If people are standing up and saying something about, “That’s so gay,” then I think something needs to be said about, “Stop being so bipolar.” It’s not even the majority that has full-blown type I manic depression, which is the stereotypical “freak out at every little thing”. A lot of people actually belong to the classification of either type II bipolar disorder or cyclothymia. But whether our manic episodes are out of control or just occasional, the depression we also face is real.
How would you like to be mocked if you were going through a really tough time in your life? What if that was all you ever felt in life? And when people tell you to suck it up it just made you so angry for how ignorant they are to your pain? And every time you tried to defend yourself you’d get stuck in a circular argument about how crazy you are?
Bipolar people are allowed to feel, and calling us crazy or psycho for exhibiting any negative emotion, whether it’s a full-blown mania episode or just being pissed about something like any normal teenager, is extremely dehumanizing. I can’t even describe how I feel when my sister calls me crazy for getting pissed occasionally. Like I’m stripped of all my basic human rights. Worse than shit. Worse than dirt. Worse than nothing. I can’t even come up with the words to allow you to comprehend how it feels because these phrases are used so often. But I can tell you, the torment has brought me to dark places.
So if all the media attention to bullying is “working” so far, how about we take an angle on teens with mental illness that get bullied? We deserve to be respected. Because we didn’t choose this. But we have to deal with it. It’s only right if we get the respect we deserve, too.
This applies to all mental disorders. Calling someone “anorexic” just because they’re skinny, calling someone (or yourself) “OCD” because you like things to be neat, or “ADD/ADHD” if you get distracted easily. The list goes on.
Mental disorders are all too real for those who suffer from them. Don’t make light of them just to make your friends laugh.
