what other words 'glorify' mental illness?

I have studiously tried to avoid ever using the word 'madness' to describe my condition. Now and again, the word slips out, but I hate it. 'Madness' is too glamorous a term to convey what happens to most people who are losing their minds. That word is too exciting, too literary, too interesting in its connotations, to convey the boredom, the slowness, the dreariness, the dampness of depression.
Elizabeth Wurtzel
From Book Prozac Nation

award-winning actress glenn close speaks out...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glenn-close/mental-illness-the-stigma_b_328591.html


why is there such a stigma about something so historically common?

depression in the workplace: don't ask, don't tell?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/09/20/health.depression.workplace/index.html

should people who work through mental illness speak up?  what are the benefits of doing so? the repercussions?  would you judge someone if he/she told you that mental illness was in the picture?  would you hire someone who mentioned that he/she had a condition?

10 tips for dating with depression

http://www.health.com/health/gallery/thumbnails/0,,20419609,00.html

imagine...

• magine that almost nothing interests you or gives you pleasure. You could not care less whether your grandchildren come to visit, or whether Barack Obama or Sarah Palin will be the next president or whether your favorite sports team wins the championship game.

• Imagine that you live with unrelenting sadness, regretting the errors and lost opportunities of your past, hopeless about your future and thinking that death would be a relief.

• Imagine that you frequently miss family and friends who have died, that you see their "ghosts" when you pass a place where you used to spend time together, and that you feel there's no one left who cares about you or who you care about.

• Imagine that you are constantly irritated, that you overreact to insults and that you have only harsh words for your family, friends or caregivers.

• Imagine that you worry all the time. Did you lock the door? Did you insult your friend? Did you tell your daughter to get married once too often? Are the new people in the neighborhood dangerous?

• Imagine that you believe that someone who comes to your home to help you is robbing you, or that a neighbor is spying on you.

• Imagine that you cannot bring yourself to get rid of old newspapers, broken bric-a-brac, and clothing you will never wear because they are your connection with a lost life.

• Imagine that you feel you have no more to contribute to your family or your community and that your life has become meaningless.

• Imagine that you rely on alcohol to sleep or to ease your fears or that you become addicted to painkillers that dull your mind.

• Imagine that you are responsible for an older family member, who needs help to dress, to eat, to bathe, or to go to the toilet. For years you have had to be there morning and night and too often have had to manage life-threatening crises when you should have been at work, with your own children, or asleep. Has the stress worn you down? Have you burned out yet?

• Imagine that one day you cannot remember the way home and that over time you cannot remember enough to have a conversation with old friends or to use skills that have defined you but that have slipped away.

These are all symptoms of mental illness, and isn't it obvious that they are enormous barriers to living well as you age?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-friedman-lmsw/you-cannot-age-well-witho_b_797508.html

kids and mental health

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,2026672,00.html

physical vs. emotional - one in the same?

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1004081,00.html

3 words.

if you had to write down three words that come to mind when hearing the words "mental illness", what would they be? (these will be used in a creative, anonymous display of sorts.)  but don't worry, just write what comes to mind. no rules.

what we are about

when life gets you down and the smallest tasks ie getting out of bed (literally - putting your feet on the floor and standing up), making breakfast, or picking up a fork is too difficult, there is a reason. depression plagues many. (so do other forms of mental illness.) mental illness affects one's, physical, mental, emotional, social, and every other kind of health-related capacity. it is powerful. it is misunderstood.

after an enlightening semester of school, i became aware that my experience of depression, anxiety and various other forms of pervasive personality patterns (perfectionism anyone?) were being perceived in a light very different from that which I was experiencing them myself: what people "see" is generally how they gather their information. when someone does not show for his/her 8am class, it would be easy to deem that person "irresponsible", "lazy", and/or clearly without desire to do well. no one knows when that person is really in his/her car, in the parking lot, and experiencing a panic attack. ah, disparity of perception and reality...

(shhhh.) it happens.
is a place to raise awareness about the stigma of depression, anxiety and mental illness.
it is a cool place with cool people.
normal people.
who suffer.
who want to get better.
can't relate? bet you know someone who can.
so join anyway.

reject the stigma
through conversation, art, and creative endeavors.

put a fork in it.
spread the word.
spread the world
peace of mind.

like us on facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/shhhh-it-happens/116063011795964