I'm curious how folks would respond to this question: In the video, John mentioned that "how you got sick shouldn't determine whether you're able to get well." In the cases of organ transplants, a person's actions, including their history with substance abuse, is a huge factor in determining whether a person will be provided the gift of continued life in the form of a new organ, or whether that organ will go to a more viable candidate--essentially, a candidate who is more trustworthy, and who is expected to be more responsible with the gift they are being given. Is this morally right? If you damaged your organ through poor life choices, do you deserve a new organ? Or should that organ go to someone who got sick through "no fault of their own"? @vlogbrothers I'd be interested in your thoughts, too.
@@oxenfree6192 I think it should be weighted in the favor of children, and the rest should be a lottery. In an ideal world we would be spending more money on how to save these people without needing an organ from another human. Whether that's growing organs, or somehow healing incredibly damaged parts of the body. To specifically talk about morals, I think any solution to this problem (without the ideal solution) is going to be able to be framed as unethical. The situation has negatives no matter what. Which negatives you can tolerate changes from person to person
@@oxenfree6192 I think that (warning: ethical opinion) in the case of receiving organs, it's right for the patients to be researched. Not only does it promote taking care of your body, it fits with most people's views. The simplest way to decide whether something is right is whether it will please the most people to the greatest extent. I do however, agree with what John said because organ transplants and curing other things (STDs for example) are different. In the case of the organ transplant, checking a person's history will indicate how well the organ will be treated in the future, thus maximising the organ's potential. But with STDs, a cure shouldn't be limited to some people, because that doesn't maximise it's potential. Furthermore, although people may recontract STDs in the same way they might continue substance abuse, substance abuse is much more likely to continue because of the nature of addiction. What do you think? : )
@@oxenfree6192 I think in cases like organ transplants, scarcity is the driving component of weighing whether someone is perceived as more trustworthy to receive an organ. If it was as readily available as insulin is, there wouldn't be a question. Because honestly? If insulin was as scarce as organ availability, the same process would happen. It would go to people who were born with diabetes first, before anyone who acquired it through unhealthy lifestyles. And they would be just as scrutinized as to whether they were "deserving". Is this morally right? In a perfect world, no. If the treatments were readily available, and people had to prove their worth to receive treatment, absolutely no. But when you have to make choices because of how rare the treatment is, how do you do this? Do you give a child who has liver cancer the newly available liver, or a 55 year-old who wasn't able to get treatment for their alcoholism in time?
They're so jam packed with good thoughts and complex ideas that I often find myself thinking, "Wait, isn't this video going over the 4:00 minute rule?" And then I look and I'm only two minutes in. There's just so much more content in those two minutes than I'm used to getting in the average youtube video.
"The pain of illness shouldn't be compounded by the pain of isolation." THIS ^^^ As someone living with mental illness, I want to thank you for using your voice and platform for talking about these issues and helping to spread awareness.
Humans instinctively avoid people who are mentally off or have a deep-reaching mental illness. We instinctively know they're screwed up and don't want that instability to potentially strike us.
Oh this must be why most people I’ve come across have been understanding of my mental illness and didn’t start avoiding me or treat me differently when I told them about it. The ones who see me as screwed up have already filtered themselves out using their instinctual knowledge to avoid me in the first place.
davidsirmons no shit Sherlock, you do realize many mental illness can be coped with or even have their symptoms suppressed through medication and therapy?
@@davidsirmons Humans instinctively do a lot of things that are harmful, both for themselves and for society as a whole. Simply being instinctive is not a sign of usefulness.
@@davidsirmons Perhaps, but that doesn't automatically make it a reasonable reation, especially not in modern society. No matter how instinctive, it should still be addressed and discussed.
That phrase doesn't even make sense. If you catch a cold, putting a bandage on your arm won't help you. In like manner, if a person has a dysfuntional brain, they need to have their brain either fixed, or their behavior daily monitored to ensure they don't snap and go off the deep end of their mental instability.
