As someone who is also on the border between "good mentally ill" and "bad mentally ill," this is a really accurate portrayal of what it's like. The feeling tha

As someone who is also on the border between "good mentally ill" and "bad mentally ill," this is a really accurate portrayal of what it's like. The feeling that you're holding it together now, just barely doing the right things and making yourself seem normal enough, but that in the past you couldn't and the fear that in the future you won't be able to. I can't understate how much economic worry there is. Even for a software developer who is now doing pretty well financially, I can't help but wonder if I'll slip into another crushing depression where my brain works at 1/3 the speed and clarity and I can barely make it through a work day before collapsing on the couch. To anybody who sincerely wants to help, you can help by supporting strong social safety nets so that people don't have to shoulder the anxiety of being out on the street in addition to whatever else they're going through, and can also access affordable therapy. You can also support flexible or shorter work weeks. Edit: I would estimate that at least for me personally, at least half of the disease burden has been from second-order effects -- from economic anxiety, anxiety about stigma, and working through illness at an unsustainable pace.