Does That Make Me Crazy?

Feb 20, 2008 - 10:07 AM PST

When most people hear the words mental health they tend to think about a lot of things. Some think of worst-case scenarios with mental disorders like depression, suicide, or hallucinations. Others think of people foaming at the mouth or carrying an ax in their car. Some think of certain celebrities that may shave their heads and check in and out of rehab three times in one week only to have continued actions result in losing custody of one’s children. Some think of the events that happened at Virginia Tech. What scares me the most is that the poster children for mental health tend to include the actions listed above and not the actions of people who are taking care of themselves. It leads to a massive problem in a lot of people’s lives, where they don’t discuss their most basic emotions, because they’re afraid people will call them crazy.

The whole situation is crazy. I think a lot of times people think that there is this huge stigma in our country that people don’t talk about mental illness, but in my experience it’s not that we don’t talk about mental illness, WE DON’T TALK ABOUT EMOTIONS PERIOD! And because most people don’t talk about their basic emotions they can’t begin to understand emotional extremes that signify mental disorders. So we end up in a world where people go around pretending everything is ok, because that is better than having someone call you crazy or thinking you’re crazy. It’s really sad that we live in a world where people feel it’s more normal to hide the thoughts and emotions that make an individual unique because they’re scared of what other people may think. The only thing normal about all of us is that we are different and have different thoughts and emotions that make us who we are. Yet we have made it normal to hide those things.

I understand that most people think if you’re labeled with a mental illness that you should get the toe tag, because you’re done, but that is simply not true anymore. Statistics show that 80-90% of people who seek help for a mental disorder will see improvement in their symptoms and most will go back to function the way they used to. People with mental illness don’t need to be afraid of seeking the help they need anymore, so people who are just struggling with the everyday problems in life certainly don’t need to be afraid and fall into useless stereotypes like talking about emotion is a sign of weakness. Or the other reasons I often hear for not talking about how you feel -- like not wanting to be a burden, not having the time, not trusting anyone, not having the words and a whole host of others, including being afraid of being labeled crazy.

If you’re not telling the people who are closest to you how you really feel, then it’s time to stop hiding. If you’re friends don’t accept you because of the way you think and feel, then it’s time to find people who will. On some levels no one in this world is normal. All of us are freaks in one way or another. So I say if it’s within the limits of the law, if it’s not going to hurt you or hurt someone else, then EMBRACE YOUR FREAKISHNESS! Embrace what makes you an individual. Embrace what makes you different.

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