h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As you have pointed out, the popular equating of multiple personalities with schizophrenia is just WRONG. And I'm all for anything which accurately informs people about mental illness of any kind. The more we know about it, the less we fear it, and the easier it will be for people to look for the help they need.

That's mainly the one reason why I wrote this article...it made me so angry that people suffering from either one of those diseases (or others) are thrown on a pile.."they're just mad, don't look, don't laugh - grin grin"
It's just that suffering from a mental disease doesn't make you more crazy or odd than anyone having a bad cold or the flu. I think it would be great when people started to look around at their own relatives or neighbours and try to help them instead of looking away from someone who's "crazy" !!
For the sufferer it can be hard to seek for help, now it is no more than saying to yourself: okay, so I'm crazy. When mental diseases would be more in the open, it certainly would be less hard for a sufferer to seek help. That's not crazy, that's just smart!

The really frustrating thing about mental illness is the fact that the attitudes of society towards it not only isolate the sufferers, but deprive them of support that may actually go some way to helping them heal. They need the sympathy and assistance of their friends and family, not ostracism. Surely the same person would be fussed over and supported if they had diabetes or cancer, but in this case where help can mean so much, it seems that often they are shunned. If they grow up surrounded by these attitudes, they learn to hate themselves, and deny what is happening. None of this is either healthy or helpful.

We need to be more accepting of mental illness. We need to know that sufferers are, for the most case, not dangerous, and we need to know what to do to help.

Ahem. I think I just said what you did. Oh well, I don't think it can be said too often.