Saturday 2 December 2017

SECRET.

"Don't tell anybody that you are a Bipolar patient. They will think you are mad."
This is what my psychiatrist told me when I lost my job. I had to tell my boss that I had a Bipolar Disorder. He had seen me walking around restlessly during the office hours. He fired me the next day. In spite of my restlessness, I had worked diligently and hard. My boss had liked me. But one word about my mental illness and he threw me out. He didn't even bother to think whether I was capable or not.
Having a Bipolar Disorder has to be kept as a closely guarded secret. Forget about your workplace, even otherwise it has to be a secret. If you tell somebody that you have a mental illness, people feel threatened. They think you might get violent or do something crazy which will put them in a spot. Mental Illness, even in this day and age is considered a taboo.
Do not tell your boyfriend that you have a mental disease. However sanely you have behaved in the past, it doesn't matter.. He will turn tail and run. I realize of course that if you have the intention of marrying him, you have to tell him the truth. and here's where the danger lies. Your disorder may be  well under control, you may be behaving normally so that he has no inkling of your disease, but that doesn't matter. With the exception of a few men who understand and love you. you will be rejected.
Don't talk about it. But a relative or a friend who stays over the night with you will be curious if they see you taking the medications in front of them. So hide the medicines as well. 
It is because of this that mental patients live in a state of denial. They will not even accept that they are ill. Even if they are behaving abnormally or are violent, they pass it off as aggravating circumstances. They might be seeing or hearing things that do not exist, bit they still refuse to accept their disease. They might go through years of suffering without any treatment.
Not only is the patient supposed to keep his affliction a secret, his family has to keep quiet as well. As if it is a thing to be ashamed of, a skeleton in the cupboard!
So don't mention it to anybody, don't say a word. It is a secret. Shhhhh-----!