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Hey let's make sure we remember that a lot of mental illnesses symptoms are coded as things teenagers (especially white, thin, conventionally attractive middle class teenagers) do; thus adults who experience the same symptoms are often embarrassed or ashamed & don't address them
Especially things like self-harm, which is almost exclusively coded as a set of behaviors done by teenage girls.
Adults engage in these behaviors and need help for them but allowing the media to code them as exclusive to teenagers makes it hard for adults to see that help. When we talk about mental illness, we have to remember the power & harm of media portrayal & public perception
Because the way I engaged in self-harm looked nothing like the media's portrayal of it, I didn't believe what I was doing was actually self-harm and I didn't seek help for it. I was in a very bad place for a very long time but I though I didn't need help b/c my behavior was
divergent from the general portrayal of self-harm
This is very real and very dangerous and we need to make sure we keep it in mind
This is very real and very dangerous and we need to make sure we keep it in mind
And of course the roots of the problem are in the idea that teenagers do these things "for attention," and thus adults who also do them are acting like children "for attention." It's a cycle of shame we perpetuate, believing that cries for help are actually vanity projects
That needing help is somehow childish and selfish and immature.
This hurts teens and adults
This hurts teens and adults
So just....remember that what you see portrayed in the media isn't anywhere close to the true depth and breadth of mental illness and just because your suffering doesn't look like what's general portrayed doesn't mean it isn't real
