Your input needed for mental illness blog (following on from the Asda costume sale)

[Typecast]

Last night I saw the tweet-outs about the Asda "mental patient" costume and was as angered as many other people. I wrote about the costume on sale and have updated the post as new bits of information came in. You can read that here - "What Does A Mental Patient Look Like?"

What I need to do now is follow this up tonight. I'm looking for anyone who will give me two lines (or more) about how they feel about mental illness. This can be you as a carer, having been diagnosed with a mental illness, working within that sector or just having an opinion. They can be positive or negative. You can send me a photo to accompany your input or I'll happily link to your blog. I'd also need to know if you prefer to use a pseudonym or to remain completely anonymous.

I'll be looking to share about 10 stories but obviously need them fairly quickly so that I can write this up tonight to follow up the original article and general witterings. I would like to help repair some of the damage that Asda has done.

Please feel free to email me at typecastblog[at]gmail[dot]com or ask any questions on this thread.

Thanks in advance.

Oh, PS... this is for my blog. I'm not a journalist nor am I going to attempt to sell any of this blog post (I know that happens in some cases). I have my own connections and opinions on mental health issues and have written about it on my blog in the past.

[colourmummy]

That's disgusting and it brings tears to my eyes. I have a friend who struggles to hold bipolar disorder at bay and feels she cannot tell anyone beyond her very closest friends because it would destroy the business that she is good at and has worked for. Given that 1 in 3 people are said to suffer from mental illness, it is extraordinary that people still have these prejudices. But they do. If she told the mums at school I should think most of them would stop their children going on sleepovers at her house, and she isn't even ill. She is beautiful, hard working and kind, and probably more patient than many mothers. But ask her psychiatrist and he will say that she has bipolar disorder category 2. Mental illness is a complex subject but it is also a chemical disorder a bit like breaking a leg. Once we do more research into the workings of the psyche we will probably understand it much better.