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Don’t Judge Me

Mental Illness Portrayed in the Media

Mental Illness Portrayed in the MediaW

by: Anita Levesque on January 23, 2017.

Chances are the majority of knowledge of mental health comes from the media. Researchers have suggested that most portrayals in the media are stereotypical, negative and incorrect. Stigma towards mental health has been in the media as far back as the 1800’s; “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”; dissociative identity disorder, formerly called a split personality disorder or multiple personality disorder. Inaccurate portrayals of people with mental illness has created negative stereotypes in all types of media; internet, television and print material such as magazines and newspapers.

In most cases, the psycho killers, crazy girlfriends/boyfriends, stalkers and criminals all have some kind of mental illness according to Hollywood. All too often the result is that of our culture’s fear and ignorance towards mental illness.

This is where the stigma takes affect; the majority of people living with a mental illness are most likely to be victims of violence rather than committing the crime, based on a study in 2014.

I was a Criminal Minds fan up until a few years ago. I noticed they included ties between the crime and a mental illness; it was in every episode and I cannot watch it anymore.

The movie “Split” which came out in theatres January 20, 2017, has a lot of controversy within the mental health community. I have read comments on Facebook from some people who live with mental illness and still want to watch the movie because it’s that – a movie. There are others who live with mental illness and are disgusted at how the movie shows Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) formerly known as split personality, multiple personality disorder and also frequently mislabeled as Schizophrenia.

Sometimes the stigma attached to mental illness is so strong that people are usually unwilling to seek help out of fear of what others may think.

It’s not all negative in the media. Here is a partial list of movies that honestly depict mental illness in their true form.

1/ Rain Man (1988)-Autism

2/ What About Bob (1991)-Anxiety

3/ As Good As it Gets (1997)-OCD

4/ A Beautiful Mind (2001)-Schizophrenia

5/ Silver Linings Playbook (2012)-Bipolar

6/ Inside Out (2015)-General mental health

7/ Benny & Joon (1993)-Schizophrenia

What can we do to help end this stigma in the media?

– call or write to the publisher or editor of the newspaper, magazine, book, or radio and TV station. Help them realize how their publication has affected those people with a mental illness

– start a discussion about that movie, TV show, article you read etc. Explain how it really is living with a particular mental illness

– KEEP TALKING & KEEP LISTENING

Original Post: http://mentalillness-doyouknow.com/mental-illness-portrayed-in-the-media/

#BellLetsTalk Healthy Minds Canada #SickNotWeak #endstigma #mentalillnessinmedia

Not All Disabilities Are Visible

Not All Disabilities Are Visible
By Kate Mitchell, May 3, 2016

http://www.huffpost.com/us/entry/9825348

Too often recently, friends or online acquaintances of mine have been accused of faking their disability. I personally am also disabled. I have autoimmune arthritis, fibromyalgia, anemia of chronic inflammation, and asthma. I’ve been in pain every day since 2001, and over the past 6 years, it has become moderate to severe every day. I experience pain in 54 joints. I am unable to work full-time or go to school full-time at the moment. I take 40 pills a day and 4 inhalers. I’m at the doctor every single week. I’ve had 5 surgeries. But you would never know any of this by just looking at a picture of me. And I’m not alone, as the vast majority of people who have disabilities have invisible ones. But because the majority of people have the idea that everyone who is disabled looks disabled, too many treat disabled people poorly. They shame them, don’t allow them to park in certain places, don’t allow them to use a wheelchair, and more. This is so beyond not okay, and it stems from the misconception that everyone who is disabled looks disabled.

What makes someone disabled? The definition of disabled is “incapacitated by illness or injury” or “physically or mentally impaired in a way that substantially limits activity especially in relation to employment or education.” As I learned while studying for my degree in secondary education, someone is handicapped if their incapacitation is temporary and disabled if it is permanent. For example, someone who has had ankle surgery is handicapped until they recover. If you’d like to read more about this, Emory University School of Medicine has a great explanation.

Everyone who is disabled looks disabled, right? Nope! As the folks at Invisible Illness Awareness Week figured out based on data from the 2002 US Census Bureau, 96 percent of people who live with an illness live with an invisible one, and 73 percent of people who live with a severe disability do not use devices like a wheelchair. This means that when you look at them, you wouldn’t know that they’re disabled. Think about how many people you see who are clearly disabled during an average week. Statistically, for every person you’ve seen who looks disabled, you’ve seen at least 4 more who are disabled but don’t look it.

So how can you tell if someone is disabled? Often, you can’t, so if someone says that they are, you need to take them at their word. If someone looks fine but parks in disabled parking — and have a placard for it — you can’t accuse them of faking it. If someone looks fine but wants or needs a wheelchair, don’t question it.

At the same time, we do need to make sure that people who don’t have disabled parking don’t park in those spots. They also can’t park there with their blinkers on while they wait for someone. If you believe that you should be able to park there because of a health issue, talk to your doctor. If your doctor disagrees with you, don’t park there. If your doctor agrees with you, you still need to wait until you get your placard in the mail before you park there. Anyone who parks in the disabled parking spots without a placard of plate is breaking the law.

