Okay, my turn to comment. Let me add as a disclamer, I read all three pages, and while I tried to not take anything personally, my comments may be directed at some people in particular, specifically as I am someone diagnosed with mental illness. Thanks, PC, for inviting us to comment in the OP.
Letrell: If I understand correctly, you are saying that my poor choices are the reason I have a diagnosis of mental illness. That would make sense, except that some mental illnesses are caused by chemical imbalances, or are genetically predisposed to happening. What wrong choices did the person who's brain isn't producing enough serotonin make?
SS: You say that all of us have a mental illness of sorts. I beg to disagree. Merriam Webster defines a mental disorder/mental illness as:
: a mental or bodily condition marked primarily by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind, and emotions to seriously impair the normal psychological functioning of the individual—called also mental illness
Fasting and tithing, while they may be difficult, and not always what we want to do, generally do not impair us in our daily lives.
Praetorian: your remarks are quite disturbing. It's not so much that admitting to mental illness is dangerous, it's more the stigma that is attached. The minute anyone mentions that they or someone they know is possibly mentally ill, those stigmas march to the forefront. Part of it is, yes, the reaction of what people visualize schizophrenia by, someone out of control. The actual reality is that many more people suffer in silence because of how they will be viewed.
Everyone is or will be suffering from mental illness at some point in their life? Please, read the definition I posted above. Depression over your cat dying is one thing, you feel bad for a couple days, then you get over it. Mental illness refers to the people who struggle with depression/mania/anxiety/eating disorders, for weeks, months, even years, with the ups and downs that come with those issues. While most people will experience these symptoms briefly, they cannot understand what it is like to live with them day in and day out.
You are right in saying that mental illness is not necessarily curable. Most of the diagnosis that fit in the category of mental illness are only treatable. But again, check the definition of mental illness, it's something that seriously impairs the normal psychological functioning of a person. In these cases, why would you leave someone who could benefit from treatment without it?
I'm going to use your statement in a personal example. "Sometimes, its more important to accept someone or ourselves as is, than believing that they must operate under our assumptions." Now, provided I'm interpreting your statement correctly, it's better to accept me as I am, with my tendency towards SH/SI, my breaks in reality at times, my extreme mood swings(Bipolar w/ psychosis and borderline personality disorder) than to encourage me to get treatment, take my meds, and possibly live a much happier life, free of the ins and out of hospital stays, trips to the state hospital, and repeated efforts to do it on my own.
You are also right in saying that the resources for caring for a mentally ill person are scarce. That is true. When states/counties do budget cuts, often the psych portions on the state, county and local levels are cut, resulting in case workers having larger caseloads, hospitals having people in and out more often, and only a portion of those who need help being seen. That's why people such as you and I need to speak up, and make our leaders on those levels realize that those programs are needed.
And now to the OP, PC, the way I understand it is that is a trial I knew I would be given, and I accepted it. Now, it's thru my Heavenly Father's strength that I can do it, because on my own it would be a dismal failure. Had I known then what I know now, would I have taken it? I can't say. But I also know that my Father's grace comes to help me when I can't do it anymore on my own. I was truly blessed when I got my official diagnosis, to have both a branch president and Institute leader who were PA's, and a number of people in my branch in the medical profession. I received very few disapproving looks when I went back to that branch, and that's because tho the people there didn't know the extent of my struggle, they knew that I was doing what I could to handle it.
