Wow, I Have Mental Illness!

When I was in college years ago, one of my professors, who had mental health issues himself many years beforehand, was saying that when he decided to seek help for his problems, he was diagnosed with mental illness. And it felt weird to him at first. He was like, "Wow, I have mental illness!"

However, after a while, it no longer bothered him. It no longer felt odd to him when he told himself that he had mental illness.

And when he was telling the class this, it reminded me of when I first got help. It reminded me of when I felt it was a strange emotion when I first got help for me to think that yes, I have mental illness.

And like the professor, I also found that, after a short while, it no longer felt weird to me that I had mental illness.

So if you have serious emotional issues and are considering getting help, be aware that after a short while, chances are that thinking of yourself as someone who has mental illness won't feel weird forever.

Hi Mike,

The thing about mental illness is it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. A child might be born with Diabetes and that’s something not caused by the environment - it’s a fairly straightforward physical illness. The child might also be born with a genetic disposition to mental illness but it requires the environment to bring it out.

I really dislike the term “mental illness” for my anxiety disorder because it still has that stigma of being crazy. I can see exactly what’s caused my “disorder” as I was growing up. In fact, it was probably hard-wired before I was even conscious and started while I was in the womb.

I appreciate your overall message though. “Emotional issues” is probably a term that resonates better with me :)

All the best,
Gypsy x

It is weird to think we're mental but oh well lol gotta have something