0xDB @ 8/31/2017 06:40 commented on Big Bird (Disclaimer: The words below are written from a long-term patient's perspective, not from a mental health professional's.)
Mental health issues do not ever give anyone a blanket permission to ignore whatever rules of conduct are established in a community/society. They can have a severe impact on ones ability to "function" as a human being though...
...but whatever the issues may be, they might give an explaination and such explaination might help others to feel less offended by a misbehaving individual and potentially help chosing an appropriate response (or chose not to respond at all which is often the best in my opinion) which seeks to de-escalate, but the individual should not be free of consequences of their anti-social or anti-communal behaviour. If there are no boundaries and if they are allowed to break the rules all the time without consequences, they can not learn and are denied a chance to get better and to live a more fulfilling life together with others.
Even the mentally ill(if accompanied by anti-social tendencies: I am absolutely not implying that mentally unhealthy people are anti-social in general.) need to understand and accept responsibility for their actions. It is an important part of the healing process and their path towards feeling good about themselves and as an accepted member of any society/community.
I have no doubt there will be a peaceful resolution in the long run. Sometimes it just takes a lot of time for an individual to heal and they may retreat for a while.
I am also sure, those among us here who are affected by any kind of mental health issues, mild or severe, already know that and that they will know where to seek and get professional help for their problems(offline!), so I am not pointing my finger at anyone or dropping any names.
Those who think themselves "sane" or "healthy" or "normal" might also wish to reflect a bit more about themselves and about what they write in response to anything by anyone. Things can escalate really quickly and when in doubt, refrain from making any "clever" remark to come back at someone just because you might think it makes you look funny/cool/smart/superior/whatever or that by writing that you mysteriously "win" the conversation or something. It usually only creates more resentment on all sides, thus fragmenting the community and adding to any spread of negativity that will leak into other areas of life. There is another human being on the other side of the screen. Always remember that.
In general, we, as not being trained specialists on mental health topics, should not give advice or counsel anyone on our own, at the most, point out the behaviour we personally find unacceptable and give a reason why or if we think it's against the specific rules of this site, report to mods and let them do their job. But never speculate about any kind of suspected mental illness or even try to "heal" or "treat" someone whome we suspect to be suffering from mental health issues, even if they said themselves they suffer.
We can't do that and we can't help and will likely only cause more damage by applying whatever kitchen-table/hollywood psychology we may have picked up anywhere. If anyone knows what to do, it's the affected themselves as they are the only ones who grow to be experts on their own suffering over time.
Don't feel addressed or offended by my words if they don't apply to you. Think about them if you like, dismiss them otherwise. Peace out, thanks for reading, carry on, make some art.
|