Many of the most sensitive, creative and innovative people in society suffer from a mental illness. Rather than shun those who suffer, there needs to be a much greater effort to include and understand those whom are faced with this monumental challenge. I often hear people referred to as a particular mental disorder. However, sufferers of mental illness are no more defined by their disease, than people who suffer from other physical maladies, such as diabetes, are their diseases. There is stigma with mental illness because the bulk of the population is under the illusion that defines the individual. It does not. Not anymore than a rose petal is all there is to a rose bush. The average person is also under the false impression that as a group, the mentally ill are more violent than the rest of society. Untrue, the so-called sane in our society have a much greater degree of violence. It is actually a very small percentage of mental health consumers that become a danger to others. They are more often, a greater danger to themselves. The mind is so extremely complex. Conventional medicine has a long way to go in it's efforts to really understand and treat it's sufferers. If they can admit that the rest of society should hesitate before passing judgement as well. If you can't judge a book by it's cover, you certainly can't judge a person by a label.

There is often a river of confusion that separates the world of a mentally ill person and the one of a non-sufferer. Someday we will better understand mental illness, but until then the only true bridge is love.