to be annoyed by this FB post?

[TeacupsandFigs]

A friend has just posted this 'My doctor asked if any family members suffered from mental illness. I said "no, we all seem to enjoy it"

AIBU to be offended by it? I wouldn't mind so much but she's a GP!

[BeautyGoesToBenidorm]

Bipolar disorder here. I post irreverent stuff like this all the time. It's a waste of energy, getting precious over things like this on Facebook. Allow yourself to smile and not take it personally!

[PPie10]

I think you are entitled to feel upset about it if you are in a bad space at the moment. So what can you do about it. You unfollow the person and solve the problem. Just as its offensive to you, it's not to the poster so you have the choice about what you want to do.

[yorkshapudding]

I found it funny

I work in mental health, care for a close realtive with mental health issues and I experienced mental illness myself in adolescence (anorexia and depression) so i'm usually pretty sensitive (some might say a bit over sensitive) to people making offensive jokes/statements about MH.

The reason I don't find this offensive is that its not actually making fun of people with Mental illness, it's about someone with mental health issues poking fun at themselves. Its the sort of thing I would have said to a Doctor when I was unwell and I was fortunate enough to have a GP who understood and shared my need for a bit of 'black humour'.

As a HCP, I wouldn't ever put something like this on social media though because a.) I realise that although I personally don't find it offensive, someone else might and I have no wish to make anyone feel like shit and b.) HCP's are bound by professional codes of conduct with very strict guidelines around social media use, not sure if this would be considered over the line or not but not worth the risk in my opinion.

[girlinacoma]

OP - if your last post was directed at me then do sod off!

You have no idea what is happening right now, this very minute to me and my family with regards to mental illness.

I was still a funny post and I'm still not offended by it.

[WorraLiberty]

But you abu because you can't expect everyone in the world to stop laughing just because you find something upsetting. No one would ever speak about anything.

Yes that's very true. There would be very little humour in the world at all.

Anyway, one person's coping mechanism (laughter) will be different to someone else's.

We cant all be the same.

[MilkTwoSugarsThanks]

Personally I think it's more offensive to assume that all people with MH issues are suffering.

[GraysAnalogy]

Oh give over. This really is an example of people taking offence at everything and projecting.

I'm bipolar. I've been hospitalised during manic episodes. Very nearly close to section. Never enjoyed it. This joke doesn't make me feel like I should be enjoying it. Because it's a joke.

There's also jokes about murder. Now that isn't 'fucking hilarious' now is it?

It sounds like you might be in a bad place at the moment and it's completely understandable that it makes you upset to read things like this. But for a lot of us humour is a coping mechanism. I think not having humour creates a further stigma.

[JuxtapositionRecords]

But op that's the sarcasm of the joke. It's like 'oh yeah its fucking brilliant' when it isn't.

[Flumplet]

Nah. Doesn't offend me at all and I've had my struggles. Unfollow if it bothers you that much.

[Vintage45]

I think its rather funny too. But there again, I have a sense of humour about my ailments.

[Gottagetmoving]

Depends on your personality and how sensitive you are I suppose. In my family we tend to joke about serious stuff. There has been mental illness but we joke about it, there have been deaths, and we have joked about that,...and serious illnesses and that too.
There's humour in tragedy.
We don't go round joking about these things to people we don't know.

[PaulAnkaTheDog]

I laughed.

I think some people just look to be offended.

[NellysKnickers]

I laughed but then a few family members (including myself) have suffered mental illness, some more severe than others, and we do all have a laugh together about it. Doesn't offend me in the slightest. Cmon........its funny.

[monkeyfacegrace]

Bipolar bona fide nut case here, and I shared it on fb too

[notamummy10]

I have depression and anxiety and I'm not offended... May have to steal this!

[sooperdooper]

It's a joke, I'm not offended by it and the whole female side of my mums family suffer from MH issues.

My mum and both my aunties have bipolar and have all been hospitalised and sectioned during manic episodes, my sister suffers from agoraphobia, depression and hasn't worked in 15 years, I could go on, but I haven't got the inclination to be offended by every last joke about MH issues, sometimes you've got to laugh (I could give some very inappropriate examples of when we've all had to laugh in RL but that probably would really offend everyone!)

[fusionconfusion]

I know at some training I was at someone mentioned that research had been done on people's responses to memes and apparently this varies by your own mood at the time of seeing it - so if you are depressed, for example, seeing inspirational quotes or funny memes can actually lower your mood further when it might not have this impact at a different time in your life (or even on a different day). I wish I knew more about the research, but maybe you feel sensitive about it today because the issue is very sensitive? I found people even MENTIONING OCD really excruciatingly annoying and sometimes painful when I was in the throes of it but now I can laugh at all the memes.

[Birthgeek]

Meh. There's a lot of black humour about mental health, that is seen as a release / light relief rather than offensive.

[JPinkertonSnoopington]

I have bipolar, quite depressed at present but didn't find it offensive, but nor did I find it all that funny - a bit feeble, I thought. What I do find offensive is when bloody neurotypicals tell us neurodiverse folks what we can and can't laugh at. One Christmas a group of patients cooked up some spoof carols which were distributed, to the amusement of many. The one I remember, because it had me pissing myself laughing, was "We Three Kings Disoriented Are". It was made plain this was the work of patients, btw. Some BLOODY relative had it suppressed as she, not her relative had been offended. We don't need saving from ourselves, thanks!

(I should add that I have a personal dislike of the term "service user" so don't use it, but I know others who prefer it . Takes all sorts.)

[HeartsTrumpDiamonds]

Bipolar. Manic / sectioned / suicidal / a complete mess at various times.

I think it is very very funny.

[HeartsTrumpDiamonds]

Never heard "neurodiverse" before. I like it.

[Starstruck2016]

People don't say ' suffered from ' any more that's probably the joke.
Like ' suffer from diabetes or cerebral palsy' so I think that's the point she is trying to make.

[Storminateapot]

I found it funny. One of my best chums is a GP - they do develop something of a gallows humour, the things they experience in training and see - day in, day out...

They are just people too and actually suffer a higher incidence of mental health issues than the general public.

Hardly surprising really that they develop a black sense of humour to cope. I appreciate that kind of funny (and I have experienced MH illness myself), but if you don't maybe hide the feed of that person from your FB so you can't be offended?

[BeautyGoesToBenidorm]

Starstruck, that's interesting. I might get flamed for this, but IME the people who say they 'suffer from' something are generally the ones who get upset at these kind of jokes. They find everything about living with their particular ailment harder, and make the most noise on social media.

Personally I prefer to say 'I live with...' instead of 'I suffer from...', and it changes people's perceptions of me as a result. I'm seen to be a coper instead of a sufferer. I prefer that.

[TeacupsandFigs]

That's interesting, I'm in the camp that doesn''t say I suffer from stuff - I get hay fever, I have depression and anxiety but it doesn't tend to get in the way my job, thankfully as it's demanding shift work. I was a bit put out by the original post mainly because it made me feel bad that I was miserable because of depression and anxiety when I should be enjoying it. How can you enjoy depression and anxiety? See, I took it at face value because I was having a bad day, today I'd probably laugh at it.