De-stigmatizing Mental Illness Requires Education

Mental illness stigma is similar to masturbation stigma. Some people do/have it but nobody admits to it in a crowd of strangers. ;)

Sadly though, Britney Spears can put out Touch of My Hand, but no word from Paris Hilton about her disorders at all. She sufffers from claustrophobia and may have mild ADHD. Her risky behavior looks prodromal for either bipolar or borderline personality disorder, though I nix the latter because she has had no known failed suicide attempts.

Chris Benoit is likely to have had borderline personality disorder, since concussions are comorbid with BPD, though steroid abuse is more likely. Though, if he had failed suicide attempts in the past, then he would be positive for BPD.

Usually, after the first and only psychotic incident, people in denial will go off meds due to side effects and pretend it never happened.

However, if there is a parent with recognized schizotypy (ranging from schizoid to schizo-affective to schizotypal to schizophrenic behavior), then a first-timer might go on to exhibit similar behavior (suspicion, paranoia, denial of relapse, delusions, anxiety, nervousness, love of nature and books, long time spent alone).

If economic conditions are adverse, then this could morph a first-time psychosis into a schizotypy.

For women, a caring and loving husband or soulmate can mitigate her schizotypy. There are a lot of eccentric women in long-term relationships who are successful, especially when they have learned how to deal effectively with stress. The same goes for men, but they too require a caring and loving wife or soulmate.

Undiagnosed mental illness is not the actual problem. If my unofficial research into drinking is any indication, people are self-medicating for an undiagnosed mental illness. A similar conclusion can be made about rereation drug use. Though, a refusal to acknowledge there is a problem is related to the current stigmatization of mental illness.

Because, sometimes alcohol use may indicate a coping skill to deal with undiagnosed mental illness, I feel that next to the posters against binge drinking and overdrinking in clubs, there should be posters bringing a human face to mental illness.

I currently get headaches from drinking alcohol, which means my self hypnosis is working. ;)

So, I feel substance abuse education goes hand in hand with mental health education. Why? My unofficial research shows that substance abusers are slightly more likely to be in denial that they are medicating a mental illness with alcohol and/or other drugs.

YMMV