"Horror" stories about mental illnesses??

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I am an 18 year old girl, and I am going through a hard time at school, because it's the last year of school, and an exam year, and also I am becoming excluded and bullied from people because of the fact I am still the same quiet, weird person that I was since first year, so now more of my friends are beginning to dislike me. The reason why people are picking on me now is becasue of new people coming into our year and changing their opinion of me. Also my mother is getting old and becoming more forgetful, therefore she is becoming more irritated over the littlest things, and blaming us for losing stuff, when in fact it was her all along, it's just that she completely forgot.

The pressure of all this gets so much, that I would considering deliberatly driving myself to be depressed or some sort of mentla illnesses, so that I can get out of the school and go to a hospital, because sometimes I would rather be in the hospital than in that kip of a school.

But the thing is I also want to do well in life, I want to go travelling, I want to do photography (hopefully in the film industry, like a director of photography), I want to socialise more if I can, and the list goes on and on. But I won't be able to do that if I do this to myself, would I, because I heard somewhere that it is very hard to get a job when you are recovering from a mental illnesses. That and the fact some people can live in these hospitals for years.

So can someone give me any stories about someone's life with mental illness, or recovering from mental illness that would drive me not do do this to myself, and just concentrate on getting past this year and doing my work? Because I got a school report form my school saying that i am not doing very good, which is the first bad report I have gotton in years. :/

Please help.

report the bullying.

Are you in the UK? I get the feeling that you are, for some reason, but I just want to make sure.

Mental illness is not a road you want to go down, but I don't think you're crazy for finding a hospital appealing. The trouble is, hospitals are not a calm, theraputic environment like you might think. They can actually be very scary and disturbing because only very serious cases of illness are dealt with in hospital - most of us can be treated within the community. What I'm basically trying to say is that it's very unlikely you'd get admitted to hospital, and by deliberately making yourself depressed you'd probably just end up in the same situation you are in now, but you'd have to deal with depression as well. Am I making any sense?
Once you become depressed or ill, it's very very hard to recover. It can take years, and you'll have to deal with the aftermath for the rest of your life.

Are there any teachers at school who know you are struggling? A big brother or sister?

I'm wincing as I type this, because I can relate 100% to what you're saying. But I agree with Guineapigged: this is not the path to take. Look at it this way: Take someone who's exhausted, like well beyond their endurance exhausted, and there's no break in sight. So they "accidentally" run their car off the road and plow straight into a tree. Yes, this gets them a stay in the hospital. But there's nothing restful about being put back together after a serious car crash. You come out even more exhausted, in pain, with potentially chronic health problems that can haunt you for the rest of your life.

It's not that different with mental illness. And chances are they wouldn't send you to the hospital anyway. You'd likely wind up with out patient counseling, still have to sleep in your own house at night, and still have to go to school the next morning.

What you CAN do is reach out. Report the bullying. Talk to your school counselor. Get out patient counseling. Talk to your teachers. Find someone who will listen and let them know what's happening. Even if they aren't able to help (and school officials SHOULD be able to help with the bullying!) the simple act of telling someone else, of really opening up to them and letting it all out, can make a huge difference. Ask your teachers what you need to do to improve on that last report your received, and let them know the kind of stress you're under. Make sure they know you're not trying to excuse anything, just explain what's going on. Then take their advice.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being the same quiet weird person you were your first year. If you decide to go on to university, chances are you'll find equally quiet, equally weird people there. Accept them for who they are and chances are you'll find that you will meet people who are willing to accept you for who you are. The people who insist you change for their convenience or so that you live up to their idea of whom you should be don't make the best friend material.

Don't let the weasels win.

Are you in the UK? Psychiatric hospitals are definately not the answer (unless your stinking rich and can go to some comfortable private hospital). Talking is. Hospitals are not often restful, they vary enormously, from superb to hideous. I have been in many kinds, many times, visiting friends and family (in my forties, half my friends and family have been potty at some point).

