What do these two highly-publicized media stories have in common?
Mom charged with neglect in adult daughter's death and
Mom: My Daughter was Bullied into Anorexia Both stories are tragically in need of the word "and."
People can be abused AND have a mental illness. People can be bullied AND have a mental illness. AND is not the same as SO. Let's not confuse AND with SO, because it often leads to the correlary: you have an eating disorder SO you have been abused or bullied or otherwise victimized. Let's care about bullying and abuse AND eating disorders without seeing the relationship as cause and effect.
I would argue that being abused or neglected or bullied make one's mental illness that much more tragic. The mentally ill are, in fact, often victimized by those around them. Parents who themselves are ill cannot serve well as guardians and nurturers of children, and mentally ill children desperately need safety and loving homes. Bullies pick on those most vulnerable to their cruelty: and any child who is different is more likely to be targeted.
Mom charged with neglect in adult daughter's death
and
Mom: My Daughter was Bullied into Anorexia
Both stories are tragically in need of the word "and."
People can be abused AND have a mental illness. People can be bullied AND have a mental illness. AND is not the same as SO. Let's not confuse AND with SO, because it often leads to the correlary: you have an eating disorder SO you have been abused or bullied or otherwise victimized. Let's care about bullying and abuse AND eating disorders without seeing the relationship as cause and effect.
I would argue that being abused or neglected or bullied make one's mental illness that much more tragic. The mentally ill are, in fact, often victimized by those around them. Parents who themselves are ill cannot serve well as guardians and nurturers of children, and mentally ill children desperately need safety and loving homes. Bullies pick on those most vulnerable to their cruelty: and any child who is different is more likely to be targeted.