@@davidsirmons You've wildly misunderstood, and have scary preconceived notions about mental illness. What he's saying is everyone deserves the best care, it doesnt matter how you're sick, who you are, or how you got sick. Those things shouldnt factor into the level of care you receive.
"believe me, we would like to" and "that's not how biology works like , viruses do not have a moral compass and we have long pretended as if they do" was amazing. Thanks John. edit: posted quote wrong.
If someone "dance around" multiple partners unprotected and get ill it's easy see why people would see the illness as just, same if someone jump of the cliff without the cable would get hurt.
@@malachipash3824 Dancing with many people is not wrong, so how can getting a disease from it be a punishment? Likewise, having sex with many people is not wrong, so how can getting a disease from it be a punishment? STDs are no different from the common cold or the flu, and their presence shouldn't be seen as a sign of the morality of the people they infect.
2:49 “Deserving is the wrong frame through which to look at illness. Illness isn’t like some punishment from on high; it’s a side effect of having a body.” 3:48 “In short, we need to get better at treating illness, but we also need to get better at challenging narratives that look for fault in the lives of ill people, rather than looking for ways to help.” So well put. Kudos, John 👏
Weirdly enough I realized I had stigmatized lung cancer. I realized this when I heard of a family friend who had fallen ill, and my first thought was "Was he a smoker?". Closer inspection of such thought has banished it, i.e. stupid questions showed me how dumb it was: "even if he was a smoker, would that make it less aweful?" or "does that mean someone can 'deserve' cancer?". Now I am much more concient about this, and your video has made me understand where it might have come from even. Still odd that a stigma was "born", since I don't think I am the only one who has thought this.
“ *like the mentally ill told to back up or snap out of it or whatever wich believe me we would like to but we can't because we don't have actually the control that is ascribed to us by the stigma* ” *_John Green_* 2019 .. like you said everything needed to be say.
I get told this constantly in relation to my physical illness and it's symptoms just because I have mental illness as well! Newsflash: mentally ill people can get physical illnesses too!
@@laurasutherland2352 as if you can think about good things , they don't know that you feel like the end is coming and the whole *world* is too late to help, and faith no matter how strong is; won't stop you from hating yourself and being harmed by almost every single thing in your life. I've been depressed for long time , not gonna lie and say that it will be *OK* always , but I think I'm getting better with every new song and a full mark in the school exams. 😃
Me: I have ulcerative colitis. Friends and family: it's your fault! What did you eat that made you this ill? Why aren't you following x or y diet that will cure it????? From now on, I will reply with this video. Thanks, man.
I have lupus and my family says something similar to me, but I've never seen it as a symptom of stigma. I thought it was because they wanted me to get better... 🤔
@@nicoleloo138 I don't think the stigma and your family wanting you to get better are necessarily two separate things. Your family may want you to get better partly *because* of the stigma - both because they don't like seeing you suffer and because the stigma hurts them too, as people who are closely associated with you. That said, they may sometimes treat you poorly because they resent the way the stigma affects them, or because even people who know better can buy into the stigmatized view of an illness and begin to believe untrue things about it (often subconsciously). I'm sure your family cares about you, but it can be just as hard for them to accept that you have a chronic illness as it is for you. That said, just because they mean well doesn't mean saying hurtful things or blaming you for your illness is okay.
When I was first diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and comorbid depression, I was away at college. I texted my mom to tell her, because suddenly a lot of my life was starting to make more sense. Her first response? "Do NOT take medicine. You don't need therapy, either. Everyone has stress, you just have to learn to live with it like everyone else." She's since become much more understanding, though occasionally she'll say something similar to how she's not sure I have the illness after all because "I haven't seen you look depressed in awhile"; she'll immediately apologize for it, but it still sucks that after 7 years she still thinks like that. I understand that it comes from a place of love and not wanting me to be ill, but... I don't want to be ill, either. We all have to accept that life doesn't give us what we want. Sorry, went off on a tangent a bit. But my point is I fully understand having family members minimize or erase your illness in ways that put the blame on you for "not doing enough", and I'm sorry any of us have to go through that.
