Mental Health Support

is that it is open to all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds. So the focus isn't so narrow. We have people here who are mentally ill; we have those who have a mentally ill loved one; and we have those who are simply supportive. You're not just talking to people here who have bipolar disorder or you're not just talking to people have schizophrenia. So in this forum I think you are more likely to get a broader view of the issue.

I just wish we had as many people speak up as we apparently do who read here and don't speak up.

Another thing about mentally ill people, especially those with a severe illness, is that they tend to not take care of themselves as well as the normal population. I've read that schizophrenics, for instance, are more likely to smoke, eat a diet high in fat and sugar, drink, and use drugs. It's hard to get on a healthy roll when you constantly have setbacks due to an inability or an unwillingness to change to a healthy lifestyle. In some ways, the problems of some mentally ill people have simple and easy to recognize solutions, but they are just unwilling or, more likely, unable to take care of themselves.

I used to have the problems I'm talking about. I suffered for ten years and went through three hospitalizations due to the things I described in the previous paragraph. I could have saved myself a lot of time, money, and heartache if I would have been enlightened enough and open to change the first go around. I've also met a lot of people like that in the hospital. So when you are talking of the gloom and doom of other message boards that specialize in mental illness, you probably get the view point of a lot of people who are in a situation like I have described.