The unparticular

I thought perhaps I should, for the benefit of those who may happen upon this sad waste of webspace and consider it’s endless uselessness that I might refer to that touchy subject of mental illness, Yes it’s an unfortunate fact that some of us so happen to suffer from it, but the few points I’d like to make may be of interest.
Matthew Good was recently awarded the Mental Health Voices award by the Canadian Mental Health association and, in my experience, never has such an award been granted to more of a rewarding individual. Over the past couple of years Matt Good has been a leading light for the thousands of people who suffer from Bipolar Disorder across the globe and he deserves every credit for his heartfelt and honest account of his experience with such a condition. The issue remains that those people who happen to suffer from such a form of mental illness usually feel that such a condition or an affliction (as some people term it) feel a degree of shame or of embarrassment about being Bipolar. The very term Bipolar is a bit of a new one because most people are more used to the term Manic Depressive and it is only this new age of political correctness that has come up with a whole new way of describing people who suffer from the condition. From my own personal experience I have felt very much that being termed a Manic Depressive is something that can  write you off, something that can put you into a bracket and never let you out again.
The issue with mental illness, and if I can bring my own subjective view into this, is that everyone has their quirks and oddities, everyone is different in their own sometimes uncertain way, we have names for some conditions and we don’t have names for others, what we constitute as mental health is a particularly groundless issue.
For me, depression and Bipolar Disorder have become names for states of mind that were always there and if I am perfectly honest, having a term put to them has helped me in no uncertain fashion to know that what is causing my mental perceptions is chemical and nothing more has been a serious help to me, I might not be fully convinced but the fall back remains ‘this is chemical and nothing more’ and in certain circumstances it is more helpful than I can describe
Matthew Good stated on his blog that

“To be honest with you, I feel entirely unworthy of the award being that all I did was tell my own story. There are literally thousands of volunteers, professionals, and advocates that deserve recognition for their work on a daily basis, making receiving such an honour entirely humbling next to their tireless dedication.”

Whilst certainly I agree with him that there are individuals who expend so much effort into helping others I have to disagree with him as regards his stance that he does not feel worthy. To provide a clear public profile, to be honest, to have maintained himself through such trouble and to have provided so many people with an example to be proud of and to take heart from deserves every recognition he has received.
If that sounds like some form of hero worship then…

 deal with it