Stigma

Hi all. I just wanted to share this with you all because it is relevant to living with a mental illness. When i was first diagnosed back in 1999 i was very ill and didn't really know what was happening to me.I was in a facility and didn't know where i was or what i was doing there. Anyway i stayed for about three months with a diagnosis of schizo affective disorder. My family for some unknown reason told me i had bipolar disorder. So for many years i thought i had bipolar disorder telling doctors i had that diagnosis and thinking i had that diagnosis myself. I later moved to a different state and was told i had schizo affective disorder with PTSD. My medication changed for the better and i started to live with my illness an awful lot better. My mother now is quite elderly and the skeletons are really coming out of the closet. I have found out that many of my relatives have had severe mental illnesses mostly under the umbrella of schizophrenia. My mother told me herself only a month ago that originally i had schizo affective disorder. So why was i told i had bipolar disorder. I think that my family was embarrassed by the long line of schizophrenic members in my family. I have found out about suicides in the family and others who went around the town brandishing rifles and were held permanently in facilities. I did not know that there was a genetic factor to my illness. Anyway just thought i would share that. I am the one with the illness and i don't care what other people think.