Since the time I was able to think, I knew that the way I thought was different. I come from a long line of mentally ill people, and my family didn’t have the means or the education about the topic to be able to seek help. As I moved from family member to family member, then multiple foster homes, the adults in my life weren’t sure how to properly deal with a child living with emotions and thoughts that were disturbing and painful.
This episode of Real American Family was possibly the hardest to write so far for all of us. Mental illnesses aren’t funny at all, and when our children are hurting in any way, our instinct is to fix it. With mental illness we have to come to terms with not being able to fix it. But we also need to know that we can help our children live with a mental illness, and we can become a stronger family because of it.
We pushed some boundaries in this episode. We made ourselves a little bit nervous. We also made ourselves laugh, and did our best to include information that we thought would be helpful to parents; and if there is anything I have learned in my life it is that I have to laugh at the toughest stuff, because that’s one way to show it that I can be even tougher.
If you or a member of your family is living with a mental illness, please, don’t be ashamed or feel lost. Use the tools on www.thebeehive.org to find help. Talk to each other. Talk to professionals. Talk to other people in the same situation. This episode alone won’t change your life, but I hope that it can help you in some way, even if that way is just a smile or a laugh.
As a parent of a child who suffers from mental illness, I thank-you for bringing the delicate topic to light in a friendly and accessible way.
This has to be the freshest, most creative and enlightening way of bringing this sensitive and sometimes taboo topic to light. Very light and funny but also to the point and factual. So impressed. Well done!!
Your comments are so important to us. Thank you for taking the time!
As a family member of someone with mental illness, this really touched me. Such a creative new way to have a dialogue. Thank you for pushing boundaries and encouraging people to talk!!!!
I have such a hard time talking with my family about mental illness and lord knows we have more than our fair share. You’ve inspired me to take some action. Just as soon as I can stop laughing about that poor overeating clown.
The men in my family suffer with schizophrania. It is a disease no one wants to talk about. I see many of the students I work with, suffer with mental illness. I think it should get the same attention, that breast cancer and other illness get. Thanks for your point of view.
Ty PIC for all of these informative flicks on your website.
hi i suffered from sycitsoeffective disorder i could of sworn it felt like scitsofrantic my symptoms dissopeared after 12 years and feel to say that with low stress there is an outlet there is hope even at its bleakist
Kudos! This was really well done. I love the blending of humor and fact. Thanks.
I have 5 year old daughter who hears vioces and seeing them. none of us has a mental illness. she is scared of her mind she won’t go to bed she wakes up milddle of the night sweaty. the voices telling her that people are dead and want to kill her. she also says that they are on firer and stapping her with forks knives. i dont think this normal behavior i know kids here are see things cause they have weild imagionation. what do i do with this.
Hey guys. Thanks so much for your comments. We have now included a toolbox to the side of the episode that will help you locate resources.
This video was very informative and darn funny, too. Well done.
worried about my child
Hi Aleshia,
If you’d like to talk more, you can contact me at nikol@pic.tv and hopefully we can point you in the right direction toward some help for you and your child.
I hate to be the grammar police, but you misspelled “symptom” at about 2:06 – after the anger outburst.
Hilarious! And helpful! I hope it’s ok – I shared this on my blog.
Let me rephrase that – I will share it on my blog…when blogger stops being broken.
Chrisa, we would be so happy if you would share this with your readers. It is so difficult with an internet full of information to get your own creations in front of the right eyes without paying SEO companies and such, so the big hope is that people will see this and think it should be shared.
We really appreciate it. Thanks!
Bravo! Fresh and creative. I see we are able to share this and will post the link on our website to share as a resource. As a parent of adult children with mental illness, I wish more videos would be made on this topic.
First video I have seen that incorporates humor with mental illness. My dissertation topic is humor as a coping tool for persons with mental illness. It is important for everyone to have fun and laugh! Thank you! Lillian
Hi I need some laughter help advice all of it. my son had his first break down and has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital for almost a week I need help to find out more information psychosis is the diagonosis now this has been the most terrible thing that has happened in my life and I need as much information as possible
Wow, I found that really offensive. I’m glad that I read the blurb below it. The writers tried way too hard to put way too much information into a short span of time and make it look light hearted. I felt the result trivialized mental illnesses and didn’t express successfully what I thought the message this video was suppose to be about: how to explain mental illnesses to your child and how to relate to a child with a mental illness.
I think that what can be gleaned from this video is that mental illnesses really deserve more consideration and tact to describe the differences between them and their effects on the person with a mental illness and the people who support the person with a mental illness.
After reading the comments below the video many people who commented seemed to think it was an effective way of getting across mental illness to people who could not and can not seem to talk about it. My comment here isn’t meant to denigrate the writer or the actors or even the message of the video.
I spoke in front of different levels of people from elementary school to college about my mental illness as a representative of NAMI (national Alliance for the Mentally Ill,) in the early 2000′s for a program called IMI (Inside Mental Illness.) I felt the program was very successful because people in the classrooms had a chance to come up after the presentation to ask questions and share their own experiences. Many people thanked my partner and I (it was presented by two people who had mental illnesses for balance and effectiveness,) afterwards and shared stories of family members or friends with us. I think this video would be mocked in many public schools because it oversimplifies the subject matter. It’s almost like many PSAs: too campy, the audience thinks you’re joking, too general and you’ve lost your audience.
I really do think it’s important to make mental illnesses safe topics to talk about so I admire your willingness to approach a stigmatized and complex topic and include it as an episode in your film series “Real American Family”. A big plus is that it was posted today on the wall of a facebook group called Children of Parents with Mental Illness. How ever people felt about it creating a discussion about difficult topics is always good, I think.
Hey Bipolar Bear,
I would love to get a good guest post from you speaking to the issue of how to address mental illness when talking to children. Feel free to contact me at nikol@pic.tv
You’re right that 3-5 minutes is nowhere near the amount of time needed to cover the topic. This video is intended to start the conversation and our toolboxes are meant to give resources. Hopefully this video make the topic more approachable, but it is by no means a complete look at mental illness.
I would like insight and input. My son seems to be very depressed, He is angry, won’t leave the house and most times won’t shower He is on anti depressants, as well as thyroid med. It isn’t helping. I believe he should be hospitalized. Where do I go for help?