“The burden of mental illness and addictions is more than 1.5 times that of all cancers, a new report suggests”.
For those who missed the evening news last night here you go:
And a link to the full report:
I honestly can’t say that I was surprised by the magnitude of the findings of the study, but I have a different perspective than most on this subject. Having had mental illness take such a massive toll on my quality of life since I was just 15 years old, I could have been an ideal case study for that report.
Not that I’m blaming all my life problems on my bipolar disorder, but it certainly doesn’t help. Its the kind of illness that tends to make situations harder to deal with, often exacerbating the problem, making things worse then they had to be I suppose. But that’s only one way of looking at it.
Without my disorder - my altered brain chemistry - I strongly believe I never would have attempted suicide twice, ended my engagement with my fiance, dropped out of grad school, become completely estranged from my father, become an escort, and self-medicate through alcohol and substance abuse.
All those things must make me sound like I’m a horrible person, but I’m not. I’m intelligent, kind and compassionate. The only person I really hurt is myself. I’ve missed out on many things in life because my illness kept me from functioning at my best.
If I were properly diagnosed when things first got nasty for me (when I was 16) I firmly believe that things might not have gotten so out of hand later in my life. I might have had the proper care (e.g. support and meds) that would have gotten me through grad school. I’d be doing a very different job now if I didn’t drop out of grad school I’m sure. Hell I’d probably be married with kids!
It was ten years later I was finally diagnosed properly and could start managing my illness and reclaim my life. Its not all smooth sailing for me now by any means, but its not as out of control as it was before. I’m managing a much more normal life now (besides the escorting maybe - lol).
But enough about me.
Its apparent that unless you’ve dealt with mental illness personally, most people simply don’t understand what its like and how it affects the person in almost every aspect of their life. These illnesses are harder to grasp by most because its an illness that you can’t actually see or touch physically. A broken arm, a cancerous tumor, collapsed lung, heart attack, blood clot are all easier to grasp by the average person b/c its possible to see the problem with their own eyes, which gives it validation. In our “see it to believe it” culture its hard to validate an illness that is in most cases impossible to see with our naked eye. “You look fine to me, so snap out of it....”
Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Most of us believe in gravity or God (for example) but you can’t see either of those with you own eyes now can you.
So what’s it going to take for mental illness to be taken as seriously as other ‘physical’ diseases and offer appropriate help for those in need? Isn’t that basic human dignity and decency?
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