On Friday night I finally I got out of my house. I thought it would be good for me to go somewhere and laugh. So I showered and got all ready to go to a comedy play called “Bingo.” It was okay. I kept waiting for it to get better… until it got a lot worse.
They comedy team all started their very off humor of making fun of mental illness, which is not funny AT ALL. Instead it stabbed me in the heart numerous times and poked me not where I laugh but instead where I feel pain and where I cry. It stings and it stung and I continue to feel the pain they caused me from laughing at me and from the stigma they so very LOUDLY SHOUTED OUT during their supposed comedy routine.
It is not called comedy but is called stigma which is not funny at all. Stigma is cruel and hurtful. Stigma displayed loudly at the place that is supposed to be funny, make you laugh and feel happy. Instead it hurt me and the stigma was not funny at all.
Stigma is not funny.
Why do people still make fun of people with mental illness? When will it stop? When will they learn that it is not funny, but is extremely painful to live with. Mental illness is a very deadly morbid illness that kills. How can that be funny? Do they know that substance abuse is also included in the DSM- V book of mental disorders?
Do they make fun of people with cancer? No! Do they make fun of people of color anymore? No, thank God, but many years ago in the fifties and earlier they used to. It wasn’t funny then and it isn’t funny now.
But and I mean a great big BUT, people still think mental illness is funny and it is not.
I feel the pain. I live with it. I have seen many other people struggling and suffering with pain from mental illness, as well. I have seen their pain and felt the pain through them and it was horrific. It was not funny AT ALL.
Please stop this nonsense. Please stop making fun of us. Please stop making fun of me. Stop laughing at us. Stop laughing at me.
It is not nice and it is not funny AT ALL!
When they came out making fun of people with mental illness, making their strange movements it reminded me of when President Trump made fun of the reporter with Cerebral Palsy and that was not funny either. People thought that was in very poor taste and rude and it definitely was. Why is not in poor taste and rude to do the same thing making fun of people with mental illness? It is the same thing and it is in very poor taste to act like that making fun of people with mental illness.
It is called mental illness stigma and stigma is just a softened kinder word hiding behind the cruel disgusting real word of what stigma truly is and that big bad word is discrimination of the worst kind. It hurts many people and it needs to stop. It needs to stop right now.
Stigma is the Civil Rights Movement of today and I need to be the loud voice for others that will not or cannot speak up about it. It is time to do it now! Some people think that we need to take baby steps and whisper this. I will not take baby steps. There is no time for baby steps as mental illness kills. I will jump high and I will leap and I will stomp. I will not whisper, but I will shout louder than anyone else so I can be heard loud and clear so you can hear my voice and you can hear my voice for the many others that are not able to speak up for themselves.
Sadly, when I saw these people who were supposed to make me laugh, but instead poked fun of me and others… I was hurt. I heard the audience and the people sitting next to me and my friend that brought me there laughing at me too, always looking at me to make sure I was laughing. I could not even fake a laugh for this one. I was hurt. I was stabbed by a knife as the audience was laughing at me and all the others I know and those I don’t know that have mental illness.
You were making fun of me. You were all laughing at me. I have severe bipolar disorder. I have a severe mental illness. I have lived in a psychiatric hospital and I have had numerous ECTs (shock treatments throughout my life to heal me and keep me alive). You all made fun of ECTs too. How on earth is that funny? It is not funny. ECTs save many lives.
It is not funny to pay $25.00 of my money I really do not have to be laughed at. You hurt me and I am saddened by this. I am so saddened and hurt that you would still make fun of people with mental illness.
How come comedy clubs are still making fun of people with mental illness and why are so many people in the audience still laughing at people with mental illness.
How come your comedy club was laughing AT ME? Why did you all laugh at me? You hurt me. You ALL hurt me and it still hurts today.
Stigma is not funny. Stigma hurts. Stigma is discrimination.
Discrimination is not funny. Discrimination is not funny. Stigma is discrimination.
Stop making fun of me and stop making fun of mental illness.
Mental illness is a person. Mental illness is real. Mental illness affects many people’s lives.
Stop the stigma of mental illness now.
Prevalence of Mental Illness
- Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S.—43.8 million, or 18.5%—experiences mental illness in a given year.1
- Approximately 1 in 25 adults in the U.S.—9.8 million, or 4.0%—experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.2
- Approximately 1 in 5 youth aged 13–18 (21.4%) experiences a severe mental disorder at some point during their life. For children aged 8–15, the estimate is 13%.3
- 1.1% of adults in the U.S. live with schizophrenia.4
- 2.6% of adults in the U.S. live with bipolar disorder.5
- 6.9% of adults in the U.S.—16 million—had at least one major depressive episode in the past year.6
- 18.1% of adults in the U.S. experienced an anxiety disorder such as posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and specific phobias.7
- Among the 20.2 million adults in the U.S. who experienced a substance use disorder, 50.5%—10.2 million adults—had a co-occurring mental illness.8
Social Stats
- An estimated 26% of homeless adults staying in shelters live with serious mental illness and an estimated 46% live with severe mental illness and/or substance use disorders.9
- Approximately 20% of state prisoners and 21% of local jail prisoners have “a recent history” of a mental health condition.10
- 70% of youth in juvenile justice systems have at least one mental health condition and at least 20% live with a serious mental illness.11
- Only 41% of adults in the U.S. with a mental health condition received mental health services in the past year. Among adults with a serious mental illness, 62.9% received mental health services in the past year.8
- Just over half (50.6%) of children aged 8-15 received mental health services in the previous year.12
- African Americans and Hispanic Americans used mental health services at about one-half the rate of Caucasian Americans in the past year and Asian Americans at about one-third the rate.13
- Half of all chronic mental illness begins by age 14; three-quarters by age 24. Despite effective treatment, there are long delays—sometimes decades—between the first appearance of symptoms and when people get help.14
– See more at: http://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-By-the-Numbers
My Loud Whispers of Hope 
It’s awful. People also think it’s okay to make fun of Tourette’s. As someone who has depression and physical tics/stereotyped movement I find it very hurtful and insensitive.
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I am sorry you have had to deal with pain from stigma. I hope someday people will stop and will understand what they are doing and the pain it causes. Stigma is discrimination and it is not funny. Thank you for reading and thank you for your commitment. Hugs. ❤
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That isn’t funny at all. The stigma around mental illness is so strong, it needs to end. It took me 20 years to get help from anxiety and panic attacks because I was ashamed to tell anyone I was having trouble, and I didn’t understand what was happening. I speak out about it now, to do my part to help end the stigma. Thank you so much for sharing and talking about it! Thanks for visiting my blog and the follow. It’s wonderful to connect with you! Take care, Jenny
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You are welcome and thank you for speaking and fighting the stigma. We need all the help and voices we can get. It is my pleasure to follow you. I cannot wait to read more of your blog. Thank you for following me. I greatly appreciate it. Hugs and blessings. ❤
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Thanks so much!! xx 💜
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https://robertsvisiom.wordpress.com
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