Being Crazy vs Mental Illness

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• Being Crazy vs Mental Illness
• Stigma: A Change in the Way We Perceive Mental Illness
• From HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

Being Crazy vs Mental Illness

A year after it was written, 2,000+ people have read "Are Bipolars Crazy? I Am." by Breaking Bipolar blog author, Natasha Tracy. To this day, people still come and leave comments on that article. It resonates with them. Why?

In the article, Natasha admits to being crazy. The dictionary definition of crazy is a person who perceives reality in an unexpected way. And she admits to fitting in that category. But mentally ill? "There's nothing wrong with me," writes Natasha. "There is something wrong with my brain."

Stigma: A Change in the Way We Perceive Mental Illness

Since our mental health website came on the scene over 10 years ago, I have seen a change in the tone of emails from people coming here. In the beginning, we would get dozens of emails a month from people with bipolar disorder, depression, OCD and other mental illnesses indicating they were secretive and ashamed about having a psychiatric disorder. Today, many email writers are "out."

Does that mean stigma surrounding mental illness has greatly diminished or disappeared? I can't say that. Many who do and don't have a mental illness still perceive it as something bad, something to ridicule or be ashamed of. On the other hand, there are thousands upon thousands of people on the Internet and in the media who have a mental illness and are talking about openly. They accept they have a mental illness and realize it doesn't diminish who they are as a human being. That's progress. That's a good thing.

Stigma of Mental Illness

• Dump the Stigma and Focus on Recovery
• 'Self-inflicted' Wounds? Superman, Anxiety, Stigma and Stress
• Mental Illnesses Aren't Punch Lines
• Stigma of Having A Mental Illness
• How the Stigma of Schizophrenia Affects Treatment (audio)
• Mentally Ill Kids Face Widespread Stigma
• Bipolar Disorder and Treatment Stigma
• Stigma of Depression (Video)
• Borderline Personality Disorder: Beyond the Stigma (audio)
• YMCA Ad Triggers ADHD Firestorm
• Facing the Stigma of Bipolar Disorder

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From HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

Your comments and observations are welcomed.

• Mental Illness and the Whole Family: Not Just Parents (Mental Illness in the Family Blog)
• Time for Tech in Depression Treatment (Depression Diaries Blog)
• I Am Good Enough and People Like Me - Why I Hate Affirmations (Breaking Bipolar Blog)
• Responsibility and the Cycle of Abuse (Verbal Abuse and Relationships Blog)
• CBT is Like Shopping at 7-11 for Your Mental Health Needs (Treating Anxiety Blog)
• Link between Substance Abuse and Eating Disorders (Debunking Addiction Blog)
• Swimming in Alphabet Soup: The Language of Eating Disorders (Surviving ED Blog)
• Indefinite Psychiatric Diagnoses Challenging for Parents (Life with Bob: A Parenting Blog)
• When a Person with BPD is Missing: An All-Too-Common Nightmare (More Than Borderline Blog)
• Normalizing Dissociation Part 1: Dissociative Amnesia (Dissociative Living Blog)
• Abuse Victims and Responsibility
• Antipsychotics and Mental Illness: the Great Debate
• A Tale of Antipsychotic Switching and Withdrawal
• 10 Lessons Addiction Sobriety Teaches Us
• I've Told The World I Have Depression, Now What?
• Double Trouble: Borderline Personality Disorder and Substance Abuse
• Vacations and Bipolar Disorder
• Co-morbidity: Muddying the Waters of Childhood Psychiatric Illness
• Schizophrenia and Parenting: Step In or Let Go?

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

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