Sometimes, the illness does get the best of us. But should bad mental health always be the explanation for bad behaviors? Would you as a person continue to tolerate unruly behaviors from people just because they have bad mental health?
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Sometimes, the illness does get the best of us. But should bad mental health always be the explanation for bad behaviors? Would you as a person continue to tolerate unruly behaviors from people just because they have bad mental health?
Mental illnesses should never be an excuse for bad behavior but as someone who has gone through a chronic depression I can understand people who behave in some unconventional ways under different illnesses. Looking back at the time when my depression was at its peak I can only cringe at myself. I was self-centered, arrogant and ignorant, angry and sad all the time and I didn’t care what other people thought about me and I couldn’t bring myself to take their advice. At the bottom of my heart I knew I wouldn’t even use their advice. Later down the years I did go to professional therapy and it helped me a lot. But if I got advice from my parents or my sibling I would get angry and at worst violent. I hated myself for that. Those times were the absolute worst years of my life.
There was this thing that, to me, was the savior of my life. I moved out of my parent’s house to my own apartment that I did share with my roommate. I started to learn more learn about myself and better myself since I had more room, physically and mentally. What I’m trying to say with all this is that there is no excuse for one’s behavior. However, if you can you can be more understanding towards people with mental illnesses. Nobody forces you to accept people’s behavior and sometimes it is better to let go. I’ve learned that the hard way.
Mental illness is not and should not be an excuse for someone to behave badly. It is however, a reason to adjust certain standards of behavior.
You can’t hold a person who is struggling with a mental illness to the same standard of behavior as a healthy person. It’s unfair and you’re both just going to wind up hurting if you do. Bearing that in mind, you’ll need to adjust your standards of behavior to a degree when your in some kind of relationship with a person who has a mental illness. For example, a person suffering from severe depression isn’t going to be able to do household chores like a normal person. They’re lucky if they even get dressed on bad days. So bear that in mind, rather than expect that they keep a spotless house every day, just expect that they shower and get dressed. Some days they might not even be able to do that, but showering and wearing clothes is a much more attainable and fair standard of behavior for them at that point in their lives.