Is mental illness, still an illness?

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Lil-Nash's avatar
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This is my article for news paper at school.
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People tell us, all the time; "You can't be depressed, if you have money," or, "Why are you laughing, I thought you had depression." I even heard once "You could be a kid in Africa, who can't eat, so you should eat."

I know I have it better than a lot of people.  You don't think I don't know other kids, my age are dying from starvation, while here I am starving myself.  Asking me why I don't want to eat, or how I can laugh with depression, doesn't make it better.  It makes me feel worse.  Honestly, it makes me feel like, well… Let's just say it makes me feel worse than I am.

Depression, is a mental illness, and some people don't seem to understand that.  Mental illness' and physical illness' are not the same thing, yet they are.  As my favorite author, John Green, once said, "You wouldn't punch someone in the gut, if they had the flu and tell them to get over it.  Just as you shouldn't do to someone with depression."  Yet, the thing is, with a mental illness, we are forced to get up, and go to school.  

If you did have the flu, you would be babied until you got better, sadly that's not the way it is with a mental illness. You have, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder?  Too bad for you, you need to go to school.  Yet, if you have the flu, strep, or even the common cold?  You're aloud to stay home.  

What a lot of people don't understand, is that mental heath needs to be taken just as seriously as physical health.  You wouldn't make fun of someone if they were sick?  So why does that mean that if someone is cutting themselves, that gives you the right to voice your opinion and tell them they need to finish the job and kill themselves.

You are depressed? You're labeled as an attention seeker.

Anxiety?  You're labeled as jumpy and needing some "chill pills".

Bipolar?  You. Freak.

Any sort of eating disorder?  Unthankful for the food you have.

Suicidal? Crazy, nuts, whack job.

Yet, the exact same people turn around, and say how depressed they are over their boyfriend breaking up with them, or how socially awkward they are because it's cute.  Then later, they're feeling a little moody, and say how bipolar they are.  Then laugh at the fat kid eating some food.  Then complain how hard their life is, when they haven't seen what people with real mental illness go through.

Life is tough for all of us, but if some people just put themselves in someone else's shoes for one day, and had the ability to look at what was going on in their mind.  They might rethink calling someone fat, or freak, or crazy, nuts, whack job, spaz, or attention seeker.
© 2013 - 2024 Lil-Nash
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SaneMe's avatar
wow this is so true.
I'm schizophrenic and one day I went to school worry. why? cause I was afraid that a demon army was coming to kill me and I went to the school consular and all she said was "Do yu really think that is going to happen?" and I said yes I do.
of corse this was before I was diagnose with schizophrenia but I still had the symptoms of schizophrenia just not diagnose yet in til my senior year. so here I was worry and she just stares at me and pretty much say your making this up. your reading to many books. My school is stupid. they don understand mental illness.