The media has covered illnesses like cancer, diabetes and heart disease to the extent that we have understanding and empathy for those who suffer from them. These illnesses often bring the sufferers face-to-face with death.
This is not the case with serious mental illnesses—schizophrenia, chronic depression, bipolar disease and PTSD—which are not so well understood by the public or covered by the press. When individuals with these illnesses are homeless, commit crimes or threaten others, the response is more fear than empathy.
The reality of these mental illnesses is that the sufferers are dead to the healthy persons they once might have been—or maybe never were. Death can be a constant companion in suicidal thoughts. The sufferer never knows when the voices or episodes will come. Sufferers never know when an all-encompassing darkness will steal their lives away.
The specter of mental illness has increased and touches more people during these COVID times. Be alert to symptoms in yourself or others. Be sensitive. Seek help. Dismiss any social stigma. Believe in your good self.
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