Mental Disorders: Zombie Virus or Serious Condition?

This is a brief opinion-based work that shares a few personal experiences on the subject of personality disorders and learning disabilities.

Mental health conditions such as personality disorders and learning disabilities are a real thing that can happen to anyone. It doesn’t automatically make you stupid or less of a person. These, along with many other serious health conditions, are far beyond a person’s control. The overall taboo and lack of information on the subject adds increasing difficulty for normal adolescents to understand.   

First of all,  there seems to be a lot of taboo about such conditions. A lot of people either avoid the subject completely, use them in negative ways, or have little to no knowledge on the topic. One personal experience I can share is when I was sitting in art class, and a girl sitting nearby kept jumping from topic to topic during a conversation with her friends. A boy sitting across from us called her out on it, by saying, “Do you have ADHD? Are you stupid or something?” His general lack of knowledge and empathy infuriated me, he was using a serious health condition as a joke to mock his peer. Then it occurred to me, his ignorance wasn’t entirely his fault. My sister has the condition, and it appeared that he hasn’t been close with anyone with ADHD. There also isn’t any course that teaches you how to sympathize and deal with people who suffer from this condition, nor would anyone teach you about similar conditions that exist. Unless you took psychology as an elective, had a family member or loved with the condition, or experienced it yourself, there was no way you could possibly even begin to comprehend the solemnity.

“People who aren’t going through it get frustrated trying to understand it… Mankind has always had a fear of the unknown, whether it's monsters or the mentally disabled.” �"Kathyrn Amos, a sophomore at LHHS.

To add on to that, the majority of people with learning disabilities or personality disorders are often bullied or have their circumstances belittled by their oh-so-educated peers. People who don’t have to live with any of these conditions often assume that someone who does is either being dramatic or needs to pull themselves together. It might not just be ‘all in your head’. It comes to a point where a lot of people are afraid to tell their closest friends and family about it. 

            Anyways, allow me to add in a bit of basic info about personality disorders. Personality disorders can be defined as having “unhealthy pattern(s) of thinking, functioning, and behaving,” according to the Mayo Clinic and various other sources. These can range from anything abnormal such as, severe mood swings or ups-and-downs, or experiencing anxiety. Experiencing constant paranoia, hallucinations, inability to focus,  or fear of public places are also just a small sample of symptoms from a wide spectrum of personality disorders. It's normal to feel these every once in a while, but it becomes a disorder the moment it becomes a hindrance in your life.

           I, myself, suffer from anxiety disorders and several other disorders. The amount of strength it takes to hide a panic attack is extremely overwhelming. What people don't realize about anxiety disorders is that, the anxiety never fully goes away, it's always around in one way or another. Any little thing can trigger attacks that cause me to feel unbearably anxious. Physical symptoms such as my hands trembling, feeling nauseated, and becoming dizzy, also show up during panic attacks. Really the only way to deal with anxiety is either by medication or developing coping skills. These coping skills or strategies are just ways that can help relieve a bit of anxiety. They are different for everyone, for me it's music and poetry. What are your coping techniques?

        Have you ever wondered why that one girl in your chemistry class is always shaky or shies away from others? Maybe she just has a disorder that she's embarrassed about, or she could just be shy. Never forget that these things aren't easily controllable, otherwise they wouldn't be disorders. Help stop the stigma and taboo about mental disorders. Try not to belittle someone's depression or PTSD, as them needing to "get over it." You wouldn't like it if someone broke your leg and asked you to walk as you normally do. These conditions can be emotionally straining, especially when peers think that you're a freak or that it isn't real.

 

Author's Note

Please let me know what you think! I am open to all forms of constructive criticism. :)

Reviews

[akshay]

Nicely put up. Yes the society with today's generation need to understand these things and be patient and try to be helpful towards the people who they think aren't normal like themselves. Well and its true they will never understand the struggle unless someday they get a chance to go through it. Everyone does get anxious at a moment in life but its not the same for everyone. going through it once and going through it the whole life, its a huge difference. And they cannot teach anyone to help such people out with their lives because its not the same for everyone. Every single person is different as their own self inside and it would be hard to judge someone from the covers. We of course cant expect anything great from anyone but at least people shouldn't try to count us outside the pack when they get to know us to depths. Every person has a right to live and be loved. It would be so much better if they just stay strong beside those who need their support, and never let them give up on life.

[Skittlex Love]

Please comment :) Any opinion is fine