when you come across people who don't bleive in mental illness like bipolar ?

Bipolar is an illness just like any other, people saying "It's all in your head" don't have the intelligence or the general culture to understand it. Of course, nut cases like Tom Cruise didn't help at all. I haven't seen any of his movies since then. I think these days more and more people start to realize that while a physical illness is caused by imbalances in the body, psychological disorders are cause by imbalances in the brain. While it's sad that not everybody understands that, thank God that Inquisition times are over and we don't burn people as witches anymore. To answer your question, it is not up to you to make people understand. Someone who doesn't want to understand, never will. If they want to understand, they are worth your time and you can explain more. Otherwise... NEXT.

I, too, suffer from Bipolar Disorder, Type 1. At first, people just thought I was crazy, but then I gave them hard evidence (you know, phsych statements and the like). Many people cannot deal with me, or want to, but those who are close to me, are able to handle it pretty well. It does take a while to get used to this type of mental illness (for others, that is), but I always know who my true friends are - they are the one who does not hold my illness against me and sticks by me no matter how manic or depressive I may become. Basically, if a person doubts the credibility of mental illnesses, I simply smile, thank them for wasting their precious time with me, and then I walk off. My "politeness" usually leaves them stunned, heh.

I have friends with different disorders, bi-polar, depression, panic-anxiety attacks, and I totally understand them. I have read up on them so that I can but people, like my husband, are the type who say, "Oh, just get over it," or "they are faking for attention." I want to slap him when he does that. I think that people do not realize that these are not "mental" issues but "physiological" problems that cause emotional issues. There are problems with the chemical make up of the body with different hormones and other things that cause it. If you had cancer, people would not act so stupid about it. When I had cancer, and was going through chemo-therapy, I suffered from depression and other things. People were kind about it because it was from the treatments. But if I were like that on a regular basis, I wonder. What you can do is give them information to read. Tell them, "this is what I have, my doctor said to give this to those who do not understand so you realize that I cannot control it and even with medication, it will never be cured and must be adjusted, continually." Have you looked into a nutritionist, too? There are foods to eat and foods to avoid that do help. Hugs for you.

I have spent my time with a lot of people with mental illness. I myself no its a true disease and you cant control it. I think people dont like to believe that someone is really mentally ill out of free or if they just cant see a disability on the outside they just dont believe it. Alot of people with mental illness get this attitude like they are faking it. Since I experienced people in my life first hand with mental illness I know in fake it is a serious disorder. I wish you well take care!

The entire problem with a mental illness is that it can't be seen by someone. What I mean by that is when someone has a broken leg, or arm, you can tell what is wrong with them just by looking at them. As far as a mental illness, you can't tell that someone is mentally ill just by looking at them, unless they are behaving strangely or doing something other people would not normally do. My best friend's brother was recently diagnosed as bipolar and she has six other siblings. She was the only one who dealt with him, looked after him, made sure he went to his doctor appointments, got the proper medication, etc. I got in touch with another friend recently whose brother spent 2 years inside the house depressed. I don't know what finally got him out of the house, but he is now doing much better and has a girlfriend. There is nothing wrong with mentally ill people. There is nothing wrong with handicapped people. We all coexist together in this world and we all have the right to be here. The ones who make weird comments on your postings obviously do not understand about your mental illness. I don't understand why people would not believe that you have an illness, but I wouldn't waste too much time worrying about it, those types of people are just not worth your time.

Been there! i have been told everything from you need more exercise to changing my diet. I've been told lots of useless, hurtful things. I finally learned that I have to be careful who I talk to about it. It shouldn't be that way. If I had diabetes I wouldn't be afraid to talk about it. But it's just easier not to deal with the ignorance that so many have. Unless it is someone who the disorder also affects, I don't talk about it. I shouldn't have to defend myself, so I just don't. For those people who don't believe it is real, I pray you never get to find out. I'm always amazed by how many people offer advice when you don't ask for it. If I want advice, I ask my doctor, not someone who hasn't a clue. I wonder if these people would tell a cancer patient how to treat the disese if they have never had it. Someday it will change.

I have depression and ADD. My mom has bipolar and schizoaffective disorder so I've dealt with mental illness quite a bit. I know its real. I've never understood why people think that a disorder in any other part of the body is real but not in the brain. That's kind of stupid and you really can't deal with stupidity.