So I have OCD and bipolar disorder, and one of the biggest issues I have run into in terms of stigma is that those illnesses are often thrown around as punchlines or insults or hyperboles or movie plot twists. When I say I have OCD, people will say, “Oh yeah same. I cannot stand when picture frames aren’t hanging straight.” When I say I have bipolar, people will say, “So does my girlfriend, dude. Yesterday, she was all happy and laughing, and today she’s pissed at me.” I even saw a t-shirt once that said, “I thought I was bipolar. Turns out I’m just an a**hole.” It not only makes it hard to be taken seriously; it also makes it hard to explain what these diagnoses actually mean when everyone thinks they already have it figured out.
I'll second this. When my therapist was like "yeah, you've got OCD," my immediate thought was "no. You're wrong." The stereotypes were so defined in my brain that I didn't realize I couldn't be obsessive compulsive if asthetic things didn't bother me and my room and my life were continuously a mess
Oh yikes. I have a dark sense of humor, but that is a horrifyingly insensitive T shirt. I can't believe that even exists, and I'm even more shocked that someone would actually wear it. 😥
I think that's true of nearly all mental illnesses. I have an anxiety and depressive disorder, and I can't tell you the number of times I've had people say things like, "Everyone has stress/gets sad" because they don't know the difference. Or those absolutely maddening memes with little captions like, "Puppies are my antidepressant" or "going outside is my antidepressant". Like, don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore puppies and they make me happy, but if that's enough to get rid of the numbness and emptiness you have, then Karen, you're not depressed. It seems like a chicken and egg situation: does the stigma cause people to have a lack of exposure and understanding, or does a lack of understanding promote the stigma? Or is both in a dangerous cycle of ignorance?
As someone living with type 1 diabetes I fight stigma every day both for myself and my type 2 diabetic peers who have it much worse when it comes to stigma.
Type 1 yes. But for my understanding bad nutritional habits can lead to metabolic syndrome and eventually to type 2 diabetes you shouldn't devoid people from having responsibility for their behaviour.
@@malachipash3824 Stigmatization doesn't make people more responsible. It makes them feel shame and makes them less likely to get help for any health issues they may be having, leading to worse health outcomes. Also, what people eat largely has to do with what is *available* to them. For instance, the biggest predictor of obesity (a risk factor to type 2 diabetes) is the built environment, not individual behavior. There is a reason that people living in poverty are more likely to have these types of health problems, and it has little to nothing to do with choice.
Thanks! The only caveat I'd add after thinking about it more is that viruses in human life really DO have a moral element--but only in the sense that they disproportionately harm people who are pushed to the margins by social and political and economic structures. And until we create a world where all human lives are valued equally, that moral component to illness will remain. -John
thanks John. Chronic MECFS person here! This resonated a lot. People think that your illness shows that your character is flawed. You're not trying hard enough! I am very out about my condition and hats off to you for being so, too. Although I really don't think you can "get" this until you've had a chronic condition.
Hey John, thanks for this great commentary! I would like to throw out there that addiction is a prime candidate for an illness that needs a huge stigma "re-marketing" effort. As someone who is in relatively early recovery (almost 1 year sober!) I can say without a doubt that the stigma surrounding addiction is almost insurmountable to some. Most people would never pass some sort of moral judgment on people who have cancer, but yet we pass judgment on those with a mental illness and/or addiction (myself included in the past) because it seems like a choice! I can tell you with 100% confidence that I didn't choose to become addicted to alcohol, but I have now acknowledged that it is a disease that I will always have. Being part of communities like AA, mental health support groups, and RU-vid channels like yours have been a true Godsend to me and countless others!
