Posted by sar on September 2, 2001, at 1:39:00
In reply to Explaining or NOT Explaining Depression, posted by Elzabeth on September 1, 2001, at 11:39:28
i had to explain to week-each absences to my employer this summer. the real reason i was hospitalized is because i was suicidal. what i told my employers and co-workers was, "it's personal." let them think what they want--ovaries, drugs, anything but chronic depression.
when i got sent home from work from coming in drunk, i cried and explained my situation fully to my managers--that some docs think i am bipolar, and impulsivity has alot to do with that (in addition to that, i've lost just about everything in the past year--home, car, school, cognition, trust fund)--
you are not required to explain what you've been hospitalized for or what you were sick with. my managers were fully cooperative, but--there's the stigma. tipper gore and marie osmond may be out of the closet, so to speak, but i think mental illness has a special aspect of privacy to it--just like you wouldn't go around telling everyone, "hey, i had an abortion" or "i got a boobjob" or what have you. discretion is needed, IMHO.
my peeps know that i take "medicine." i don't go into detail except with my closest friends, and the others probably suspect that they are AD's, but they don't want to hear about it.
like you know how yr parents have/had sex but ya just don't want to know anything about it? i think that's how the masses are with mental illness.
"i'm sorry, but it's personal" has worked well for me--and usually the other person is immediately embarrassed and apologetic. they probably don't want to know the lurid details any more than you want to give them.
sar
poster:sar
thread:77277
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010828/msgs/77379.html