tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30178203.post5613939406961737075..comments2023-10-31T04:16:04.331-05:00Comments on Feed Me!: The stigma of mental illnessHarriethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09774535311853591028noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30178203.post-16244184950062247122009-03-06T17:31:00.000-06:002009-03-06T17:31:00.000-06:00If it's the hospital I think it is (St. Joseph's),...If it's the hospital I think it is (St. Joseph's), the place is inhuman. Seriously inhuman. I was hospitalized there back in 2001 (bipolar incorrectly medicated and completely out of control), and all I can recall was how cruel the staff was to the patients. I cannot tell you how many times things I said during therapy sessions were used against me to make me sound more out of control than I actually was. The only way I could get out was consenting to ECT. Otherwise, the future they painted for me involved the rest of my life on a locked ward. At the time, weak, scared, and almost entirely out of my mind, I felt that I had no options.<BR/>Many months later, the doctor I saw after moving back in with my parents that summer summarized it thusly: "You spent three weeks in a hospital, and it took two years for you to get over it." She saved my life, got me on the correct cocktail, and less than two years after my time at St. Joseph's, I began my first semester at Penn.<BR/>To this day, even after being on effective medication for over 6 years, and being declared in remission, I still see myself as crazy, that one wrong move, one neurochemical misfire could bring me back to what I was in the winter of 2001. I started dating someone in October 2008, and still felt compelled to apologize, to give him the opportunity to "run away screaming." He didn't; nor did the most important people in my life. With that said, the stigma still lives, and goes far deeper than anyone who has not survived a locked ward - either as patient or family member - can ever understand.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07229297379576270450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30178203.post-83483867878342784792009-02-23T18:03:00.000-06:002009-02-23T18:03:00.000-06:00That's a really upsetting story. It doesn't surpr...That's a really upsetting story. It doesn't surprise me in the least, unfortunately. Negative attitudes towards those suffering from mental illnesses are certainly pervasive in our society.Gwenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11098013076632075762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30178203.post-15561848811109199652009-02-23T11:06:00.000-06:002009-02-23T11:06:00.000-06:00What a horrible story. I have some experience with...What a horrible story. I have some experience with that myself - not because I actually had a mental illness when this started, but because everyone thought so. And then, when I actually did develop <EM>real</EM> mental issues, nobody noticed. *sigh* I also know someone who said he was practically abused while he was hospitalised for something similar as this girl. Sure, it can be extremely hard to decide what the "right" course of action is in a situation where people are not being themselves, but one would think that giving someone socks and a mattress should be possible if they're already being observed 24/7 ...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30178203.post-50268162338333014702009-02-22T20:03:00.000-06:002009-02-22T20:03:00.000-06:00Thank you for bringing this subject forward. We h...Thank you for bringing this subject forward. We have schizophrenia in our family so I am constantly aware of the stigma. Not only the mistreatment and lack of understanding from professionals but the constant use of the disease as a source of comic material from otherwise politically correct, sensitive people. Lasr week Oprah, of all people, made a joke about schizophrenics on her show.<BR/><BR/>It's a devastating disease and it's just not funny.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com