I'm from seattle, and this summer I was on a trip to the east coast, and there was this woman at the counter of some shop who was like, "oh you're from seattle? Don't you guys have a big homeless problem? Aren't they all druggies?" And then preceded to spit out a whole bunch of bs about them therefore choosing to be homeless. It was infuriating, and needless to say, we did not buy anything from that shop
I was once told ~after someone decided I had mourned my dead daughter for too long ~ about 8 months apparently ~ to "Pull up my socks". I looked my now very, very ex friend and said "I'm barefoot." She had no answer, so I ~ ahem~ kindly, asked her to get tf out of my home and to never, ever contact me again. She complied. Jenn in Canada 🇨🇦
Hey John, I said it before and I'll say it again: you are my best source of theme-specific vocab for my English lessons. Your videos are like studying but much more fun!Thank you so very much for that interesting (plus very important) topic :) (Also your beard really suits you.) Have a lovely day🤗
seigeengine Mostly when people say that, they mean a weakness of character, and character has nothing to do with mental illness. Weakness as in fault, then yes there is a fault in their genetics somewhere but that applies to all illnesses. I never see people describing cancer as a weakness, though it is a “weakness” related to the immune system, so it’s safe to assume no one is using it to refer to biology.
I can't express the depth of my appreciation for how articulately you express your understanding and the value I place in the validation of our shared experience.
I would suggest that this also could apply to those who struggle in frontline communities here in the U.S., and around the world. There is a pervasive, though rarely acknowledged, stigma attached to those in poverty. Which, again, looks for an overarching moral narrative to justify inequality, and thus both preserves and perpetuates an engineered hierarchy. A hierarchy which selectively benefits a very specific group or region.
I just sobbed. I've never ever been able to separate my (adult onset) chronic fatigue syndrome from this guilt that I should have somehow prevented myself from getting ill or done something differently to get better faster. I feel like I've just been given permission to think 'this sucks' without any shame for it. Thank you.
This opened a whole new window. Because of the stigma, the people suffering from these diseases experience a weight which is always present. Even after it is cured, the weight stays there. As always, thank you, John. #dftba 🖖🏼
I feel like the mental health portion of your video is easily applied to the stigmatization of addiction, especially where it can be more abstract than physical illness, but it wasn’t outright mentioned. I’m curious about your stance on this subject! Love all of your videos btw, I’ve been watching for years and your insightfulness is always practical yet optimistic. ❤️
I remember hearing people talking about “ending the sigma” on anything and being not entirely enthusiastic because it felt every other time someone declares war on a noun. I thought it was rash and nebulous to be overcome but this video gave me some hope.
That’s what I love about this channel. It’s not that you give me all the answers, nor is it that I agree with all the answers you do give. It’s that you encourage me to think. Thank you!
You and your brother, Hank, always impress and surprise me. I have worked in the alcohol, drug addiction and mental health services system for a County in Ohio for 35 years. The information you provide in your videos is not only important, but it is also totally accurate. Your presentation of the information educates your audience in a manner that does not require a college degree. Keeping it simple makes it much more informative, educational and enjoyable. Saying that, I feel what you two do makes the impact of the information understandable without being judgmental. Again, thanks for all you do. You help keep the internet worthwhile.
As someone with chronic illnesses/conditions that other people stigmatize for various reasons (leading me to, too often, stigmatize myself), I needed to hear this today. Thank you.
This is so what I needed to hear someone say today! My doctor was blaming me for not getting better yet and referred me out. He's not the first to get frustrated because I'm not getting better and my symptoms don't fit my diagnosis but don't fit anything else either. I've had so many people accuse me of faking and I honestly wish I was. Then I could do all the things I miss doing so much! Like playing with my children and seeing friends and contributing to society. It warms my heart to be reminded that not everyone sees people like me that way.
Thank you for making this video. I shared this with a coworker of mine. An Interpersonal Relationships teacher and she appreciated the video and ended up sharing it in class!
