I feel that refusing to acknowledge that sometimes toxic behaviors are treatable side effects of mental illness is actually ableist and it fucking upsets me.
I mean like Richard Chase (TW: Pretty much everything, do not read about him if you are feeling even remotely delicate) is a really good example. When his abusive mom took him off his meds, he did like truly unspeakable things. After he was caught and medicated again he killed himself because he couldn’t cope with the horrific shit he’d done. His case is obviously massively rare, but I think it gets my point across.
Like the whole “Toxic behaviors are never symptoms of mental illness” feels like NTs making excuses for demonizing people who have done fucked up shit as a result of mental illness and then calling anyone who challenges them on that ableist.
i def feel this a lot
i am super an asshole when im in bad places mentally! and lots of my friends have similar problems! like bpd, bipolar, depression, to just name a few can really make you do/say horrible shit to the people around you and while yes, on the one hand you need to be held accountable for your own actions, but on the other, if it’s something that can be (comparatively) easily dealt with with meds or therapy or even just keeping yourself out of shitty situations that trigger those thoughts and feelings, we shouldn’t be demonized for literally having fucked up brains that make these actions seem okay
i feel like a lot of people swing wildly between “all ppl with mental illnesses are completely soft and wonderful” and “all ppl with mental illnesses are TERRIFYING and HORRIBLE” and the fact of the matter we’re neither, we’re just fucked up, and one person can be on both ends of that spectrum depending on what’s going on with them
like fuck, we’re not monsters, we’re just in need of actual literal help
idk does this make sense because im just rambling at this point
That makes perfect sense. We’re not monsters. We’re *trying*… also I think a lot of people have trouble facing the fact that there are really very few monsters and a lot of people who need help and treatment as well as accountability.
Thoughts From The Peacock Angel 