Hi All,
This is an educational conversation.
My thoughts:
When I get angry and "yell" (whether in tone or volume) at someone, I
figure I've "lost it" -- lost my centeredness. I'm emotionally and
intellectually upset. I've lost some control of my behavior. I'm
afraid, angry. Someone has stepped on my toes, as one saying goes. This
is relative to my valuing being calm and rational. (We native New
Englanders have a culture of reserve, as you probably know!) I feel
emotionally unstable at that point. I don't have any mental illness
"diagnosis" -- and the word "unstable" is an okay name for how I am
when angry. Okay for me.... but I'm hearing it's not okay for some
others.
Diane
On Mar 7, 2006, at 8:02 AM, Rosanna wrote:
Hello Tree,
You wrote:
“You, Rosana, are absolutely free to hold any beliefs you hold, both
as an individual and as an advocate. I happen to believe that your
use of the word unstable to reference behavior you do not like is just
the kind of stigma that perpetuates many of the problems people with
mental health disabilities have. If even an advocate for persons with
mental health disabilities cannot identify stigma when she sees it.”
I wish it were only a behaviour I “don’t like”. I wouldn’t have used
the word “unstable” to reference to a disagreement, or a difference in
taste.
I happen to think that mood swings just happen, and it’s not the fault
of the person that has them, because s/he can’t do anything about it.
What *is* a matter of responsibility is to decide whether to act on
them or not. I might feel like strangling a person, but I don’t act on
that urge and should I decide to, I would accept consequences for it
(that is, people locking me away).
Stigma is multifaceted. *Part* of the stigma is rooted in people being
afraid of whatever is different, especially in the brain, and
especially in Western societies. Another part of it is rooted into
people witnessing *some* persons with mental illness using their
mental illness (for example, mood swings) to *justify* their bad
behaviour, not accepting responsibility for what they do wrong (aka
acting on mood swings, saying stuff like “it’s not my fault if I
yelled at you, I have bipolar”).
So, I happen to fight stigma by fighting those behaviours as well (not
just “other”’s ignorance).
My “expertise” relates to the fact that I have bipolar, I have loved
ones with it, I am a medical student (master thesis in Psychiatry),
the founder of a self-help online group, a volunteer manager
advocating for inclusion of volunteers with mental illness, a
management consultant crafting accommodation policies, and a writer
that got works on psychiatric rehabilitation and advocacy published
quite some times.
This is not to flaunt my expertise BUT to say: in order to understand
stigma and to fight it, multiple perspectives are neeed, not just the
one from the person with mental illness.
Think about yourself being “normal” and witnessing somebody acting out
demanding to have such behaviour condoned in the name of mood swings
that can’t be controlled while you, the “normies”, can’t afford to
yell at your boss. Then tell me why a normal person might have it in
with a person with mental illness.
Rosanna
"Knowledge must come through action"
-Sophocles
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gionnetto
-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tree
Fitzpatrick
Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2006 1:44 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: some recent bigotry on this list
There is no reason to assume anyone that has been identified as having
any mental health disability is 'clearly mentally unstable' simply
because they do something we do not like.
And there is no reason to perpetuate false myths about people with
mental health disabilities by claiming that anyone who exhibits less
than perfect behavior, such as spouting off when angry, indicates that
person is 'unstable'. To be bandying about the word 'unstable', with
clear references, be they implicit or explicit, that the reference is
suggesting that the person in question has a tendency to imbalance is
perpetuating some deeply entrenched myths about what it means to be a
person with a mental health disability. If Birgitt had not mentioned
that the participants at her event all had bipolar or schizophrenia,
but had, instead, simply told a story about someone who misbehaved and
exhibited a bad temper, then I am fairly certain that Paul would not
have employed the phrase 'clearly mentally unstable', that you would
not now be lumping all people who have ever lost their temper into the
category of 'mentally unstable', etc. The stigma that inhibits people
with mental health disabilities from living full lives is subtly
pervasive in all our thoughts. You, Rosana, are absolutely free to
hold any beliefs you hold, both as an individual and as an advocate.
I happen to believe that your use of the word unstable to reference
behavior you do not like is just the kind of stigma that perpetuates
many of the problems people with mental health disabilities have. If
even an advocate for persons with mental health disabilities cannot
identify stigma when she sees it. . .
I have been an advocate for the mentally ill in numerous roles
myself, Rosana. As an attorney, I represented many people with mental
health disabilities. I have worked as an advocate for a few advocacy
organizations. And, as I have disclosed, I am someone with a mental
health disability. I mention my expertise,Rosana, only because you
have mentioned yours.
Sincerely,
Tree Fitzpatrick, MS, JD
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