Member-only story
Mental Illness Will Hide in Plain Sight
It’s disturbing when it stealthily reveals itself
We assume people we meet are like us sometimes. Unless we are presented with evidence to the contrary, we don’t usually suspect someone has a mental illness because the symptoms aren’t usually glaring. When illness rears its ugly head, I am disturbed to see how prevalent it is.
I can quickly think of 2 instances when I was a bit shocked to learn the people I knew were so sick.
I was at my writer’s group meeting one night last year with five other members. Our new leader read us a story about her boyfriend that was about the ways he copes with his obsessive compulsive disorder. She went on to tell us how she battles the same issues, as well as having overcome an addiction.
This discussion seemed to open the door to 2 other members sharing their stories of struggling with their mental health. Allison told us she also had issues with obsessive compulsive behaviors that started when she was a teenager that required her to count items in her room before going to bed. She was dealing with anxiety issues.
Bob told us about his severe depression that began after he had an accident when he was 8 years old. Now in his forties, he had been in several residential treatment programs.
