Please Read Before Watching:
Today (Oct. 6th) is National Day Without Stigma. If that word can apply to anything, Mental Illness certainly fits the bill. Millions of Americans suffer from the crippling despair of depression, the seemingly unescapable throat tightening anxieties of what other people think of as just day to day activities; others from confusing and terrifying visions of schizophrenia, or the unpredictable roller coaster that I have personally come to know, bipolar.
(Here are only a few statistics: http://www.nami.org/factsheets/mentalillness_factsheet.pdf)
The thing is, we're too afraid to ask for help. People think that because they can't see what's wrong with us, no matter how closely they look with a magnifying glass, that it doesn't exist - we should just toughen up.
When we hear about mental illness in the media, it is very rarely associated with anything good. Please, please hear me.
The price of silence can mean the incalculable horror of the loss of life. Over 90 percent (90 percent) of people who commit suicide have some sort of organic brain disorder. Mental illness is an illness, not a lack of character.
I made this video to communicate how it feels, to me, to suffer from bipolar.
This is Say It Forward Week, with National Day of Prayer for Mental Illness and Recovery on the 7th, National Depression Screening Day on the 9th (there are many free confidential screenings in many communities and online), and National Bipolar Awareness Day on the 10th.
Even if you don't have a mental illness, I bet you know someone who does - because 1 in 4 adults have a mental disorder. And they might be too afraid to tell you.
Please, I urge you to reblog this message, tweet it, anything (#sayitforward and #bustthestigma) ... and add to it! Make a video, take a picture, write a poem. Share your story. I know it's scary, but you are not alone, and this could be the time.
Reblog, and I think you'll find out for yourself.
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