My Dad says people will only be sympathetic up to a point. After that, they get bored of it. He wouldn't like to admit it but, that does include him and lots of parents/ family members I suspect. People get tired of hearing problems and making allowances.
Especially if the problem someone has isn't visible and is difficult for them to guage. How do any of us really know how others experience the world? What makes one person anxious at a normal level and another, mentally ill? Is it when their level of anxiety becomes debhilitating? Some people will argue that they have fears and anxieties but they make themselves do the things regardless. They get annoyed when other people don't. It's very hard to judge the strength of a person's feelings and whether they are a normal reaction or, mental illness.
How is mental illness even diagnosed? Sometimes I wonder if everyone would end up getting diagnosed with something. Lots of people seem to have a certain thing they react disproportionately strongly to. Do all serious problems start out at a normal level but then- for whatever reason, they start to take over? Is it our lack of facing these problems when they first arise that lead to them becoming so ingrained?
I suspect they also feel that in order to overcome these fears- you have to face them- which I imagine is what they are pushing you to do. Sadly- they don't see it as the equivalent of forcing a crippled person in a wheelchair to try and walk. They likely just see the anxious person as someone who has been sheltered too much and too pandered to in terms of allowing them not to do things they don't want to do. It's probably not true but maybe they think it would help you to force yourself into uncomfortable situations.
I would say I feel anxious around people. I don't know if it's fair to say I have social anxiety though. I suspect, compared to other people, I can at least function- if awkwardly. Some people start vomiting and shut down. I'm not that bad but I'd say my fear of people has had a debhilitating affect on my life. That's mainly because I've let it though. It makes me uncomfortable to be around people- so, I've avoided it. Which has only increased the fear. Had I made myself do it- maybe I would have gotten better eventually. It's hard to know really.
Still- I expect some people believe that people have made themselves the way they are because they've been too lazy and too afraid to correct themselves. If that person has struggled themselves but managed to overcome it, I think they just don't have the patience with people that haven't. They have no way of guaging how bad the other person's feelings are. Just as we don't know how bad theirs were.
I guess I'm curious really. What do you think? Are we born with mental illness- or, at least a susceptibility to certain things? Do you feel like you know when and why your conditions arose? For me- I only once went to my GP and got a diagnosis of mild to moderate depression. The rest for me are self diagnoses- I would say I am prone to limerance, I would say I've had borderline eating disorders and I'd say I have mild social anxiety. I can probably make a guess as to why I have/ had each suspected thing. I don't think it's my fault I developed them but in many cases- I probably could have done more to try and stop them before they took a hold. How do you feel about yours? I hope I haven't come across as dismissive in this. That wasn't my intention. I do actually believe in the existence of debhilitating mental illness. I just find it so frustrating though as to how it is diagnosed and how difficult it is to guage.
