Exclusion & Isolation More Harmful Than {Mental} Illness Itself

First responders
serve and protect us
when keeping harm at
bay and by saving lives.
They will fight for life of
friend or foe regardless of
consequence to their selfess acts.
They are humble heroes who simply
wish to make their communities
exceptional places to live.
Our armed services
provide security
and peace

at home and abroad for
endangered, distraught nations.
All are pledged to guard freedom
from tyrannny, safety against danger,
and above all, keep us all secure.
Yet an exaggerated startle
response is their only medal in

the shortened spans of noble careers.
They suffer ceaseless traumas daily that
introduce impossible numbers to C-PTSD
by way of a callous and senseless world.
I can't speak for them but the results
of all horrendous experiences
are often similar in nature.
Recovery is possible for
many victims of
single event
traumas,

such as a
serious injury,
physical assault,
at the death or
suicide of a loved one,
disaster, or simply the
threat of or witnessing
violence brings harm.

Afflicted with ADHD
or ADD at an early
age and never
diagnosed relegates
one to a life of living hell.
It is impossible for misconstrued
character defects to be painstakingly
worked into valuable and useful assets.
If not recognized and untreated, ADHD
will wreak devastating difficulties and
frustration throughout one's life.

Even when treated with
medication and/or
theraputically,
ADHD cannot be cured
and may worsen during adulthood.
But being born with unrecognized, and
never diagnosed ADD, plus doubly blessed
by caregivers given to fits of boundless
anger delivers hell to life on earth.
These comprise ultimate traumas
of endless duration committed
by reprehensible monsters
hidden under sheepskin.
They resemble loved
ones and nurturers
charged to love
and care for

us all during nascent,
absolutely helpless years.
Instead, through rage and fury
they perpetuate maltreatment of
both children and life partners.
They are cowards and bullies
who derive pleasure from
inflicting pain and misery
upon the small and
weak, mild and
meek.

My voice
is but one of
many millions the
world over whose shrunken
identity writhes searing in
malevolent cauldrons,
warped forever.

The stigma
of mental illnes
is no rumor or myth.
It hangs beside family skeletons in
dark, locked and hiddenclosets.
It is whispered conversation

among ‘normal’ people.
Even entire families
with an emotionally
ill member are
sometimes
shunned!

It discourages
those who are ill
from seeking help,
support, treatment and recovery.
It engenders disgrace with odious
insignificancy that is derived
from pure meanness to
quarantine a person
from others.

It brings
isolation, shame,
abuse and discrimination
which add burdens of
hopelessness and
helplessness to
the myriad
sufferings
of those
stricken.

This plague
known as stigma
may have many sources
of origin, undercurrents and
manifestations, but always the
familiar hallmarks of distinction;
lack of knowledge, fear, distrust and

abandonment of the afflicted
have been constant over the millennia.
Mental illnesses, while real as cancer,
epilepsy, diabetes or congestive
heart failure, all share the
common denominator
of biological
causation.

One in five will
experience some
form of mental disorder
varying by degree or intensity,
temporarily or permanently,
during their living years.
Insurance carriers
classify it

just above
the financial reach
of patients, ensuring the
reprehensible, tortuous agony
of a hideously painful, social death.
However, the most devastation occurs from
self-stigma; when an individual’s belief system
changes under the negative influences
of communities in which they live.
Family, friends, and co-workers'
lack of empathy and their
indifference towards
them dissolves the
sacred nucleus of
support required
for life to exist.

Others’ fears,
superstitions,
and resulting
paranoia bar
recovery to
emotionally ill
persons and their
right to live with
dignity and in respect.

Mental illness is a condition
or disease, not moral issue, and
until love, care and concern become
an easier pill to swallow, there can be no
cure for the epidemic that circles the world.
Stigma is fanned and spread through humanity by
the malicious ignorance of small factions of the
less-educated, and the more 'enlightened'.
However, it is ill wind enough that
keeps the embers glowing.