Community, Mental Health and Activism

Blogging is a career for some and a hobby for many people. Even if, like me, you do it as a hobby, there is a chance that you read other people’s posts, comment and end up making connections with like-minded people all over the world. This is crucial for us. Every person with a mental health condition possibly feels disenfranchised in some way. Some of us feel like outcasts, like we don’t fit in;. Then we find our place online.Our community.

The interwebz is a series of tubes

200 years ago, life for people with mental health conditions was drastically different. People would be committed to asylums. From thinking that it could be contagious to housing mentally ill people with criminals, gay, libertine people, folks with sexually transmitted diseases, etc. We were not seen in a good light at all and were severely mistreated.

In the beginning, people weren’t even treated. It was seen as a moral issue, a reason versus unreason issue. A denial of God. Just locking up people in horrible conditions because they also believed that those people were less sensitive to cold and pain. We were seen as sub-human.

Later began the doctor-patient relationship, long cold and hot baths that were like torture, supposedly worked as a therapy. Some delusions were resolved by doctors, for example, someone firmly believing that they had no head and the doctor simply placing a heavy object on their head. The patient quickly understood that he had a head.

So there was an evolution and it’s still ongoing, as we all know. So comparing how mistreated and disenfranchised we were and the loving community we have now, with some amazing professionals who help us along the way.

I don’t live alone but we all keep it to ourselves in this house. I’m alone most of the time and I have to say that I’m never lonely. Never really bored.

Writing is a part of all of us. Like my friend J used to say, we all have too many words and we need to say them. Speak, write, paint. Words come in many forms. Words, feelings, emotions, vibes. And we can write, share our thoughts, get encouragement and input and do the same for others.

So if you feel like things are hard, look how far we’ve come. How much we have now and how much we share. How much we can do and accomplish even with our limitations. And if the past is the best predictor of the future, there will be much more progress going forward. New therapies, better meds with less side effects, etc.

I feel like in the future, mental health conditions will be more prevalent in society, however, there will be better ways to tackle those issues and allow people to have normal and fulfilling lives. I always say that this is the best time ever to be mentally ill. Like that meme says, 100 years ago, we would all have been lobotomized.

Community, connection is what we all crave and now we have it in this way. We don’t have to show our face, or speak. We are what we say and that’s how we connect. That’s why we get on the computer and write that long post that we researched for a week. You’re interested in that subject and you want to share it with your audience. And sharing, as we know, is caring. All I see here, though I am not the most active commenter everywhere, is love. People cheering on others, complimenting, constructive criticism. I don’t see what I would consider toxicity or troll behavior.

In conclusion: we have a strong community now, which is so important to all of us and I would love to get involved in activism. It would be good to use my platform in that way. I want to be a part of the change that is necessary in mental health, especially the stigma of having BPD and mixed gender psych wards. It would be good to connect to other people who are interested in mental health activism.

Let’s get together and create something to push for change, I know that we can do it.

How common is BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder)?

Sometimes, we feel like we are alone. No one feels like us or struggles like us. There are many blogs about BPD and that suggests that it is not that uncommon.

A recent study on the prevalence of mental health disorders in the U.S. found that about 1.6 percent of the population has BPD. While that number may sound small, that means that there are more than four million people with BPD in the U.S. alone. Although many people have never heard of BPD, it is actually more common than many well-known disorders, such as schizophrenia.

So, you see, you are not alone and it is relatively common. Millions of people have it, all around the world. Furthermore, it seems that there are more women diagnosed with BPD than men. Correlation doesn’t always imply causation, so it unclear whether women are more prone to have BPD or if it has anything to do with the fact that it’s considered a women’s condition. Some men have BPD and are misdiagnosed as having depression or PTSD.

That 1.6 percent statistic may not be accurate because many people with BPD have not yet been diagnosed or they have been misdiagnosed. In one study from Brown University, more than forty percent of those with BPD had originally been misdiagnosed as having bipolar disorder. One hypothesis for this issue is that bipolar disorder is more easily treated through medication, so it is more commonly diagnosed so that symptoms can be quickly managed with a prescription.

Maybe you think you don’t know no one with BPD in the real world but you probably do.

 

The image is courtesy of Pixabay.