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Given the field my parents are in, I grew up knowing about mental illness and without any prejudices about it.

I learnt what anorexia was by a friend having it. I was told "anorexia is when you stop eating because you think you're fat." Being the moron I am, this translated to me as "anorexia is vein people trying to get thinner in stupid ways." When my friend got ill, I learnt that anorexia is a serious mental disorder.

Also, recently, I have been talking to someone at my school I was previously scared of. she's very easily influenced, and seems to believe strange things. Despite this, she's nice to talk to. I'm hoping to influence her to think for herself more, rather than mimicing other's actions.

lvngembrs - That must feel bad. It occurs to me now and again that something may not be quite right with my brain. I avoid telling people in authority about the things that make me think that, because my dad has the delightful belief that the mentally ill are only potential murderers that should be shut away. neutral I don't think he'd see me the same way if I had anythign wrong that affected my thinking.

I had a feeling you were part of the stigma by you making this thread, Smart Alex. It would explain why you are so for awareness now! Do you also feel irratated about people not teaching you properly about it? Because i feel rather annoyed that people let me believe that eating disorders are not disorders, just vanity and lack of common sense.

It's hard to tell how people will react. Sometimes people form a different opinion once they learn that someone they know is mentally ill. They can then see that they're not idiots who get locked in hospitals but mostly people who live and act like everyone else apart from one or two things. However, some people laugh their head off and are mean about it. And some people don't understand and get irratated because their confused. sweatdrop

As for stigma, I don't think I was part of it, since I have had an interest in abnormal psychology for quite awhile. I like to know what causes certain things to happen, and how things work. The way the brain processes information, etc.

As for what you've said, Alex, I had an experience which really surprised me a few weeks ago that relates to your statement.

I was talking to a friend from another forum on AIM, and the suject of autism came up. He told me he'd read "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" (a fictional story narrated by a high-functioning autistic boy). He told me he could not relate to the narrator at all, he thought the was selfish and mean and he couldn't understand any of his motivations. So I tried to explain to my friend why the character behaved as he did. His initial response was "That's just f*(&)(* up!" and then "I just can't believe that chemicals in the brain or brain structure could do that. It's just too screwed up." After that, he changed the subject.

I was taken aback, because this friend is normally an intelligent and open-minded person. He knows of my interest in autism, but I'm not sure if he knows I may have it, myself. Anyway, Alex, I wanted to share this story because it reiterates the point that you brought up, though I still do not understand it myself.

It's odd. I find it easier to relate to this kinda stuff than I find it to relate to the people denying the existance of mental illness. Our brains control everything else in our body. You need the whole of your brain working as it should to do all the things you do in your life. Why is it hard to imagine that if the brain is formed incorrectly or something, there are noticable effects of it? Ah well, I have an odd veiw of the world.

People do say before they think when people get ill. My mum has permanent damage to her spine, and when she first did it she was telling someone about how painful it was and they said "Perhaps you just find it difficult to deal with pain?"
However, 'stop having problems' is quite impressively thoughtless. I got told to stop having panic attacks once. I took a very deep breath and asked why I would continue having panic attacks if I could stop them. gonk

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