So i have always been a relatively open person and my school has been going well so I thought I’d be a bit more honest with them and started to be more open about my views particularly as debate is good. This has never made me nervous but if I ever speak about self harm or my illness well tha terrifies me anyone else have this? Is there a reason? Just wondering thanks for your help x
People don’t usually judge my worth as a person on views…
If I have an odd view point… people just nod and go away… they don’t say I’m too ill to be near children and animals…
I’ve been very lucky with some of the people I’ve told… but the stigma of self harm and mental illness is still pretty scary.
I think it is a bit of a catch-22 when it comes to disclosing information about your mental health. On the one hand I want to be open and tell you about it, but I don’t want to be treated differently. People are people and if they hear words like sz or self-harm, they will judge inaccurately. This is why I have always been tight-lipped about my mental health, no one needs to know about it. Sorry to say but there are even those out there who may use your forthcoming and honesty against you. Have discretion on the side of caution.
I’m open about my mental illness, but I live in an assisted living center for the mentally ill. I would caution against being too open in your situation. Bullies can pop up and use it against you. Also, if someone gets pissed off at you they might use it against you - like maybe if you made a super good grade at school and someone was jealous. If you give anyone any reason to feel jealous they could use it against you, or, they might decide to do it just because they’re bastards. Don’t trust too much in the goodness of people.
This type of question comes up frequently: Do I tell or not? In my opinion, in any situation that is competitive (school, work, etc) a person would be well-advised to keep sensitive information about one’s self out of the public eye. I pretty much agree with @crimby on this.
I feel really uncomfortable talking to people verbally about my mental illness, not sure why. I can do it if i really need to but I prefer not to and instead describe it through writing.
I am very open about my illness. I used to stay quiet about it at work, but at my current job one guy has autism and another has bipolar disorder. So I don’t see any reason to hold it in anymore. I tell everyone I meet, usually within a few hours of knowing them. For me, the stress of trying to hide it is worse than the occasional person being weirded out about my openness. So far, I’ve had maybe two or three people judge me for it and probably hundreds who either don’t care or find it interesting and cool. I’m not in high school though. Teenagers tend to be more critical of their peers than any other age group, so it might be harder for you.
When I first started telling people, I was nervous and scared about how to bring it up. But after a couple years of practice, it doesn’t phase me one bit. There are probably dozens of kids at your school struggling with mental illness who feel totally alone and different. If you speak up, maybe it will give them courage to speak up too. The way I see it, that’s the best way to end stigma. We have to stop feeling ashamed of who we are.
i’m not very open with people about my illness. My partner is, she told her coworkers about it before I met a few of them. She thinks that’s why she can handle Alzheimer and dementia patients because she’s dealt with me on some pretty bad days.
I think you should be comfortable with talking freely of your feeling, experiences, but learning from the muggles of the outside world talking about the in detail situation of the illness/ talking to aliens microchips Devils whatever it is/ isn’t usually taken well from them. There lack of understanding might lead to unnecessary actions. Talking about having a illness and tiny bit of the in detail world usual there is a response of empthay/wonder/understanding. - personally this is just a opinion of my own experiences. Does not mean it will pertain to your situation.
these are huge issues for you and i think anybody would be terrified to talk about them, i think you would have to be completely fearless to be completely open about these things,
i only let out what i am comfortable with and that is minimal at least but they know i have had or have problems and i dont need to go into details. i know it is good to be open about things but only to a certain point in my experience, people dont need to hear the whole story.