You can’t “snap out of it!”

When a mental health consumer is in crisis, sometimes others cannot understand that they can’t simply “snap out of it” and jump from their world into another. Typically, once your mental health crisis is evident to your family, friends, and others who encounter you, you are too far into a crisis to turn on a dime. Usually, the situation involves a lot of hard work by the mental health consumer and their caregivers, if they have any, to return to good mental health and, most importantly, happiness. Telling mental health consumers that their symptoms are nothing more than a bad attitude is tremendously discouraging and inaccurate. Suppose you have a good relationship with a psychologist and psychiatrist. In that case, they will never tell you that your struggles are baseless, even if they involve manifestly false delusions outside your personal world. At the time, they are real to you, and you need help to move beyond them. If you know someone struggling with mental health or a brain disorder, be kind and patient!

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