"Coming out"

   I feel a Mental health revolution coming on. This is the era of our "coming out". I have no fear saying that I have more than one mental disorder. There is no shame behind that and should not be for anyone. Its odd how as a society we have health "fads". Don't get me wrong, its great how we have raised money for so many things. The huge breast cancer movement. Children's cancer. Diabetes. The AIDS movement. I am not discounting any of these. The only problem is, I fear for the mental health movement. It is one that will always carry a stigma. When you're talking about the mind, someone is bound to blame negative action solely on the person of that action. You wouldn't see that with cancer, or diabetes. Any symptom of those diseases are not frowned upon. But mental health, that is a touchy subject. My mind is taken to numerous school shootings, a lot of them being from people diagnosed with schizophrenia who were not given the help that they so gravely needed in time. That does not make it okay, but there was much reason in their own heads. In other words they were not in their right mind. That's where I worry. When someone is looked down upon and completely blamed when they have a mood swing and punch a hole through the wall. I understand. Those are actions that in our society are unacceptable. But I also understand that mental illness is not even fully understood by the ones who have them. Take the movie Silver Linings Playbook. I hear all of the time how that movie just hit the nail on the head. I beg to differ. They showed Bradley cooper as only getting angry with his mood swings. Same with Jennifer Lawrence. Bipolar Disorder is SO much more. Don't get me wrong, it was a good movie, and a lot of the things you saw were truth. But we can't count on just a movie to learn about these illnesses. There is only a 2 hour window for one. Two, its not there to educate you. It's there to entertain you. So I guess what I am trying to say is, don't expect to get a good picture of what its like to have a mental illness through a film that is solely for the purpose of money. If you really want to learn about these diseases, get real. Find a proper outlet. Especially if you have a friend or loved one with an illness. Despite kind of bashing on the movie, I do love this quote by Jennifer Lawrence, but its also sad that we need celebrities to get something truly into our heads.