yes

Yes a few actually.

yes
no one close to me has a serious mental illness but anxiety disorders included, i do know a couple
and i also have connections with someone who is schizophrenic but he doesn't really affect my life at all

yes. makes me

Yes, much of my family suffers from some form of one.

I know probably a dozen people who have disorders ranging from anxiety and depression disorders to being bipolar.

The family next door to me when I was growing up has a family history of depression (and suicides), and the son 2 years older than myself just took his own life a few years ago after battling severe depression. He got switched from one depression medication to another, and it made him suicidal. I was heartbroken because within a few days of being on the medication, he was calling the state suicide hotline and his doctor but the doctor told him to ride it out and let his body adjust to the new medicine. He didn't make it a week on that medication.

Yes, several. It'd be rarer to hear from people who DON'T know anyone who suffers from some form of mental illness.

Sorry to hear that Yogaforlife, what a tragedy.

Yes. My mother is scizophrenic. As a result of dealing with this my entire life I'm pretty bad with my own anxiety issues. And does horrid PMS count as mental illness?
But seriously, it seems like every other person I know has something!

In response to weffie and "It'd be rarer to hear from people who DON'T know anyone who suffers from some form of mental illness."

Do you think these days people are being misdiagnosed with these mental illnesses? Or do you think back in the day it just was not discussed but just as many people were suffering?

Yes, I do.

Yes. I work in the mental health field, so I know quite a few that way, but I also know people in my personal life who have had mental illness.

PhillyEagles1, I think people have always suffered from mental illness. It may not have been talked about the same way, but I don't think it's necessarily more common today than in the past just because it's diagnosed more often. What was considered "eccentric" or moody or whatever could have actually been mental illness. I also think we run into more people with mental illness in our daily lives because in the past, people with severe mental illnesses were institutionalized and that doesn't happen as much these days because of advances in medication.

Yes, I know a few. I knew one who really upset my life for a while.

@PhillyEagles1 I'm definitely no expert, but I suspect it's some sort of combination of both. I do think some people are incorrectly diagnosed because there are so many different medications to sell them now, but I imagine just as many people are diagnosed correctly because now it is more socially acceptable to discuss their problems, whereas in the past they could have been too shy or embarrassed to admit to them.

Yes, quite a few.

Yes. She's a wonderful person.

A very close friend of mine appears to be schizophrenic. She was totally "normal" for 5 years, then one day we were supposed to go out and I called and called her and got no answer. Another friend of ours and I got together and found she had been picked up by the cops after walking over a mile, in Chicago, in January, to the park...totally nude and ranting and raving the whole way. She's unbelievably gorgeous and very petite. I was grateful that she made it.

At the hospital she accused me of being a minion of satan. She accused the members of our church of poisoning her with the help of her landlord and her boss. That's how she explained the situation.

I should have been a little wary because she had many, many stories of someone "slipping something" into her drink or food. I understand that this really does happen to women, but her stories were very conspiracy oriented. (My hindsight is 20/20)

It was very traumatizing for me, we were very close and I never thought this would happen. I really miss her, but the few times we've spoken since then, she doesn't make much sense. She'll be 40 years old soon and I wish she could get the help she needs so that she could have some peace and stability.

Yes- my cousin has schizophrenia, a friend from college has bipolar disorder, my uncle committed suicide from severe depression, myself with anxiety disorder.....and then I worked in the mental health field for a little over a year so I knew plenty of people who had a mental illness...its very sad and always misunderstood

Yes. My best friend in high school had some pretty serious ones too.

...and one of my friends now (likely?) has some REALLY serious ones. Like, if he's off his meds he might do some pretty terrible stuff serious ones.

I have an uncle who is paranoid schizophrenic. However, I have a couple of other relatives that i believe is Narcissus...

Yes my exs mom had really bad schizophrenia.
His brother too.

I suffer from OCD.

its tarynitup

I can relate. My exs mom when I first met her she was pretty normal.
She would constantly lie though. She was a pathological liar and I never really belived what she said because she made no sense.
She had a bad history with my exs dad and after all those years she would always talk about him and that he was gonna return. It was weird. She had 2 small kids. Ages 7 and 10. She was always on welfare and she was able to get this nice apt from sec 8.

She never had a stabled job, and eventually we got a call from the mental hospital saying she was brought by the cops because she was making a scene in the streets and needed medical help.

When they went to check on her kids, it was a mess (I never went to her apt so had no Idea how they lived) they had no food, no clean clothes. They hadn't gone to school in months because no one would take them.
She kept saying she was pregnant and that someone had stolen her baby. She would fight with me and call me b*tch and that I had stolen her son from her.
They took her kids and gave them to the grandma.
She would go look for my ex to our house pushing a shopping cart and asking him for money. Imagine how terrible he must of felt?

We eventually broke up but I would tell him to take her some where where they can help her.

Even now, a year and a half later, I still see her walking in the streets talking to herself and fighting with people for no reason.
last time I saw her, she had a blanket over her head and was sitting in the park with a shopping cart.

so sad. I they find a safe place for her.

Two of my family members have social anxiety disorders. One also has battled depression.

yes

Yes and I'm a pretty adjusted person.