I rant about this again:

Some people have diabetes, or heart problems, or lupus, or whatever. When shit gets really life-threatening, you tend to tell your friends and family, and ask for support (lets find a cure! come visit me in the hospital!). This is different with mental illness, because of all those normative values and stigma telling us that it's a personal weakness, and therefore YOUR FAULT (and not something biological like say, diabetes, or heart problems, lupus, or whatever). And we all know that your brain is separate from the rest of your body, and mental illnesses should be treated like personal defects of character, and not treatable medical conditions.

I have so many friends who are so against medication and therapists. They say, "it's all mental. You just have to train yourself." Sure, sometimes that's very true. But sometimes, in cases that actually qualify for illness (or "meet criteria"), diet, exercise and discipline don't really cut it. Sure, for someone who is feeling a little low lately, these methods are super effective. And people with reoccurring episodes should practice these preventative behaviors when they are feeling better.

HOWEVER, I think it is extremely irresponsible to adopt the attitude that it's simply mind over matter, especially for mental illness. How are you supposed to eat right and exercise if you've lost your appetite and you're sleeping 14 hours a day? How are you supposed to "make yourself"do anything when you're having uncontrollable thoughts like "I suck. This doesn't matter anyway. I deserve to feel like shit." I'm sure you can get through that yoga routine...once you're done with that random crying spell brought on by feelings of overwhelming guilt, shame and despair. Yes, it sounds dramatic. But it should. This is very serious.

So I'm obviously pissed about the whole thing. I've been a "stigma buster" for NAMI since I was 14, and encourage everyone to actually know what they are talking about when saying "ugh medication...ugh therapists..." If this is your stance, you probably haven't seen what most helping professionals have seen. When people are in crisis, this shit helps. And you know whats even better? To get help before a crisis. Feeling "okay" from diet and exercise is not good enough. Can you imagine living your whole life only feeling "okay?"

I'm sorry, I just think that taking 10mg of something and seeing a shrink 45 minutes a week, and feeling like a functional person is waaay better than NOT taking meds or seeing a shrink and sleeping for 11 hours a day and having constant feelings of emptiness and suicide. Just a thought, tho.