Lived Experience Forum

[MoonGal]

What a great topic @Appleblossom, thanks it has just popped up in the topics because of @Neb's response. I tend towards activism and advocacy myself, and I can see me becoming more vocal about the lived experience, but I am concerned that once it is known people whther they think they are celebratory of difference or not would have a whole baggage of undeconstructed socialisation that even my best lefty, thinking friends may still be judgemental about my 'coming out' of this particular closet. Sad to say. AND I am also aware that once you let the genie out of the bottle there is not putting it back. I have come a LONG way in accepting my own MI I am PROUD of having survived my life, but Mad Pride... not yet! Not sure I would ever slap on a T-shirt reading "I'M Mad and Proud of it" although I do love subletlies and could imagine myself wearing a t'shirt with the slogan... "my friend said I was delusional I almost fell off my unicorn"

[Appleblossom]

Oh @MoonGal can I have ride please please .. I'll try not to fall off

Yes that is why I particularly liked @Neb's response.

It is helpful to be able to laugh about it ... to not be cowering in fear, shame and secrecy about our issues, therfore missing out on a whole range of social support.

American tend to be a bit brash and go overboard ... with the "pride" thing ... maybe we Aussies can improve and refine it a little.

[CherryBomb]

Yes, thanks for tagging me in this thread @Appleblossom.

I'm very interested in this topic.  What I like about mad pride is that offers a different perspective, to be more tolerant and to some extent to embrace our psychological make-up not as a weakness, but as diversity that needs to be better accomdated by society. Not that this denies suffering caused by MI, but it also looks at how society contributes to that suffering, and it questions how we as a society can do better - the focus is not just on the individual. 

It was not so long ago that being gay was considered a mental illness or disorder, but thanks to lots of activism, things have changed, including social attitudes, and eventually law reform (still yet to happen in Australia). I wonder if we could ever see anything like this in regard to mental illness? What are people's thoughts?

[Appleblossom]

The improvement in acceptance regarding gay issues is so huge ... I remember when they it was still a crime ... I think that statutes have been changed ... and so they should.

Yes, acceptance of diversity is important and part of breaking down stigma in society.  So that people are more comfortable in talking generally about a range of emotional and life issues and are not inclined to hide their truths for fear of rejection or shame. 

Yes, it is also imnportant to be aware of the aspect of mental illness that affects capacity to function.  This is often a moot point.  What are we capable of ...on a one off ... or on a daily level?

Another aspect is credibility.  Whether verbal expressions are seen as legit or exaggeration or bending truth or straight out lie ... or excuse to get out of work .. My lived experience began with social issue, pressure leading to physical issues and then progressed to psych issues.  When are individual expreesions of a person delusional .. and when is a society entertaining mass delusion?

I agree with a post where someone was grateful for the recent findings of neuroscience .. it helps make mi more understandable and therefore easier to come to self acceptance.

And of course the suicide issue is never far from this conversation ...

[Gwynn]

I'm interested in mad studies: it argues that the recovery model is too clinically-controlled and tamed.

[Shaz51]

@MoonGal. @Appleblossom , @Mazarita

Hello @Gwynn ,

remember to put a @ in front of peoples name and they will get  a email message from you xx

[Appleblossom]

Hearing you @Gwynn 

I love the idea that there are "mad studies".  

[DesertRat]

After I was diagnosed with Bipolar in 1996 I put a sticker on my car's rear window which was "Nucking Futs"

I was so relived that it was a treatable illness and not just "me". So I owned it !

The world would be a boring place if we were all the same.  .   .