SNAP OUT OF IT

“Snap out of it” is a phrase I have taken offense to and hated. When darkness, sadness and uncontrollable emotions overcome your mind and body you just can't “snap out of it.” If we could turn off our mental illness that easily, we would all be cured. We would not spend money on therapists, psychiatrists and medications.

When I was with one of my old boyfriends and I got depressed, he told me to “snap out of it.” I tried to explain to him it was not that easy. I told him that mental illness is a chemical imbalance and it takes a lot of work, therapy and medicine to find happiness. He just couldn't make sense out of it. In his mind, I should have been able to just shut it off, but I couldn't. I had no control over it. I continued to explain to him that I had an illness like cancer and you can't tell a cancer patient to snap out of it any more then you can tell a mentally ill person the same thing.

I had friends tell me to watch a funny movie and that would snap me out of it. I once again tried to explain that when you're in the hole of darkness, nothing seems enjoyable. Even the things that once made you happy seem hopeless and sad. Not even the funniest movie in the world could turn off mental illness.

Everyone gets down from time to time in his or her life. We're only human and we can't always be happy. When we get sad, we can do things to distract our minds from those things that bring us down, but mental illness is more than just a sad period in a person's life. When it's an ongoing condition that a person cannot break free of, then it is an illness.

Mental illness is an imbalance of chemicals called serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. It can also be passed on through the family and bad environments can contribute to the illness. In simple words, it's not just a bad day that will go away.

Medication can balance the chemicals and therapy can help a person work through the rough times they face in their lives. It takes hard work to change behaviors and patterns of thinking brought on by the illness.

I got frustrated with people who seemed to think I had a magic wand to wave and make my illness go away. Then I realized that these people are only ignorant because they have not been properly educated on what mental illness is. It's our job as those who have fought the battle of this illness to tell the world about it.

I have learned to smile when someone tells me to “snap out of it.” I try to educate them about mental illness and tell them how hard I worked to reach the light.