In the past few days we have seen tragedy strike in Connecticut. It is one of the worst shootings in history. In this day and age of instant information “news” came out about the shooter being mentally ill. Now the media is blaming mental illness for this shooting.
This is not true. The media is making it seem that anyone who has a mental illness is going to go shoot up a school. While yes, this could happen, odds are it won’t. Why then is the media obsessed with mental illness when they do not understand it?
I have seen so called “doctors” on television stating that mentally ill people are crazy and can’t be helped. They should be locked away. There is no hope for them. I often wonder where they got their degree from?
The fact is that yes, many of us, myself included suffer from a mental illness. It is NOTHING to be ashamed of. It doesn’t define who I am as a person, it is something I have.
I often wish that the people who think that all mentally ill people are defective, try living in our minds for a day and see what happens. Odds are they would not be able to take it. They would beg to be let out of our minds.
I don’t think the general public realizes how strong all of us with mental illnesses are. We get up and fight every day of our lives. We should be proud of this.
Thanks to the media, the stigma of mental illness is back. I for one am not going back into hiding. I may not like having a mental illness, but I am not ashamed anymore!
Keep fighting!
Jason
