I saw this when it was originally posted and decided not to comment then, but seeing it gain some momentum, I'm ignoring my better judgement. For a long time I

I saw this when it was originally posted and decided not to comment then, but seeing it gain some momentum, I'm ignoring my better judgement. For a long time I was ill. My family was horribly poor when I was growing up, so the only doctors I saw were in state run institutions. Paranoia meant I never shared the reality I experienced, instead I only shared enough to get a mild "well, he's a teenager". I barely held on to sanity for a good number of years, eventually ending up where other's lives depended on me, so I sought help. I went through all manner of diagnoses and medications. The common side effect was that of, well, making my brain slow. Things that used to be easy, weren't anymore. I eventually found a doctor who ran a wide battery of tests with the end result being, if I read on an institution, he could have used those tests to keep me there. The final diagnosis was schizotypal personality disorder. Along came a battery of more medication, worse with the new diagnosis. These new medications did wonders, but in addition to being slow, I was a foreign person to myself. And I kinda didn't like some aspects of that guy. So, with the help of the doctor, I went off my medication and developed new coping techniques. It's been 8 years, I've had some bad days and some good, I've got some odd habits, but unless someone watches me for a period of time, they wouldn't even notice. All this to say, mental illness is a real illness, it's almost always manageable, but without the cooperation of the ill, there is no fixing it. And at the same time, the well person may be completely foreign, making the experience even more traumatic. Someone in the thread asked if folks would hire someone who said they were ill in an interview, but were being treated. I see the question as would you hire someone with only one leg. If they can do the job and fit well with the team, of course I would.