Eeyore the Dragon Slayer
One of the things I have noticed on the entire world wide web (do they still call it that?), there are very few things that discuss how to have relationships with people that have mental “illness.” I see a lot on defining the scope of the “illness” but nothing that discusses how to best approach people that struggle. First of all, I do put “illness” in quotation marks. I hate that word. I think that that is the first problem we face when we are looking at the stigma we fight against each day. Mental “illness” indicates that we are sick and sick is usually something that is seen as bad or something that you should sympathize. Mental “illness” is more like an allergy or a birthmark and less like being “sick.” What do I mean? Many of us that deal with things like anxiety, depression, panic, personality disorders and so on were born that way. Others, it is a result of something or a series of things that happened that rewired our brain to help us cope. It is not some