Mental illness isn’t one size fits all
Any time you interact with someone with a mental health condition, there’s one very important thing to remember – as the stereotypes you know from movies and media start creeping into your view of them, remember that everyone is different and mental illness isn’t one size fits all. You know how some people are tall and some people are short? Or how some people have blonde hair and others have brown? Guess what – mental illness is the same way! Sure, some people have those stereotypical symptoms, but a lot of people don’t, and that doesn’t mean they aren’t truly experiencing it or don’t fall under the same class of disorder. Just because someone who has depression isn’t hurting themselves or feeling suicidal does not necessarily make them any less depressed than someone who is.
This is important even for people who have these disorders to know. Just because your symptoms don’t fit the stereotype does not delegitimize your struggles. What you feel is just as real (or unreal) as someone with more classic symptoms. And often things change. If your illness comes in episodes, it’s very possible the episodes will differ in terms of symptoms, stability, and treatment. Mental illness is not static, it grows and changes, as do we.
Take me for example
Take me for example, diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder at 17. At the age of 29 I’ve experienced a full range of positive, negative, cognitive, and disorganized symptoms. However, I have yet to hear voices making disparaging comments about me or narrating the things that I do. I’ve never believed myself to be god or evil or royal. But I’ve heard things, I’ve seen things, I’ve believed plenty of other things, and throughout all of this I’ve always still had schizoaffective disorder. Meanwhile, someone I know recently received a bipolar-type schizoaffective diagnosis. Even though his symptoms are primarily voices talking to him and each other, we both still have the same underlying disorder.
My obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) has never left me washing my hands until they bleed. Instead, I used to need to touch things a specific number of times or with each hand or foot. In comparison, my post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has followed the stereotype fairly well.
And things change
The patterns of my various illnesses have also changed over time. I experienced the most stereotypical, classic symptoms of depression in high school, but I never had the desire to hurt myself or die at the onset of my schizoaffective disorder. I just kind of stopped living. Instead of feeling alone, I felt nothing. Instead of hurting myself, I lost my appetite. And instead of considering killing myself, I was wide awake almost all night.
My OCD was severe as a child and I felt the need to perform rituals daily. These days there are very few rituals I still perform, though I do still obsess over plenty of things. And when it comes to schizoaffective disorder, things are always developing and changing. At it’s onset it was a year of trying to get the psychotic symptoms and my depression under control. It was more predictable in college – every two years I had an episode that was preceded and followed by depression with psychosis in the middle. These days the depression and psychosis are rarer and less predictable; instead of clearly defined episodes, various symptoms pop up as my stress levels peak. None the less, all of this is still rooted in the same disorder.
Ultimately, there’s a lot more to it
If I’m being perfectly honest, there have been rare moments where I thought maybe this isn’t really schizoaffective disorder. Maybe this is something less; maybe I’m being dramatic; maybe this is all in my head, and the same with my OCD . Then I remind myself that my symptoms are real, multiple doctors confirmed my diagnoses, and there is a lot more to the criteria for these disorders than what the movies and media would make you think.
So for those of you without mental health conditions, remember that just because someone doesn’t fit the stereotype or match what someone else experiences does not mean that they don’t have that disorder or that it’s not serious. And for those of you who worry about your symptoms not fitting the classic profile, remember that these disorders have extensive criteria and whether or not your symptoms match what is most common does not negate them. Your symptoms are real and your experiences are real, so ignore the media and trust your mental health professional. There’s a lot more to mental health than the stereotypes and mental illness is not one size fits all.
For additional content, follow Not Like The Others on social media