Mental Health Awareness Week, mental illness and me: a thread
It is Mental Health Awareness Week. Schemes like this are well meaning but can make me uncomfortable as I think increasingly people are aware - what we need more are changes in attitudes and behaviours (1)

Whilst supporting positive mental health for everyone is important, “mental health” can often be used euphemistically. We shouldn’t be afraid to use the term mental illness, we shouldn’t be afraid to discuss it and we shouldn’t be afraid of mental illness. (2)

Mental illness is not visibly obvious and the stigmatism often associated with it perpetuates this tendency for it to remain hidden. Making your invisible illness visible is frightening - particularly when discrimination can be an issue. But I hope honesty can break this. (3)

I have lived with mental illness for my whole life. I have had various treatments and therapies. I take medication. I have been medicated my whole adult life. I am not ashamed. It is neither a triumph or a tragedy. (4)

When I was diagnosed in my teens, I couldn’t think what the rest of my life would look like or what kind of life I could have. I am making myself visible now, so anyone can see that there are mentally ill people out there. We look normal. We mostly have pretty normal lives. (5)

At times it is debilitating. It has shaped so many decisions in my life. It does stop me from doing things. But it hasn’t stopped me studying, gaining qualifications, having wonderful friends, working in a sector I want to. Or from having ambitions. I’m not done yet. (6)

Obviously what impact it has is different for everyone. Mental illness doesn’t look like one thing. We all have different experiences and manage different things. My point is that mentally ill people still have lives. We can still have fun. We’re still people. (7)

My mental illness has been lifelong. It is a disability. A cup of tea and a chat won’t fix this. I live with this and manage the conditions as best I can. I will have relapses. But I am hopeful that I can live with them better. (8)

So tldr; this was a really personal and scary thread to write; mental illness is not a bad phrase to use; many of us are out here, managing things as best we can, potentially with lifelong conditions. We’re not tragic. We’re just people. (9)