MIFSITS is created to offer a “check-in” every now and again for those of us dealing with mental health issues. This can be personal — living with mental illness ourselves — or for people living with the mental illness of an intimate friend or partner.
Many of us here at Daily Kos experience various forms of mental illness, both personally and as caregivers. It doesn’t matter what kind of mental illness you are dealing with, you are welcome in this group! It can been extremely helpful just to know that there are others who are walking the same or a similar path as we are.
Well, I think we all got a big guffaw outta Doc Zombie’s most excellent diary Not The Onion: Guns officially OK to take into Texas state psychiatric hospitals. What will those wacky Republicans think of next?
I gotta say, though, the comments… There was a subtext to a lot of the comments that kinda scared me, and definitely pissed me off. There seems to be a whole swath of people, right here in River City, that think that just because somebody's inpatient, they’re automatically gonna take any opportunity to wreck havoc on innocent nuerotypicals. Jesus weeps…
So here’s some stats that we’re all pretty familiar with, but apparently “just can't be true!”…
From US Dept of Health and Human Services-
Mental Health Problems Affect Everyone
Myth: Mental health problems don't affect me.
Fact: Mental health problems are actually very common. In 2014, about:
- One in five American adults experienced a mental health issue
- One in 10 young people experienced a period of major depression
- One in 25 Americans lived with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression
Myth: People with mental health problems are violent and unpredictable.
Fact: The vast majority of people with mental health problems are no more likely to be violent than anyone else. Most people with mental illness are not violent and only 3%-5% of violent acts can be attributed to individuals living with a serious mental illness. In fact, people with severe mental illnesses are over 10 times more likely to be victims of violent crime than the general population. You probably know someone with a mental health problem and don't even realize it, because many people with mental health problems are highly active and productive members of our communities.
Let’s look at a couple of those numbers again. 3-5% of violent acts can be attributed to folk w/ MIs. About 1 in 25 US citizens suffer from severe MI. I’m gonna say that 1/25 is close enough to 3-5%. So, we’re violent at about the same rate as normals (w/in MOE), but we’re the victims of violence at a rate 10 freakin times as high as normals.
...And they’re scared of us. Ignorant freakin’ wussies, they…
Anyway, that’s my rant for the day… How are y’all, my Brothers and Sisters Rocking Custom Neurology?
What’s Good? What’s Bad? What just Is?
How we holding up?
( And, since it’s traditional to throw some resource links up at the bottom of this kind of thing, here are some of the places that I’ve found most helpful-
NAMI, the National alliance on Mental Illness, has some great resources here.
I really really appreciate the real-world experience of the good folk over at Crazymeds.us. We “consumers” often know a lot more about our meds than the Docs who prescribe them. Do me a favor and let the ads load- those guys need the cash. These guys are great, because they understand that having an MI requires a really really good sense of humor. Ya can laugh, or ya can scream.
For my particular flavor of brain cooties, there’s some GREAT resources over at MyPTSD.com.
An intimate who’s wearing a Bipolar type II jacket has found a LOT of relevant information over at the PsychCentral forums.
...and if anybody’d care to suggest a resource, I’d be glad to add it.)