Daily Life with Mental Illness

What is mental illness? Let's get one thing straight; as per the dictionary definition, a mental illness is a medical problem and it should be treated as seriously as a heart attack would be. The side effects include but are not limited to, crippling depression, anxiety, thoughts of paranoia, lose or increase of appetite, hallucinations, insomnia, and even suicide. Having a mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of. In the following paragraphs, I will be describing the hardest parts of living with a mental illness, how it is to be controlled by a mental illness, whether society as a whole truly understands what it's like to suffer with a mental illness on a daily basis, and question if a person can ever begin to be at ease with their mental illness.

The Hardest Parts of Living with a Mental Illness:

Imagine being in a house full of people, it's your family let's say. They're laughing, messing around, just having a good time. Then there's you; you're there too, but the experience you're having entirely different. The exclusion you feel while battling the ongoing war that's in your head. Pulling yourself out of it takes an extreme amount of effort and strength.

"People are quick to judge anyone the moment person shows any sort of sign of peculiarity," said one source.

When there's such a stigma attached to mental illnesses, it's tremendously difficult for you to open up to your loved ones. If you speak up, will they even believe you or care? All it takes is one negative comment to keep a person from reaching out. When there's no one to share the problems you're dealing with, you're going to remain silent. Most likely, you'll remain in a state of silence until it becomes too much to handle on your own and you blow up.

Suffering from a mental illness is lonely. When you don't have anyone to talk to but the demons in your head, life gets lonely. You don't want to be a burden to those around you. You already feel worthless. Isolation seems to be the only answer. The world is better off forgetting exist so you start hiding out in your room for days on end.

You don't leave the house. You stop showering. Phone calls go unanswered. Housework is left undone. If it's you can't avoid leaving the house, you do it thoughtlessly. The only thing that keeps you together is the reminder of your bed.

The hardest part of living with a mental illness, in a sense, is trying to live.

It controls your life.

Can you fathom the idea of not being able to leave your own house? Crowds are hard to wade through. Loud noises trigger you. It's hard to get to the store for milk when it feels as though every person in the place is watching you, staring you down, and whispering about you to their friends.

Keeping any type relationship, friendship or otherwise, is nearly impossible. People will find you unreliable. You'll cancel plans that you needed to participate in. It will get hard to maintain the allusion of being "fine." Many relationships may cease to continue on.

In many cases, your life will be derailed, forcing you to go a different way. Choices will be made just to avoid complications of your mental illness.

Teenage years are often plagued with memories of depression and anxiety, skipping out on living because of the disorder you're gifted of.

Whether or not you want to admit it, your mental illness is the constancy of your life, always hanging around, forcing you to alter routines and catering to its every need.

Society:

When surveyed, nine out of ten people said no to my question: Do you think society as a whole really gets what people who suffer from metal illnesses actually deal with on a daily basis? Although less taboo in today's world, it is still not at a level of understanding that makes people comfortable.

It's more likely to be told to suck it up when struggling with some form of mental illness in the work place. You can't very well call in and tell your supervisor that you're too depressed to get out of bed, or that you were up all night struggling with suicidal thoughts so you're exhausted. Unfortunately it seems for the majority of people, they can't truly understand what goes on in your head unless they've been through the same type of ordeal themselves.

In media and entertainment, mental illness is often used as a punch line. One way to get the message across is more accurate portrayal of the struggle with mental illnesses and less of an attempt at comedy.

Since mental illness is such a big headline these days, it's become a very modern topic. Society has a way of making light of situations which dulls the seriousness of the issue. Many people throw words around like bipolar, anxious, and OCD to self diagnose themselves. This needs to stop.

Society has come a long way but there's still a lot to work on when it comes to handling mental illnesses properly.

Does it get any better?

Living with one or more mental illnesses is absolutely treatable. Therapy and medications are the no-brainer options. No one is the same so their recovery will just depend on what works for them.

When asked if they thought it was a possibility of living with a mental illness getting any easier, people had several different and positive answers.

"If you find something to hold onto, it can get better," said one person.

People may think they're stuck where they are with their mental illness. However, it's completely possible to overcome the worst of it. Throw yourself in something you have passion for, whether it be a job, studies, your house, your kids, even yourself!

In conclusion, the daily struggle of dealing with a mental illness is soul crushing. It ruins chances you'll never get back, ends relationships with people you care about, and leaves you feeling like you're never good enough. It's difficult not to let it define who you are but with a lot of effort, you can start to feel better.