The Stigma of Mental Health

So we all know that its not really seen as OK to be mentally ill.
Society is not very accepting when it comes to accepting things that don't fit into a box.

Its real though being mentally ill is not nice. You cant run away from it and everyone just thinks your crazy, insane, weak minded, pathetic blah blah blah, all total rubbish.

If you are epileptic then you don't hide it when you have a job interview, how many people with this type of illness would actually tell there employer on the application form that yes actually i do have a health problem which effects me everyday. Not many!
But why not- being mentally ill does not make you a bad person, it doesn't mean that you cant do a job. OK for some its worse than others some require more support than others, but isn't this true with any illness or ailment??

If you take a tablet to control your blood pressure- this is fine
If you take a tablet to control you blood sugar levels- this is fine

but

If you take an anti-psychotic or an anti-depressant - woooohhhh you want to be careful taking them, there bad for you!!!
again total rubbish.

If you have an illness that can be controlled by medication then surely you should take it and not feel like there is some kind of enormous issue and that really only the week would take it. You wouldn't call an asthmatic weak because they need an inhaler- whats the difference.

I mean OK i know all of these things, so why does the fact i have a mental health problem make me feel like such an epic failure. I personally don't take my medication because it makes me sleep and i feel that i cannot live my life when i'm sedated. But if i wanted to take it then who is anyone else to make me feel like some kind of failure for doing so! This of course all feeds into my paranoia and my inability to be accepting of others. Its just narrow minded and well pathetic. Everyone judges everyone else but like they say 'he with out sin cast the first stone' and all that jazz. No one is perfect and really should just keep their mouths shut when its in relation to something they clearly don't have an understanding of.

I think that mental illness is interesting. It makes people do things, say things and feel things that others do not, If you actually look into its fascinating, amassing, mesmerising, just how complex the human brain is. Why do we do what we do? why do we think what we think? why do we feel what we feel? so many questions with so many possible answers. Although id rather not actually have it.

I understand the concepts i think, i know why i do the odd things i do, i know why i feel the way i do, i understand the concepts of what causes this imbalance in my brain. I can support others in their hour of need. But i cant help myself. Frustrating is an understatement. When im in the midst of an episode hiding underneath a bed for hours, unable to move, talk or acknowledge the people running around searching for me im stuck, i cant stop, i cant hear my rational voice the 'mother' of my mind telling me to get up and say its OK im hear. But the inner child, the scared lost lonely little girl takes over. She is a defiant little cow and she rules the roost! Once she takes over that's it, all ration thought and feeling is gone- im removed from my own person and this child is released. It scares the absolute shit out of me. But that's another story and really has no relation whats so ever to Stigma :)