As sabbaticals go, this one involves a lot of travel for work, so not TOTALLY refreshing, but I am very grateful for the chance to do all this traveling nonetheless. I hope you are well! -John
Beautifully said. I work in mental healthcare and I'd just like to thank you for talking about this. It's often painful to see how much harm stigma causes
Numerous very crucial points. I'll be settlin in this video for awhile. Mindsets like deserving, stigma, all or nothing thinking, and assuming can be powerfully bad pitfalls. The closer we look, the more nuanced it gets. Worth it to look closer and embrace the complexity. Thanks, John.
Thanks, John! I told a friend earlier that when you write/speak with a liscense for sincerity, it carries particularly well. I also deeply enjoy that you don't exclude yourself from your examinations of the Anthropocene. Cheers!
Standing ovation from me! I’ve had to put up with the stigma of having epilepsy,depression,and anxiety,to then have to put up with the stigma of my daughter’s autism and eating disorder. I am constantly educating people on all of it. Well,trying to!
Thanks for the video, John. My observation is that stigma in mental illnesses is prevalent and weirdly it extends to researchers and professionals. I lost count of how many times people tell me /ask me about the “saying” that people who work in psychiatry/psychology/mental health are “crazy people” and have hidden issues etc. It was weird traveling on holiday to other countries, meeting new people in a pub, and still having to defend mental health research and explain what mental health issues and treatments actually are - just because I said I worked in mental health research.
I love how concise your videos are, obviously this isn't the end-all be-all of where I take in all information, but you and your brother Hank always give amazing perspectives!
You're doing such great work, guys. All the knowledge, perspective and wisdom you share through your channels is making a big difference in the lives of people around the world. Keep it up!
Laying in a hospital bed right now, this struck home hard. Thank you for discussing something like this John. Your videos provide me with more insight in the things I experience.
I first started watching vlogbrothers in 2009, back when I was still in high school, and I firmly believe that over the years the influence of listening to and hearing thoughtful and nuanced content like this helped contribute to rounding out my own ways of thinking and influenced my growth as an individual in a positive way. Glad you all do what you do and appreciate the message here a lot.
John, Hank, I don't know if you'll read this comment but I'd like to write it anyway. I am so grateful you decided to do this whole project and immortalize it on the internet. Sometimes when my anxiety or depression take over, my friends and family aren't there. Not because they're bad or not supportive enough, just because they have things to do, and can't predict my mood the same way I can't predict theirs. Still, sometimes I just desperately need someone to be there. I've never spoken with either of you, but you're always there. These videos are always there. If I need to hear you talk about mental illness in an empathetic way, I can. And If I need to hear you talk about the french revolution or goat mating or caterpillars or anything at all to distract me, I can do that too. Thank you for always being there in my darkest hours, even when you didn't know it.
I started crying maybe a minute into this and couldn't stop. I'm going through a lot. Illness is a TERRIBLE side effect of having a body. And it hurts, so much. It hurts even when it's not you, but your loved one that's sick and isn't going to get better. I'm so sick and tired of being sick, and tired, and desperate. As much as it makes me cry, I am glad you said these things. These are things that need to BE said, changes that have to take place somehow, someday. Even if I never benefit from those changes, maybe my son will have help for his depression, or my sister's kids will not be stigmatized for the illnesses they were born with, or...hell, even if it doesn't happen for a hundred years, I hope it happens. Humans deserve so much better than this. Even me.
Thank you! This is a perspective I haven't thought of as much as I probably should as someone who has mental health struggles and works in the mental health field. Thank you for the thoughtful reminder!
I love this video. So informative, so well-spoken. Thank you, John. My entire family deals with mental illness. And I, myself, have had arthritis since I was eleven. Some people have never really been understanding of those things. I appreciate this video a lot.
How are you STILL making socially-relevant content 10+ years into your youtube careers? It blows my mind, John. You're an inspiration to me on both a personal and professional level. I try to write my characters with as much thought and care as you do. Godspeed.
It feels great to know that their are other people out there that know you can't just "snap out of it" Thank you for being alive John(and Hank). You are so helpful.
