What is the best way to get your friends to educate themselves about your mental illness?

0

I have actually been dumped by a friend who in fact had a bipolar sister. Once i told her i was diagnosed she just dumped me all together. Then i have friends that want to understand but don’t have the resources to do so. I want to help them help me….

Category: Tags: asked September 19, 2014

3 Answers

1
accepted
If they leave you, that's their problem. That means they are not strong enough to be your friend. I guarantee you are an amazing person. They need to look past any illness you have. If they make you feel small then remember that a person is a person no matter how small. Yes I just quoted Dr. Seuss. Keep your head up my friend.
2
Here's what I did:
I made a few Google searches on my diagnosis and wrote down the best links. Then I wrote down what I personally considered the most important points and added some examples that I deemed easy to understand, and had my friends read it. It didn't solve all the problems but it did help. Maybe you could do something similar?
I hope it works out =]
1
I'd go online and just google your diagnosis (like Searinox already said). Find the one or even more link(s) that most feel like what you're feeling. Let them read through that and then maybe have a little QnA session? I know this really might seem stupid, but this helped my mother understand my situation a lot. She did some reading on her own and then we just sat together and she got the opportunity to ask questions. You'll have to keep in mind that people might ask wrong questions (like "Why don't you just go out and be happy?" or "Why don't you just do anything even though you don't feel like it?") because they don't know any better. Just listen to their questions and try to tell your point of things. In my opinion, that's the best way of making anybody see how you feel and actually understand you. I hope that helps ;)