB is inevitable for me as well. Despite my attempts to recover from everything that has happened, I keep coming back here wanting to use the SN I have stashed. I also know what it's like to feel bad for most of my family, while still having a grudge against my dad, even though I've tried to forgive him and move on.

I don't really know why people in our situation are treated as badly as they are, even without being actively suicidal. Maybe it's because mentally ill people are seen as "less than" by "normal" people. Also, it could be that some people are in denial about their own problems and seeing others with similar issues makes them more self aware, which is unacceptable for them, causing them to have thoughts like this, "How dare this person make me self-aware of my own problems? I'll just bully them instead of trying to fix my own issues! THAT will teach em!"

 

[everydayiloveyou]

I feel you on the social anxiety thing. It sucks even more when you make a genuine attempt to get better and recover, but nothing is ever enough for people. It's either you be "normal" and dont present any hint of being awkward or different ever, or you live a shitty life. It's hard to get better when a lot of healthy human behavior depends on having healthy and positive peer interaction, which many mentally ill people already lack due to bullying and/or tumultuous childhoods. Plus the irrational thinking inherent to mental illness starts to become totally reasonable when people really *are* thinking poorly about you and mistreating you.

The mistreatment and disdain becomes worse the more debilitating your illness is. The way people will talk about addicts and people with psychosis is awful. A customer at my job has delusions, and my coworkers always make fun of her for talking so much and saying weird things, and they purposefully say it when she's within earshot. It's no wonder she thinks there's a grand conspiracy against her. What reasonable explanation is there for people treating her so badly when she's done nothing wrong?

What sucks the most is that this shit even happens in therapy. Like you mentioned, everyone acts like there's no reason for you to feel the way you feel, even though you have good reasons. It's like the goal is to convince you that youve got irrational feelings about imaginary situations. Obviously some parts of mental illness are clearly wacky and irrational, but to be scared of being treated poorly because people have *already* treated you poorly? How is that an overreaction, and how is it that the problem is all on me and my reaction to it? Society keeps thinking the issue lies with the individual who ended up "overreacting" over the way they were treated, but there's no consideration as to who, what and how they got to the point where their coping skills became their symptoms.