romanticizing mental illness is dangerous and misleading
Artsy depression: haunted eyes, good at art, emo hair and eyeliner on point
Actual Depression: bloodshot eyes, no longer trust themselves with pencils, has not showered in five days
Quirky OCD: organized books, clean room, color coordinated outfits
Actual OCD: Intrusive thoughts, flipping the light switch 8 times so you don’t stab your brother, picking holes in your skin
Cute eating disorders: Slim trim and beautiful, shyly refusing a second helping, dancer aesthetic
Actual eating disorders: Puffy cheeks and eroded teeth from excessive vomiting, hair growing over your freezing body and refusing to eat carrots because they’re too high in carbs
Adorable anxiety: just a smol bean, soft, must be protected from the world
Actual anxiety: crying so hard you throw up, shaking, losing sleep over a period after the “okay”
RPG PTSD: flashbacks, vietnam, u don’t know what i’ve been through kiddo
Actual PTSD: Buying your first pregnancy test at twelve, flinching at high fives, i can’t feel my hands where am I what year is it
Cartoon ADHD: look a squirrel, something shiny, fidgety loveable bufoon
Actual ADHD: rereading the same page over and over because it doesn’t make sense, hasn’t done the laundry in four months, hyperfocusing on a mushroom knowing you have work to do
stop making terrifying realities seem cute. it’s disrespectful for those of us who are actually struggling
Fucking preach.
Uwu smol baby autism: adorably awkward, huggable, acts cute when confused, has some sort of rainman talent and a perfect memory in general
Real autism: worrying about whether you’re interpreting people’s cues correctly/making your tone sound correct for the context, or whether they’re about to get wierded out and uncomfortable bc of something you said, sensory issues that drive you nuts, not being able to adapt to sudden changes in plans and freaking out, melting down or shutting down when stressed by stupid things
Reblogging for the autism part that is just too real
The OCD thing needs more spotlight, so many times in TV shows and movies the people with “OCD” or “OCPD” are made out to just be these super detail oriented savants. My dad has real, honest to fuck OCD, and you’re never going to see them talk about how their “quirks” make life hell for them, because if they don’t obey that compulsion it will eat away at their mental state until they do.
His ticks are at least manageable, like checking his parking job 4 times even if no one is around him and he’s in the spot perfectly. Some people can’t even leave their house because their compulsion tells them they need to tap a certain spot on their ceiling at least once every 15 minutes or a plane will crash somewhere.
AND the worst part is that it’s not like most other mental issues where they think what they’re doing is right. It’s more like a less extreme tourettes in that they’re fully aware that what they’re doing is wrong but they have no control over needing to do it.
I hope this isn’t tasteless but I think Scrubs had a fairly good episode involving a doctor with OCD.
