By Patrick McCready
Reporter Patrick McCready shares his experiences with depression, anxiety and stigmatization.
1. Describe your mental health struggles. How do they affect your life?
My diagnosis is persistent depressive disorder with acute anxious distress. This means it can range from extreme my natural state of happiness and extreme lows of depression. My anxiety causes my depression more so than anything else, because as I come down from my happy state my anxiety causes me to wallow in the things I worry about everyday.
I tend to isolate myself from my friends and those around me when I’m depressed; this is relatively typical.
2. How have you personally experienced stigmatization and mistreatment due to these struggles? Are these kinds of experiences commonplace for people with mental illnesses?
I have not experienced stigmatization or mistreatment, however I have seen this kind of mistreatment before. There are people who are afraid to speak up about their mental illness because of the stigmas associated with them. People who don’t have mental illnesses or disorders are classified as normal by sociological standards – to me, this standard is what causes stigmas.
3. What do you think could be done to combat stigmatization and mistreatment of people with mental illnesses?
It is better to be outspoken about your depression than closed up about it, because otherwise it affects not only you but your friends and family around you. You’re not only wallowing in your own troubles, you are pushing away the help that you might need. I feel like there should be more teaching in early education on how to spot signs of mental illness. Open conversation and education are what can make the difference in someone’s life in terms of knowing themselves and knowing nothing is wrong with them; and especially knowing when to ask for help.
4. How have you been, and how do you plan to be personally involved with the cause?
I want to start a National Alliance of Mental Illness on-campus club. They are non-discriminatory and they teach people how to go about the conversation around mental illness. This in turn leans to education and love for those around us with the issues we all don’t like to talk about. I’m planning to charter the club next quarter and if anyone is interested in joining, my email is p.mccready@hotmail.com