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I am one of those "defective people - worth removing". According to some of your readers, I should "weed myself out. It is a good thing."
My last bad episode did throw my family into turmoil. I felt helpless to stop the psychosis that was ripping me apart. Not everyone was able to accept this (my daughter accused me of faking, and threatened to cut off access to my granddaughtter). However, my husband found a way to stand by me, though at times he no doubt felt that he was in the middle of a war.
What happened was that I finally found a psychiatrist (through a friend) who knew what he was doing, and diagnosed me as bipolar (the shrinks at the hospital kept saying histrionic personality disorder, as if I were some kind of drama queen). That was the point at which I began to recover.
On the right medication, and paying a lot of attention to sleep and nutrition and exercise and spirituality and social contact, I began to slowly get better. My interests came back, my thoughts were no longer exclusively focused on illness, and I began to feel grateful to have survived.
Should I have been weeded out? I wonder. Am I defective, and worth removing? My family doesn't think so. Much healing has happened through information and understanding. I am slowly getting used to the idea that I have a chronic condition, not unlike diabetes or MS. I can't quite forget that I have it, but it no longer needs to dominate my life.
I realize I'm very fortunate, and I am also aware that many people are so sick that they deny they are sick, causing havoc in their families. My best friend has had to distance herself from her mother, and I support her in her decision. But please don't treat the mentally ill as expendable. Stigma is damaging and dehumanizing and generates shame, and some of your readers' comments indicate that it is still very much alive. I value my life, I believe I make a significant contribution, and I don't appreciate being treated like a write-off.
