Stop Misrepresenting the Mentally Ill

It's all in your head!

I mean, you're right, it is. It's almost like my brain, which is inside my head, can be affected by illness the same way my body can. Who would have thought?

In media, most of all, mental illness is trivialized and laughed off like some kind of quirk, or a personality trait that a person can change. None of this works like that. I have watched countless movies in which the antagonist is just evil due to their mental illness, and not upbringing or trauma. I want to talk specifically of movies in which the murderer is an evil alter, or a hallucination that forces a character to kill all the others. I'm sick to death of this trope. I'm sick to death of actual, diagnosable disorders being treated as jokes, or dismissed as being evil. Dissociative identity disorder is, probably, the most stigmatized disorder that exists in the world of mental health. Now, I'm no psychologist, but I am a writer, and that means I love to do my research. I'm not a system, myself, nor have I met one in my real life, but I speak to people online from all around the world, and I don't believe everything I see in the media.

D.I.D, for one, is an extraordinarily complex disorder caused by trauma, in which the subconscious literally splits itself into multiple pieces to keep its body safe. Being a trauma disorder means that basically every alter that exists within a system is going to do its best to mimic its host as a way of protection, not go around hurting people for no reason. That's literally the opposite of what would actually happen. If a system is going to hurt anyone, it would probably be itself. Can we stop, please, using psychotic disorders as an excuse for an evil character? Can we stop referring to the mentally ill as dangerous or crazy?

The media, of course, doesn't stop with movies or television. The way mental illness is portrayed on clothing, for example, is disgusting and ableist. The way we throw around terms like "oh, I'm so bipolar!" or "Wow, I feel really OCD today" is just one of many reasons the world of mental health is 1.) overlooked, and 2.) misunderstood. My mother is a woman who enjoys her surroundings tidy, and orderly, but she isn't OCD. Despite her casually throwing around the phrase "I'm so OCD!!!!" when something is untidy, she has no idea of the struggles this type of things can cause those who actually have the illness.

Stop misrepresenting the mentally ill. Stop saying you have depression when you're really just sad, or that you feel bipolar when you change your mind a lot, or that my anxiety can be cured if I'd just stop worrying. Clinical depression affects approximately two hundred eighty million people worldwide, but, as the most common mental condition, it's still overlooked and misunderstood. Depression is so much more than just being sad, or feeling down. It's so much more than just having a bad day. I don't suffer a lot with depression. I don't have clinical depression. But I've had experiences like so many other people.

Imagine if an employee at a large corporation came to work with the flu, and was denied time off, because they really weren't that sick, or it wasn't that bad. Imagine if a student came to school with a stomach bug and was forced to sit through class, because you're just pretending to be sick. Imagine how stupid that sounds. Well, this is how the mentally ill are treated: dismissed and laughed off as if their problems aren't really that serious. I think the problem with mental health is that as an outsider, we don't really think it affects us, and so we don't really care. If my neurotypical employer has never experienced a single mental health issue, there's no possible way for them to understand mine, and so there's really no reason to be compassionate.

As someone who was never allowed mental health days growing up, I learned to internalize a lot of trauma. This, partly, is why when my son says he isn't feeling well, but isn't visibly sick, I take his word for it. In a society run by egoist, neurotypical men, it's hard to be taken seriously if you're not an egoist, neurotypical man. When I was in junior high, I was often scolded for being quiet, or messy, or careless, when really none of this was my fault at all. I am not visibly disabled, but - according to the Canadians With Disabilities Act - I'm entitled to disability because of mental health conditions.

That's the thing, though. With all of the misinformation and bigoted jokes targeted at things like mental health, people assume they know us. People assume we're incompetent, or stupid, because our brains work in different ways. I am not just worried when my anxiety is acting up. Some days, my chest feels so tight that I can't breathe, and I think I'll choke to death. I am not just lazy as a person with ADHD. I lose everything important, forget crucial appointments, neglect everyday responsibilities. I'm autistic. Though this isn't considered a mental health condition, it's a disability. You'd never be able to tell by looking at me.

Stop misrepresenting the mentally ill. Stop assuming you know us when all you really know is what you've seen in movies. Stop labeling yourself mentally ill just to be quirky or to garner attention. Stop romanticizing depression, anxiety, personality disorders. They aren't romantic. We aren't cute. We cannot be cured by falling in love, or getting fresh air, or drinking more water.

Sure, maybe sometimes, it does help to talk to a friend. Maybe sometimes, it helps to take a long walk and get some fresh air. I think the biggest misconception about mental illness is that it can go away with time, and this simply isn't true. It's like a chronic illness: diabetes, Crohn's, fibromyalgia; you can treat it with medicines and work, but it never really goes away. Some days, I smother my anxiety deep inside my brain so that it can't escape. Other days, it smothers me. The thing is I never really know what a day is going to bring.

As a society, we need to work together to combat mental health stigma, and to raise accurate awareness for the conditions that make life feel unlivable at times. Instead of believing blindly what we see on television and read in the media, we need to do our own research: speak to people, learn their stories, expand our experiences with mental health. Perhaps someday, mental health struggles will be taken as seriously as physical health. That's what I hope for, anyway.