This is amazing, thank you for sharing this I really wish that more people would speak up about this! I recently just started sharing my own experience and journey with this. Thank you for the support brother! More people that speak about it, will help end the stigma!
tw: suicide . . . I laughed with understanding when you said that illness is a side effect of having a body and was like, “Such a good point, so how do I get rid of having a body and cease my side effects haha? ... Wait. Oh.” Shout out to anyone else struggling. I know I’m just a stranger on the Internet but you have my support. 💛
I didn't read your comment, but thank you for the trigger warning. I hope whatever you're going through eases soon and that you'll have a good day today.
I really wish I could know how to add subtitles to these videos because a lot of people here in Brazil should really watch these, I'm serious. these videos are necessary. thank you John, watching this made me calm for the first time in many days. 💙
I would also suggest that one thing that needs to be done is to remove punishment from being diagnosed. Such as those seeking help from addiction or those seeking mental health. In today's, society there is a lot of pressure on politicians to add percieved punishment to addiction or mental health. And in some cases this might help a patient putting a barrier from hurting themselves. I think it many places it puts that barrier in place. They think "I need help, but if I get help I will be punished"
Very timely in the wake of the Gareth Thomas story. Now there's someone who never forgets to be awesome. My own experience with testicular cancer (a.k.a. easy mode cancer) has led me to describe it backwards - start with the 10 years clear, point out it was all over in a matter of weeks and then explain why I've only got one ball. It turns out that people falling over themselves to offer their sympathies gets old really fast.
I felt identified on a spiritual level when you talked about the stigma surrounding mental illness about the ability "to snap out of it", especially since I live in a latin country where mental illnesses are even more stigmatized, or so I have perceived. I also wish I could snap out of it 😂 Thanks again for another wonderful video😊 ❤
I got a little emotional here. I'm LifeTheUniverse&Everything years old and I'm looking for my first therapist to try to help me find out how to deal with my as yet undiagnosed mental illness. And this helps. You helped me. Thank you. 💜
Lovely video John and you make such great points about the compounding frustration that mental illness can bring. One point you sort of touch on about ending the stigma is seeing people with these symptoms as people, complicated and layered. A relative and I have similar diagnoses, but the treatment they take and how they view their illness is so different from mine and I don't think they're actually working to improve their life.
I live with constant stigma due to having a mental illness people don't understand, and movies like Split and Glass don't help. Thanks for shedding some light, John.
I know this is a different topic, but I’ve been thinking a LOT about social issues and solutions in college.... the part that really resonated with me was “how you got the illness shouldn’t affect your ability to get better.” The responsibilty should not be on the individual, it should be on the system. “Well was he a smoker” is the same as “what was she wearing” as “they shouldn’t have eaten themselves to that point” as “just get a real job”. Thanks John. I now have another way to explain this to people.
Something I've learnt recently is that genetics are responsiblefor 15%-25% of illness while social determinants / social and structural environments are responsible for the rest. We need to address socio-structural inequality which is integral when addressing this culture of blame and stigma.
I try my best to share my mental health experiences to the extent that I am comfortable. More than anything I want to normalize seeking help, seeing a therapist etc. the "it's all in your head" remark drives me insane. Yes its in my head- literally. It is the most important organ in the body, like any other organ things can go "wrong". But this organ is preventing me through thoughts, exhaustion, and functionality from taking care of it. It's like asking someone with a bad knee to walk it off. In that context, people suggest doctors, physical therapists, cold press, ibuprofen. We can't convince our bad knee to be better through denial, just like not treating mental illness won't make it go away. This is a horribly written, hot mess, comment. But seriously you know. Sometimes, days feel like a struggle bus, and no one is alone in that. Reach out, share what is comfortable, specially with loved ones.
Any sufficiently advanced biology is indistinguishable from magic. The brain appears to work as if by magic, therefore people are incredulous when it malfunctions. How can magic malfunction?