What can you do about that? If you see someone park in the disabled parking spot without a placard, call them out on it or write down their license plate and contact the police. People parking in those spots without a placard are breaking the law pure and simple. The more they get away with it, the more they will do it. Oh, and doing this can prevent someone who needs it from going somewhere and doing something they can’t do without the parking. However, before bringing it up with someone, double check to see if they have a placard and you just can’t see it. Verbally attacking someone because you don’t think they’re disabled makes their life already harder than it needs to be.

Thinking of Suicide? Please Read!

Wanna kill yourself? Imagine this. You come home from school one day. You’ve had yet another horrible day. You’re just ready to give up. So you go to your room, close the door, and take out that suicide note you’ve written and rewritten over and over and over You take out those razor blades, and cut for the very last time. You grab that bottle of pills and take them all. Laying down, holding the letter to your chest, you close your eyes for the very last time. A few hours later, your little brother knocks on your door to come tell you dinners ready. You don’t answer, so he walks in. All he sees is you laying on your bed, so he thinks you’re asleep. He tells your mom this. Your mom goes to your room to wake you up. She notices something is odd. She grabs the paper in your hand and reads it. Sobbing, she tries to wake you up. She’s screaming your name. Your brother, so confused, runs to go tell Dad that “Mommy is crying and sissy won’t wake up.” Your dad runs to your room. He looks at your mom, crying, holding the letter to her chest, sitting next to your lifeless body. It hits him, what’s going on, and he screams. He screams and throws something at the wall. And then, falling to his knees, he starts to cry. Your mom crawls over to him, and they sit there, holding each other, crying. The next day at school, there’s an announcement. The principal tells everyone about your suicide. It takes a few seconds for it to sink in, and once it , everyone goes silent. Everyone blames themselves. Your teachers think they were too hard on you. Those mean popular girls, they think of all the things they’ve said to you. That boy that used to tease you and call you names, he can’t help but hate himself for never telling you how beautiful you really are. Your ex boyfriend, the one that you told everything to, that broke up with you.. He can’t handle it. He breaks down and starts crying, and runs out of the school. Your friends? They’re sobbing too, wondering how they could never see that anything was wrong, wishing they could have helped you before it was too late. And your best friend? She’s in shock. She can’t believe it. She knew what you were going through, but she never thought it would get that bad… Bad enough for you to end it. She can’t cry, she can’t feel anything. She stands up, walks out of the classroom, and just sinks to the floor. Shaking, screaming, but no tears coming out. It’s a few days later, at your funeral. The whole town came. Everyone knew you, that girl with the bright smile and bubbly personality. The one that was always there for them, the shoulder to cry on. Lots of people talk about all the good memories they had with you, there were a lot. Everyone’s crying, your little brother still doesn’t know you killed yourself, he’s too young. Your parents just said you died. It hurts him, a lot. You were his big sister, you were supposed to always be there for him. Your best friend, she stays strong through the entire service, but as soon as they start lowering your casket into the ground, she just loses it. She cries and cries and doesn’t stop for days. It’s two years later. Your teachers all quit their job. Those mean girls have eating disorders now. That boy that used to tease you cuts himself. Your ex boyfriend doesn’t know how to love anymore and just sleeps around with girls. Your friends all go into depression. Your best friend? She tried to kill herself. She didn’t succeed like you did, but she tried…your brother? He finally found out the truth about your death. He self harms, he cries at night, he does exactly what you did for years leading up to your suicide. Your parents? Their marriage fell apart. Your dad became a workaholic to distract himself from your death. Your mom got diagnosed with depression and just lays in bed all day.

People care. You may not think so, but they do. Your choices don’t just effect you. They effect everyone. Don’t end your life, you have so much to live for. Things can’t get better if you give up. I’m here for absolutely anyone that needs to talk, no matter who you are. Even if we’ve NEVER talked before, I’m here for you.

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Personal note: I’ve been there where it doesn’t seem like it’s worth it, even tried several times over the years… I’ve been in those shoes, so I have an idea of what’s going on in the head.. it may not seem it right now, but you are loved and if you need someone to talk to I’m here..

Paresthesia

Paresthesia is a type of pain in the form of pricking, numbness, and/or tingling. For example, a numb spot in the middle of your foot or a burning sensation on your back. Why do we get this? It is believed that Paresthesia is due to a damaged Central Nervous System ,- which may be the root of Fibromyalgia

Medications that work for Paresthesia are Anti-depressants, specifically Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitors or SSRI’s, and Seratonin Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors. Other treatments include Vitamin B¹² and Acupuncture

Should Morgan Freeman Speak Out About Fibromyalgia?

The author of the original piece first discussed why Freeman, being an atypical fibromite, would even make an appropriate spokesperson.
He’s male; most people with fibro a women, but this could bring more attention to men with fibro.
He’s active, but he’s also significantly limited in what he can do and his last role in London Falling was done almost entirely done from behind a desk.
Does he really have FM? The interview where he comes out saying he has FM, but comment about his arm “That’s where is gets bad. Excruciating.” So is it just his arm or is it bodywide? From the way I understand what he says is that the arm is the ‘worst’.. we all have spots that are typically ‘worst’..

While is is a personal decision, what do you think? Should he, iyo, become an advocate for all of us with Fibromyalgia?

The original article no longer exists.. However, below is a link to a copy of the original article which also discusses my points above.

Should Morgan Freeman Speak Out About Fibromyalgia?

7 Extraordinary Things

7 Extraordinary Things about People with Chronic Illnesses

From Chronic Illness on The Mighty.