Mental illness

When is it considered being mentally ill? I always wonder when I read illustrations in the doctor's office or anywhere else .Is it when you can no longer cope with everyday things,is it when you think you are losing your mind after a divorce,is it when you are feeling so depressed you just want to hide in a rabbit hole?  Or are you born that way?....

Since being a young child , my parents always fostered teenagers who had family problems and later in my childhood,our mother decided to help care for mentally challenged adults.

The term mentally challenged is now used for such people in that state ,but it used to be named Mentally Retarded or Mentally handicapped. The term Retarded always made me cringe,i don't know why,it made the situation sound worse than it was. And for some of them ,who knew what the term meant,was to them a very sad feeling. I remember seeing one person,being called retarded by some nasty kid,she just looked down and kept walking.My heart went out to her. I felt her pain.That word was like a knife going through your heart ,,,it was very demeaning to that person. Most of them knew the situation they were in,but most of them did not. The major part of the ones I came to know very well,were like little children in their own little world.Needing a lot of love and attention, like all of us do,but it seemed to be appreciated more by them. Anything nice made them happy. Just a hug would brighten up their day and they would continue the day in a very happy mood. Some schizophrenic patients my mother took care of needed a lot of attention.They were the ones needing the most love to always make them feel like everything was alright.

The most of us who have not or never dealt with a mentally challenged person,can feel uncomfortable when coming in contact with them.Years ago, mentally *retarded* people would be thoughtof as dangerous or crazy people.Not anymore.Thank goodness. We are getting more civilised I guess,seeing more and more of them working in jobs like many of us have. If you don't know the person, you wouldn't know they are challenged in any way. They marry,they have kids,they work.They are now being integrated in communities and are helped out to have the training they need.They are not outcasts like they used to be. I'm not saying all of the mentally challenged persons can be independent, but a lot of them are.As the help is out there now more than it ever was back in the day.

Some of them need care that is minimal,and some need diapers and for you to bath and feed them.The care given is like caring for a baby all the time,but in an adult body.To think of them as a kid is the way it is because they act and feel like one. They need you 24/7 . Never to be left alone,cook for them,clean, wash their teeth and so on.....It takes a special person to care in such a way for people you hardly know and have no relation or obligation to them.They become your family whether you want to or not,you get attached and love them dearly.That's foster care. You defend them like your own.You hate it when people call them retarded .You hate when people stare....they are your family!

It can be a burden or a big load on the parents of a mentally challenged child .As the parents grow old , they need to know who will take care of their child . Being a child in an adult body ,is how most parents see them. It must be very hard on the parents of such child,not knowing what will happen to their baby after they leave this world. Will they be cared for as I did ? Will they be loved and treated with respect ? All one can do is pray for loving people to find them in their path to their own end of life on this earth.

Please keep in mind that most mentally challenged person is born that way,but that a great percentage is from certain event that happened in their lives ,which put them in that state. Accidents, drug use or even abuse can change a perfectly *normal* person to be mentally challenged.So the next time you meet such a person,think to yourself....It could be me .,..or a loved one . Please try not to judge to quickly when you do meet someone on the street or in a store. They don't need your stares or your judgements. It could be you someone is staring at ......at some point in your life....