Serious? Complex? Severe?

Hi there @Sehnsucht,

I understand what you are trying to say. You feel that by making sure that we let all people know about our experiences and struggle they may finally see the light and help us, drop the stigma and change.

It hasn't happenedm, unfortunately. That is what the medical model was trying to do to say to the people: hey these people are sick they cannot always help what they say or do so we need to help them and understand them.

There are many problems with this: first of all having a mental disorder does not mean that our intelligence is affected by that disorder, just that our intelligence can become distorted due to symptoms. We can be extremely intelligent; second when there is the mind involved any idea of illness will increase stigma automatically. That is just the way it is.

So that when you write: People go through transitory emotional and identity periods throughout their lives. We need to continue to point this out, and get people to identify with it. The person that had a high fever at 12 and hallucinated they were walking backwards, for example.

It isn't going to happen, unfortunately, Stigma is still strong and still prevents people from living as they should. No one knows about it because it is mostly hidden but we, who suffer with it directly, know that the stigma is there and that it can stop us.

The medical model, the illness word, has done nothing but aggravate the stigma and I agree with Kurra some people will not join here if there is talk of illness or chronic illness or serious illness.

We know that the situation is serious but we need to find words that are friendly enough and do not lead to stigma.

Here is the definition of Neurodiversity: To me, neurodiversity is the idea that neurological differences and disorders like depression, autism, bipolar, schizophrenia and ADHD, to name a few, are the result of normal, natural variation in the human genome. THis is because we have always had depression, schizophrenia, bipolar in our world. These have always been there. If they are there, and evolution has not eradicated them, they serve a function. We need to live with these and treat them not as an illness but as a variation of being for whatever reason this has happen. IN so doing we will reduce the impact of what we call Mental Illness which really is NeuroDiversity.

Thank you @Appleblossom

for the encouragement. I don't have all of the answers but I am searching. I figured out a loong time ago that with mental disorders such as Bipolar there is so much creativity that emerges and so many positive things. If we learn to accept the problems and struggle with them, we can enjoy what is good in life. It is possible to find some happiness, no matter what.

This is a beautiful little parable

A water bearer had two large pots, one hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.

At the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house, the cracked pot always arrived only half full. For two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his master’s house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, fulfilled in the design for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was unable to accomplish what it had been made to do.

After two years of enduring this bitter shame, the pot spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself and I apologize to you.” “Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?” “I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts,” the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.” Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and was cheered somewhat. But at the end of the trail, it still felt the old shame because it had leaked out half its load, and so again the pot apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, “Did you not notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, and not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we’ve walked back from the stream, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.”

Each of us has flaws. We’re all cracked pots. But if we will allow Him, the Lord will use our flaws to grace His Father’s table. In God’s great economy, nothing goes to waste. Don’t be afraid of your flaws. Acknowledge them, and you, too, can bring something beautiful to the Father.