So please, treat us with love and compassion. But we don’t need the kid glove treatment

A common misperception about people with a mental illness seems to be that we are fragile and weak.

My 26 years of living through the Hell of undiagnosed and untreated Bipolar Disorder, my 25 years of living a challenging Recovery, including several years matriculating through AA’s “rather rugged school of life,” and my knowing many friends with mental illness who have gone through similar rites of passage, tell me otherwise.

It takes an incredible amount of tenacity, persistence, and reslience to live with a mental illness. I am amazed at the trials and tribulations that I was able to endure, with the help of the Higher Power of my understanding, before I received the blessings of medication, therapy, CBT, the multiple components of spiritual recovery, and a strong support network.

And I know many others like me. Miracles of Recovery, who persevered through some of the worst imaginable tragedies with some of the most self-destructive, maladaptive coping skills.

So please, treat us with love and compassion. But we don’t need the kid glove treatment.