Veteran Member
cptsdwhoa
One day, one step at a time
Member Since: Jul 2018
Location: Somewhere in the 1990s
Posts: 748
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Sep 09, 2018 at 10:09 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by -jimi-
Um, I usually get other responses when I tell people, friends, docs, whatnot. Some are just curious. Some make strange remarks because they heard of the condition and now they are experts on it. Some get angry. Actually quite many get grumpy about it. "We all have our problems", they say, and "You're Nordic, we're not weaklings, pull yourself together". I guess saying they are sorry is simply not in my culture.
Usually I don't even tell to explain something. It is more in context like if they invite me to something, and I ask if it is OK to wait until the last moment to decide, because I can never know how healthy I will be (I have physical illness as well). Quite many interrogates me to see if my illness is serious enough in their eyes to give me special treatment about.
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That kind of response in similar to what I've experienced in the African American community. A lot of people either think that black people can't suffer from mental illness or that I'm weak and not acting like a "strong black woman." There's doesn't seem to be a lot of understanding in the black community although mental health organizations are trying to change that.
I tend to get these responses from my family a lot. Either they've read about it somewhere and now they're experts, or they say they understand and disregard my boundaries anyway. Then after I struggle trying to deal with them it's all my fault and I'm mental.
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