Originally Posted by
Serendipity.
I think it's important to remember that a lot of times when people say 'stupid' things, it's because of a genuine lack of understanding. Things that may seem obvious to us perhaps aren't so obvious to people who have no first hand experience of mental ill health. It doesn't necessarily make them idiots, and if we can avoid getting offended, it can be a good opportunity to educate. Even if someone doesn't seem to take on board what you say, it might make a difference in the long run.
I have to agree with this. I used to get so mad when someone said the "wrong" thing, but I realise now that they sometimes just don't know. I know that doesn't make it less annoying and even sometimes hurtful, but it's not an easy thing for us to understand most of the time, never mind someone who has never experienced or maybe never heard of certain things. I'm sure they're not trying to upset anyone. It does feel worse when it's a professional or someone else with mental illness, but they're only human and make mistakes too.
So the first ones that spring to mind are my ex (who had mental illness too) said i was "taking it too seriously" and "its a copout" and this was about the derealisation/depersonalisation that was literally taking over my life at the time.
And of course so many more from so many people, I just try to laugh it off at this stage cos otherwise I'd cry. That's how my family deal with it too and that's ok, well it's mostly ok. I don't talk to them about it anyway so it could make it hard to talk about it seriously with them, but since I don't anyway then it doesn't matter.