For some unbeknownst reason people love to romanticize illnesses that really aren’t that fun – or romantic to have. Not only do people do this, but so do movies, media and books. Not only is this factually incorrect but this can also create a toxic mindset of the individual who is suffering with a mental illness. A staggering one in four people are affected by a mental illness at some point in their life. Mental illnesses include: anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, body dysmorphic disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder, among others.
Nowadays it is common that the media, movies and people like to make out bad mental health is trendy, and often movies like to make out that someone else will be able to ‘save’ you from the mental illness someone is facing. The media never likes to highlight the downsides of having a mental illness – in fact I struggle to highlight any good points of having a mental illness. Having a mental illness can leave some feeling suicidal, some may withdraw from their loved-ones and severe mood changes within a person may cause significant distress over time.
Only someone who suffers with a mental illness truly knows the real effects of what a mental illness can do to you.
One misconception of a mental illness that if often portrayed is that someone else can ‘save’ you. Being with someone else may make you feel happy, but in no way shape or form can being with someone make your mental illness disappear. At one point, I thought being with someone would mean that my mental illness wouldn’t exist anymore. I found out the hard way that this was not true. What my mental illness made me feel when I was on my own, carried onto my relationship – making it an unpleasant one to be in, as neither of us were dealing with our mental illness in the correct way. We both thought just being together would solve the problems we had with our mental illness.
If you find someone who is supporting you through your mental illness then that’s really good, however you should never be with someone because you are relying on someone to take away the pressures of your mental illness. It is also time for the media to start portraying honest situations over mental illnesses.