My mental health has never been this bad before. It's hard to shake the stigma you have of yourself. The thoughts of "I am bad" and "people should not be in my life because I will negatively affect them". You have mental illness but you are NOT your mental illness. You are a person who exists and deserves kindness.
Just to add validation here, I am a physician (ran my own solo practice several years), and now have been on total disability for 13 years for MDD, (after ten drugs and their combinations, AND ECT - electroconvulsive treatment). Yes, SHOCKING that even DOCTORS get sick. I LOVED my work. I still keep looking for ways to be functional enough to work, but always feel like my brain is a hard drive that needs to be "de-fragmented". Having been on "both sides of the exam table", I can tell you that most physicians, even psychiatrists, are CLUELESS about diagnosing and treating mental illness. I literally have had to tell my doctors what to do - seriously. For a while, I helped run a support group after I became disabled, and found doing that to be immensely rewarding. Have two sons - one diagnosed with MDD age ten, other son diagnosed with epilepsy at age 18. Note: the #1 cause of long term disability WORLDWIDE according to the World Health Organization is major depressive disorder. (Think about that - MORE disability than heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, etc.) Great video.
This was such a good video. My grandfather, father, and both his brothers all have bipolar disorder, luckily now well controlled with meds. They all had to be hospitalized for it, one after the other, spread out over several years. Someone once told my grandmother that God must be punishing the family for something. She slapped them.
I was suprisingly moved by that anecdote about the destigmatization of syphilis. "One way we can reduce stigma is by investing in research and treatment of highly stigmatized diseases." I never thought about this before. Navigating the stigma of mental illness and HIV/AIDS in particular can often be emotionally confusing, and to hear such a straightforward way to combat stigma made me think a little, and hope a little too.
Thank you, John. I was having some illness feels sorting my meds into daily keepers for the first time, and this helped me contextualise my feels a bit.
"To end stigma we also have to resist the urge to see illness as part of some moral narative" thank you!! People keep saying that we get what we deserve, NO we don't.. always..
I can not explain to you how hard it is to be a high school student diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder and acute anxiety and then apply to university. More often than not, people advice me not to mention it in my application just because of the stigma associated with 'sick people'. It eats me alive that I have to be ashamed of my body and its problems while people go about doing absolutely horrible things and get away with it.
Dude, I'd mention it in my application. They always ask about how you overcome adversity and I'd say what you described is definitely diversity. The fact that you're make good grades In school and stay involved in activities (I'm assuming) despite the struggles lifr has given you, is part of your story. Your application is your chance to let colleges know who YOU are, and how hardworking and resilient you are. I was a high school counselor for a bit and i encouraged my students to put themselves on paper when applying. Colleges want to see YOU, not a cherry picked version of you.
I live with one of thee most highly stigmatised mental illnesses around, which I shall refute to name because it can insight quite venerable panic.. It is mostly found in women, and is tied closely with mental illnesses related to criminality.. So you deal a lot with stigma, which coumpounds the inability to feel good, okay or wanted-around by those that love you. Thanks for this video, I really like it.
I hate it when someone says "Well, he was a smoker/drinker/out-of-shape/worrier/hypochondriac" when learning someone is ill/dead/etc as though they are capable of explaining why, and blaming the victim for the condition. Sometimes it seems irrefutable, but often it is just a way of withholding sympathy. Even if the probable cause is apparent, citing it is trivial (yes, alcoholics do die of cirrhosis, but who needs to hear it as though it is special knowledge) and just distances the speaker from the victim - tacitly blaming the victim. It's a hard habit to break, but it can be broken.
@@SilasVanBuren Of course, just don't bring up their unhealthy choices when they tell you they are dying. That goes for not reminding their loved ones of their unhealthy choices either. That is just being judgemental when what is needed is sympathy. Everyone dies of something, and everyone makes unhealthy/unwise choices. Nobody needs to be reminded when it is too late to do anything about it.
