It is on days like this that I wish there was a way to combine [View all]

the Mental Health Group and the Loners Group on DU. Both get demonized. I wish there was a way to get an ad campaign going that, once and for all, proved to the world that not all people with mental health issues and not all loners are dangerous, murderous monsters. There are some people who cannot be reasoned with when it comes to these types of events. They swear up and down it was the loners and/or people with mental health problems and that a person would have to be mentally ill to kill 20 children. I can guarantee all of the people in both groups on DU and in the real world are horrified by what happened today. Never mind that 99.9% of us are not dangerous people. The rest of us are looked at as pariahs during times like this. I'm sick of it and I wish there was an education/ad campaign that, once and for all, proved to the public that not every murderous thug is mentally ill and not every mentally ill person is a murderous thug. It has been a hard day. Not only am I not equipped to cope with the horror of the school shootings, but hearing people sling the phrase "mentally ill" around in association with such horror just makes me feel even worse. I could try to tell them that mentally ill people are against murdering 20 kids in cold blood like that, but they don't "get" it.

Likewise with loners. Most loners are not sitting around plotting some revenge or killing spree fantasy. People do not bother to try to understand loners either. They assume we are all sitting around plotting some mass murder plan when the truth is a lot of us are loners BECAUSE we are horrified by the wretched things the human race does on a daily basis. The word 'humane' is really a misnomer. There is nothing "humane" about the human race on any given day. It is cruel and heartless. How anyone can kill 1 child is something I cannot even begin to fathom, much less 20.

Thank you for letting me vent. I'm not so great at sharing. It took years to be diagnosed correctly with APD and even now I hate to share that I have it because of the stigma. Even among other mentally ill people, I find those of us with avoidant personality disorder are seen as suspect. At least I understand myself better now that I have been diagnosed. Too bad the rest of the world refuses to learn that not all people who are mentally ill are out to kill the world.