I’ve heard it said more than once about people with mental illness that they are “attention seeking”. Especially about teenagers. For one thing if you fake a mental illness for attention, you do in fact, have some form of a mental illness, because that is not a normal thing to do.

If anyone tells you that they are suffering from any type of mental illness it is not your place nor your right to question them. You do not get to tell them that they have “no reason” to be depressed or anxious. You do not get to tell them that they have everything they could ever want in life and ask them how they could possibly feel that way. You do not get to downplay their suicidal thoughts. Make fun of their emotions. Laugh at their struggles.

Mental illness does not discriminate. It does not choose people in poverty to affect. It does not seek out people of color or white people or specific age groups. It is not privy to those who are single, or married, or gay or straight, or young or old, or short or tall, or skinny or fat.

It is a disease. A chemical imbalance in most cases. Sometimes genetic. Sometimes triggered by trauma or an accident.

So the next time you feel that you have something to say about someone else’s mental health, do everyone a favor, and don’t.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Categories: Addiction, Anxiety, bipolar disorder, Depression, Education, Grief, Infertility, Mania, Medication, Mental Health, OCD, PCOS, PTSD, Sexual Abuse, Suicide