The perks of being crazy
For me, crazy is a turn-on. I like to know what I’m dealing with. People that can openly and honestly talk about their mental issues make for way better friends. Going to a psychologist practically makes them a psychologist and friendship is way cheaper than therapy.
Consider what could have happened if Seung-hui Cho of Virginia Tech had a friend who also was dealing with mental illness and could help him out or recommend a therapist. If the subject of mental disorders weren’t consider to be so taboo, 32 students wouldn’t have been gunned down. Privacy guarding the mental health of Cho is now the topic of debate on college campuses.
Last week at the University of Arizona a girl killed her dorm mate. Straight up stabbed her. Reportedly Roomie A killed Roomie B because Roomie B stole her stuff. So, Roomie A qualified that as grounds for termination. Sounds like another case of someone needing to learn how to deal with their problems.
I look for crazies. My summer school class was a psychiatric hog heaven. There was literally a bus full of meth and heroin addicts. When they told me their situation, I couldn’t get their phone numbers fast enough to plan out study sessions. They ruled.
I don’t know whether it was the heavy drug use or the twelve-step program that made them so open and honest, but either way, it was refreshing. However, their best quality was also their downfall; sometimes the desire to not feel dope sick is stronger than the desire to write papers. Understandably so.
Luckily for me, they weren’t my first encounter with clinically crazy. I have a whole slew of buddies with a mental illness. Or as I like to think of it, mental excellence. Most of them deal with some sort of compulsion, like addiction, bipolar, and obsessive compulsion along with anxiety or depression.
I know this because they have openly told me about it and when they act out of character. I know that it is due to their illness and not them as a person. Best of all, they know I know and it makes for a way better and more understanding friendship.
If you have a mental illness or feel like might be prone to having one, the best course of action is to get help. Chances are you’ll find out that everything you’re experiencing is the textbook case of some disorder and that through therapy and/or medication that you can resume your more normal thinking and actions. The only way to make the topic no longer taboo is to bring it out in the open.
Who knows, you may have people like me in your life that only find you more fascinating.