Hello Luella and Mary
I really didn't mean to offend anyone one here or hurt anyones feelings. I understand completely that Nick had no ill intentions when he posted this. My only purpose here is to help bring about more awareness of a situation where it is an accepted practice to make light of mental illness. It is part of the stigma that prevents some people from seeking help. It seems that you are looking at this in terms of laughing at yourselves and in that respect it is funny and it can be theraputic. I am looking at it from the standpoint of someone who suffers with one of these teribble illnesses and is trying to make the decision to come out of hiding and seek help. I am looking at this from a different perspective. While it is just fun for us, it is certainly not fun for someone who has not come to the degree of acceptance that we have. Luella, Go back a few years to when you were just realizing that your life was full of pain and you felt all alone in the world. When you were needing understranding and compassion but were afraid to talk to others about your problems. Now , picture yourself in that state of mind and then coming across this forum. For those of us who have recovered, it is funny. To some who are just realizing that they have a mental illness, finding a whole community of people making jokes about the mentally ill would be very damaging. It is the same concept at work here that NAMI tries to address around Holloween. Part of their Stigma Busters program is designed to get people to stop using Mental illness and insane assylams to scare people. My whole point here is that this type of humor can be funny for people who do not have to deal with a mental illness. It can also be funny to some who have a mental illness. It can also be very hurtful to some who are just beginning to learn about their illness and are struggling with the idea of seeking help. We are not in a controlled inviroment here and there is no way to prewarn someone who might be hurt over this type of humor. This is an important point, especially around Christmas time when many people are really feeling alone and depressed because they have no one in their lives who understand their pain. I suppose I should just stay out of this forum so I don't cause anymore conflict. I really didn't mean to offend anyone. I just wanted to present this from a different perspective.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY
May a smile follow you to sleep each night,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
and be there waiting,,, when you awaken.
Sincerly, Bill Vanderbilt
Mental Health And Political Forums Respectively
The following link is to a program that has been highly recommended to me by people that i know and trust. I have been unable to find anything negative about this company.