I’m thinking about disclosure all over again. The quote is: “You can’t be what you can’t see.” This is why I’ve told my story.
I think whether a person discloses and when they do so comes down to this other maxim: “There’s a time and place for everything.”
Historically no treatment providers have offered persons with mental illnesses advice on how to stand up for ourselves and not get taken advantage of.
Individuals diagnosed with a mental health condition ordinarily do not commit crimes. We are at a 23 percent greater risk of being victims of crimes.
More so because some of us often live in dangerous neighborhoods.
The fact that people living with mental illnesses become victims of crime is why I say: not so fast in disclosing your mental health on the job to coworkers.
I realize that a lot of people with this kind of history would like to tell their coworkers and others. If you ask me it would be OK to do so only if you could respond confidently and with a steel backbone should a coworker you tell try to use the information against you to ruin your reputation or interfere with your job performance.
My friend Robin who told a coworker he had schizophrenia in turn had that coworker tell their supervisor. It cost Robin a promotion he was in line for and then didn’t get.
The fact is too that some of us (I and others I know) choose not to talk about illness and symptoms unless it’s with each other.
When I give speaking engagements I begin for only 5 minutes by talking about what happened to me. Beyond that I focus on real-life strategies for coping with living in recovery today. Positive insights that anyone who struggles can use despite their type of mental illness and its severity.
After doing this over 20 years I know that peers want practical advice not feel-good platitudes or fluff like “If you believe it you can be it!”
In the coming blog entry I will talk more in detail about disclosure in light of a book I read last week.
WorkingAssets 