I guess I am one of the ppl you are referring to...the ones that have a hard time accepting that some ppl actually have mental problems...or at least to the degree they claim to have. I had a foster kid that was diagnosed as having bipolar as well as anger problems. She was on meds that half the time she wouldn't take, she would go to the anger management classes and be so nice that they couldn't understand why she was there and everytime she did something wrong and got mad about it she'd blame it on the bipolar. The biggest thing though was I set up an appt. to have a therapist see her and I together since I was her foster parent. She got to the appt. ahead of me and saw the dr. alone...when I met her in the hall coming out, she said he told her there was nothing wrong with her and she was perfectly normal. I wanted to hear him say that. We went back in and talked to him and I asked her some direct questions in front of him about her behavior that set her off...he saw the other side of her...the yelling, mad, out of control person that I saw daily...the funny thing was after she got out of foster care she quit taking the meds, moved away and now, according to her, the bipolar quit as soon as she met her current b/f. Another foster child had a school meeting at which several school members told me she needed to be on Ritlin b/c she was ADHD and out of control part of the week. They said that she was unmanagable on Monday, Tuesday and part of Wendsday but good as gold the rest of Wendsday, Thursday and Friday. Now I may not be a rocket scientist but even I know that mental disorders don't only happen on certain days of the week. I explained to them that she didn't have any ADHD but rather she had weekend visits with her mom that threw her off her schedule and it took several days to get her back on her routine. They insisted she be put on Ritlin but I refused. A few weeks later the visits were stopped and the problem quit. The only reason they were pushing it was b/c they get extra money for each "special needs" kid they have. I'm not saying that no one has mental issues or that some are not severe...only that there are alot of misdiagnosed ppl out there and that there are some ppl that play their problems up or play at having them in order to get attention, get a disability check or to get sympathy from those around them. [b]~~AT PEACE WITHIN~~ **STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS**[/b]

i used to spend alot of time trying to get people to understand what it is like to live with a mental illness or in my case illnesses and i finally just decided that they will never get it till they been through it and i hope they never do anyone who has a mental illness will know how difficult it is.

If there are people who won't understand you, i think it's high time you shy away from them. It is nice to group around people who understand your case instead of pushing yourself on those who do not understand you. Angels do exist and they are the ones who will take care of you no matter what happens.

I have a mood disorder that is a step down from bipolar, and I have anxiety issues. I get panic attacks & people say things like its all in your head....DUH!!!! or its an excuse or something like that, Its ridiculous. The fact that they do not understand proves that no not everyone has it... People are ignorant about mental things. But the best thing to do sometimes, I've noticed is only confide in those you trust will support you, and if they wont onlu if necessary.

It is very difficult. I had a friend who had trouble at work because she told her supervisor about her mental illness and the next thing she knows she is called into a meeting with her manager and suddenly told that she is no longer safe to be at work and needs a letter from a psychiatrist stating that she is not dangerous. This was appalling. The girl had been working there for years and no one had a problem with her. Suddenly now that they know she has a mental illness they are treating her like she is a potential killer. I told her to get her union to help her and they did, the girl ended up better off out of it and the boss eventually did one nasty thing too often and the school encouraged her to resign. The boss was lucky not to have been charged. The bosses behaviour was an appalling way to handle a very delicate situation. I cannot understand why people are so uptight at the slightest mention of mental illness. They just freak out. I was shocked that so called intelligent people could act so irrationally without any facts.

It is a real shame that some people act that way syankee525. I not only have had depression for some time, I also worked for many years in the mental health field. So, I know and I understand completely. There are many different disorders that affect the brain. As you said, it is a chemical imbalance and I agree with that wholeheartedly. I don't understand why I get severely depressed the way I do sometimes. There doesn't seem to be anything in particular in my life that triggers it. Most of the time, I wake up horribly depressed and everything seems hopeless and I feel helpless. Sometimes it might last just for a few hours & other times a few days and then, all of a sudden, I snap out of it. It is really frustrating, to say the least. I have been on more than a few different antidepressants through the years but none have done the trick yet. Helped... yeah, but not enough. Once I am able to get health insurance again I want to be switched to a different medication or have another one added to what I am already on to see if it will help. Wish me luck! I am very happy to hear that you are doing much better syankee! That is great. I am happy for you! :) It feels good, doesn't it?!

this is really some kind of sensitive topic. i do believe in those things. i think most people do cause it is fact of science that there are different kind of mental illness. but i think that many times though that they tend to abuse those word or term like they just brand someone with mental illness if they don't understand one person though it is still a normal person. and so i think that it is really one thing that we get to learn more . cause even i think those experts are still not that sure what are those things that can be defined as mental illness cause not all cases are mental illness.

i wish i new more about what causes mental illness i have a family member that has it and they would not hurt a fly.it must take a strong person to put up with this problem not to mention all the medications that are tried on you guys .i am so sorry you have to deal with this and i hope more people understand it could happen to any one .god bless and take care.

Hi syankee! I think people are afraid of what they don't understand or don't believe in things they can't see. I think that if more people were educated and there was more info out there people would probaly realize how close we all might be to mental illness. I have people I know that have social disorders and a couple with depression. I have known children with bipolar and probably some adults that have just not been diagnosed. Education is the key for people to understand.

I have an ex friend who told me there was nothing wrong with my youngest two kids that good discipline wouldn't cure. Also that Autism is a made up illness. I about had a heart attack when she later tried to become a special ed teacher. I know how the people who don't get it can get under your skin. I answer the questions as honestly as I can of the people who really don't understand but want to. The others I resort to a bit of quiet sarcasm. I hit them in such away that they almost miss it. With my mother in law I clip articles or point out shows. She learns best from others. Then you smile like you just ate their puppy and laugh when they retreat in a hurry. You've done good in your life... don't let anyone make it less then it is.

I think that people react the way they do because thay just don't understand the illness. If they haven't any experience of it, they really can't imagine it.