Changing views on mental health

Muh stigmuh.

Everyone wants to be a victim

And why not in this age of special handouts?

Snowflake meltdowns are a mental issue?
Who knew?

The Mental Illness culture in the Olympics began with Bruce Jenner in 1976 and now 45 years later nothing has been done about it

Mental health needs to be addressed and less stigmatized...but social media has made people act like you're not cool unless you have mental health issues

Having worked with mentally ill teenagers for 25 years I appreciate the fact that mental health services are more accessible and concerns tend to be taken seriously. Having said that I have always tried to teach kids to understand their condition but not to use it as an excuse for bad behavior.

As a country we have become weak. Every generation has wanted their kids to deal with less and less disappointment and rejection....and this is what you get.

If things get too hard you know longer need to deal with them. You say it has hurt my feelings, it is bullying, I am being singled out and so forth.

I feel ya', OP. I couldn't help but think this past week that while Simone Biles is under a lot of pressure to perform at a high level, I'm all but certain she doesn't have many worries aside from delivering on the mat. She's more than financially secure from endorsements, and her meals and travel are organized for her.

Many in the real world are faced with just as much pressure, but don't get the glory and the fame that athletes do. If I just shut things down tomorrow because I'm stressed out, we lose our home and the kids are booted from school/go hungry. Real people have to keep chugging away and do so every day because there is no alternative.

We don’t teach or encourage perseverance anymore. Kids are taught that as soon as they encounter adversity, they should fold bc “it’s ok to not be ok.”

In some ways yes I agree. People can become institutionalized in their own heads and think or use their mental illness as an excuse not to function or act like assholes. I have a sibling like this who can function fine at work but once she returns home she acts like she cant take care of herself. She is a severe bi-polar. My parents are partially to blame because they instilled this helplessness in her.

There is still stigma though and lot of it comes from not understanding mental illness. You mentioned anxiety. I had panic disorder that was brought on by who knows what, that debilitated my life for about a year before I got treatment. I didnt want to admit I had something malfunctioning in my brain so I just stayed home and avoided situations that seemed to trigger it. I finally went to the doctor and was prescribed paxil which solved the problem. Took it for a while and my brain chemistry went back to normal and I stopped taking it. Just like any other medication.