being mentally ill + suicidal at a young age (before 18) is. strange, because you grow up with this idea that one day you’ll finally snap, turn off, be brave enough to kill yourself, so you don’t really plan for the future. adulthood- further life, it isn’t for you, nor do you feel included within the future of it. it isn’t.. it isn’t part of your life plan.
and then before you know it you’re 18 and you’re an adult but you never thought you’d get this far and sure it’s great that you’re still alive you guess but also. you feel so alone + lost in a world you never expected or planned to be a part of.
Okay, look. I have my issues regarding AKF, but I’m gonna say this and try to remain on neutral ground.
YANA is not a competition against AKF. It is not a fuck you from Jensen to Jared or from Misha to Jared. It is not a copycat of AKF.
Stop making this shit about your hang ups with cast members and remind yourself what both charities are SUPPOSED to stand for and what they do. Regardless of the personal intentions behind either, each campaign’s ultimate goal is to provide help and support for people who suffer from mental illnesses. And all this shitty fighting in the fandom is so hard for people who struggle with mental illnesses to deal with.
Don’t be pissed, be grateful that we live in a time where we have ANY support and resources for mental illnesses and raising awareness about them.
Concept: Maybe “neurotypicals” who consistently reblog post about autism and other mental disorders and illnesses because they relate to them actually aren’t neurotypical, and just don’t know it.
Even the ones who say, “But everyone does this!” might only be saying it because they do it, and therefore think everyone does, when that’s not the reality.
Like, I remember someone who very obviously had OCD saying, “Everyone gets constant, upsetting intrusive thoughts, and does things to make them go away! It’s normal!” and everyone who responded to them were like, “Uh… No, it’s really not. You have a mental illness.”
I hate how everyone is so quick to assume anyone who relates to their posts without having every aspect of their mental state listed on their blog is obviously an evil, appropriating neurotypical. Maybe they are technically neurotypical, but have one or two traits associated with whatever form of neurodivergence. Maybe they’re neurodivergent and just don’t feel like listing it. Maybe they think they’re neurotypical, and are in the process of realising that they actually aren’t.
Please don’t be so quick to judge. This gatekeeping helps no one.
This is an extremely important point.
I know at least one trans person who didn’t realize they were trans until they were talking about how much they relate to trans things. Only, it was in the context of being dismissive of trans people. “Oh, sure, of course you prefer those pronouns. Everyone does.” But that wasn’t a cis person being dismissive of trans experiences; it was a trans person not understanding that they were trans.
Same thing with a lot of mental illness stuff.
Honestly, if you relate to an experience, you have the experience. Doesn’t matter whether you have it for the same reason someone else does.
On a similar note that I was thinking about recently: perhaps some neurodivergent people who are dismissed by their parents have neurodivergent parents who don’t know it. Like, if your mom says “everyone has that” when you tell her about your depression, there’s a decent chance that she’s not minimizing you, she just has depression herself and doesn’t realize it.
Yes. My parents did this. Both of them now realize they have undiagnosed ADHD.
I was in a lot of activities when I was four and five, and multiple teachers suggested to my mom that I might have ADHD. My mother’s response: “Everyone does this” and “why do you care that she can’t stand in line, cut with scissors, or go for thirty minutes without zoning out, but not that she can spell her first, middle, and last name perfectly?”
The problem is, this sort of thinking causes harm, both to the undiagnosed person and any children they might have.
I’ve talked a lot here about how much I’ve suffered because I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 20. The whole “if you’re so smart, why can’t you do x? You’re so lazy and selfish” bit. But my mother, for example, didn’t just berate me. She was even harder on herself. I constantly saw her calling herself “stupid” when she was late or forgot something or made some sort of ADHD mistake. Think about how much self-hatred she could have saved both of us had she realized that ADHD was real and she had it.
TL;DR, a lot of people who say “everyone has ADHD” (or autism) have it themselves and don’t realize it, AND THAT DOESN’T MAKE IT OKAY.
have patience with yourself. nobody ever got better overnight. you’ll get wherever you need to go in time. for now, remember that every day that you survive is a step forward, and you have survived many days. be proud of yourself.
Raise your hand if you started off as an overachiever and now you’re fighting off crippling anxiety and depression as you watch people catch up and surpass you while you watch your own grades slowly slip
it’s so scary feeling like you manipulate everyone who loves you just by being Extremely Sad and them noticing it… like… im so sad a lot of the time and i dont want other people to be trapped by that sadness
constantly going “am i being Sad too loudly? am i being Sad too obviously? is this manipulative?” even while in the middle of a crisis
do you ever get confused about where your mental illness ends and where you being a piece of shit begins ?? like am i just being difficult or can i really not do that
The problem with being introverted is that there is no polite way to say “I love you, but I’m tired of being with you right now.”
This post makes me so sad because I remember when my husband felt he couldn’t say this to me. Because society had pounded it into his head so thoroughly that it ‘wasn’t polite to ask for alone time’ that he felt he wasn’t allowed to. And he was SO MISERABLE. I, being an extrovert myself, had no idea. It wasn’t until, after lots of trial and error and lots of fighting and crying that we finally figured it out.
Saying ‘I love you, but I’m tired of being around people right now. I need time to recharge.’ is NOT IMPOLITE. If someone you say it to thinks it is? Then they need to learn what being introverted means. You can try to help them understand that you need to recharge your batteries. If they refuse to accept it… well, then, you’re never going to work anyways. Because you should NEVER sacrifice your mental health just to keep from hurting someone else’s feelings.
You can ask for alone time politely. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s not being mean. It’s not being rude. Explain that you need time to recharge. That you just need to be alone with yourself for a while. It’s so important. And the people who truly love you in return will learn and adapt as much as you do.
Perhaps her mother is prone to depression and her father has anger issues?
Perhaps they too learned how to deal with their problems.
Imagine using this cartoon to explain mental illnesses to children, teens, and even adults
Hi! I work at a mental health clinic and we have already started using this movie to help kids identify feelings and work on controlling them! We have action figures so that non verbal kids can still show us what feelings they are having. This movie really is revolutionary for mental health services everywhere!