Its a postcode lottery and unfortunately mental health wards are often more distressing than restful. They do their best for people who need looking after and a safe place but the NHS is so stretched they can't be as calm and restful as they should be. There are too many poorly people and you really dont want other patients distress too. Community psychiatric nurses however, are often angels, and you can get support from them without a stay in a hospital. Talk to your doctor, if they dont help, get a better one. Can you get the NHS to pay for some talk therapy? Is the National Austistic Society able to provide people to talk to?

Whatever you do, do not get intentionally sectionned. Thats a dreadful idea and you know it is (you are asking us to tell you that )

Its great that you are asking for help in WP, so extend that to people you like, for example kind teachers and the better of your class mates. Please don't let your mental health decline, its so precious, just like your physical health. If you feel really low, go out and get some countryside, go connect to plants or animals (trees, people, puppies, birds, frogs - they always do it for me Take a run or a long walk. There is sound research to show the natural world is good for your mental health.

Keep talking to people. Report the bullying. You havent changed, its very sad if others have. They are weak, not you. Go on to further study and you will find better friends and you will be able to be yourself.
It will get better and you'll get where you want.

I honestly don't understand why everyone's saying that psychiatric hospitals are so horrible. I've been in the hospital four different times and in a couple different hospitals. I haven't had negative experiences in any of them. Sure there were some stressful or distressing times, but that's to be expected with every place you go. I had overall positive and helpful stays.

Hospitals don't cater only to the severely ill. In fact, in the four stays I've had, most of the other patients were pretty high functioning and were in there mainly for depression or anxiety issues. People that are there for long term or residential stays are usually kept in a separate part of the building.

Hospitals can give you a nice break from the world and be a safe place for you to deal with major issues and learn coping skills to continue dealing with them out in the real world.

This sounds a lot like how things worked out with me. I didn't have much bullying in the highschool, but because of it in earlier years, I learned missing a lot was just easier not to go.
I know it is hard, guinea, but if you don't go and endure it, to get good grades so you have a better chance at a future, you will regret it later on. I know I do. Even though with brains, I could get into a decent college, but my grades would definitely keep me out of getting one since I missed so much
But reporting the bullying is one good thing. One of the best things I learned to end the bullying when it happened to me when I was younger is I didn't give them the response they wanted. If someone teased me and said for example, "You're as ugly as a dog", if you can respond with a joke like "You should see my mom", or something at your own expense, it will throw them off and perhaps give them a good laugh.
There was a time I'd walk down the halls, and kids would bark at me. So finally, I turned around, looked at them...and I barked back. That shut them up.
It's difficult, but if you can learn to turn it into humor, and not let them show it bothers you, it can help. I hope you can get through this, and be able to move on to continue into a successful life!

Be proud of being weird - it makes you an individual whilst those that are bullying you are just lemmings. They aren't nice and you will definately meet nicer people soon, stick with your studies please.
Its most likely a passport to a happier life.
Its so refreshing to hear so many voices on here being assertive about their strengths. Being different/being autistic will give you real strengths as you get older, so make the most of being different. Independent thinkers start becoming cool in 5th and 6th year, further education and higher education. Finally, geeks are trendy.

Please dont let the sheep people bully you.

Stick at this year and work dead hard, talk to your teachers so they see how much you want to do well. (any good teacher that sees how you want to better reports will help). Ask as many of them as possible for help. Most teachers are pretty nice people really, they can just fail to connect sometimes cos the job is so difficult.

Well I don't know if it is possible to intentionally give yourself Depression, but if it is I recommend you rethink that because it really does suck. It can certainly interfere with lots of things it would make hygene more difficult because when you feel like crap you're not going to be very motivated to take a shower or any of that. It can interfere with eating, you might feel too depressed to eat anything even if you're hungry and its extremely difficult to get enjoyment out of anything. So it would interfere with your future plans of going on with your life.....and you might just give up on it which would make you feel worse.

So if you don't have depression, you don't want to.....I am sure you have felt depressed before everyone has, but think about if you would want to feel like that all the time.