Don’t Make Me Anonymous | Teen Ink

Don’t Make Me Anonymous MAG

August 7, 2012
By punnettesquare GOLD, Plattsburgh, New York
punnettesquare GOLD, Plattsburgh, New York
16 articles 1 photo 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
"It came without bells or whistles" -Dr. Suess-


Don't make me anonymous
because I have a name.
My name is Sarah
and I have depression and OCD and an anxiety disorder with psychotic features.
There are hundreds of people who are ill
just like I am.

Some people, mainly people who have a lot of ­resources but don't want to share
or have never had a friend or a family member in the hospital
or are just plain mean or misguided,
think this illness is fake.

They tell me to:
snap out of it
get over it
cowboy up
get with the program
walk it off
choose to follow a different lifestyle

What does that mean?
How am I supposed to snap out of my brain chemistry?
How am I supposed to walk off
something that is written into every cell in my body?
Why in God's name would I choose to be ill?

It's not a choice, it's how I am made.

Don't make me anonymous,
because then people can't use me as an example.
Tell someone about Sarah, this girl they know
who has a mental illness.
tell people what it's like and change somebody's mind.
because it isn't fake
it's very real.
Tell people, that Sarah has struggled with anxiety from infancy.
she was afraid of monsters like every other little kid
except when she got bigger,
the fear didn't go away.
It was easier to stay up, sleeping only two or three hours a night
than risk giving in to fear.

When I'm depressed,
it feels like I'm wearing a backpack full of stones.
I don't want to wake up in the ­morning,
and I wish I could die at night.
It feels like someone has just died
all the time.

Would I fake that? Could I fake that?
No, it is very very real.

So, tell someone.
Don't let anyone get away with calling mental illness a “choice.”
Tell them you know a girl named Sarah, and she didn't choose to be ill.

Don't make me anonymous.


The author's comments:
This piece is about me. I have struggled with my mental illness as long as I can remember. Most of the time, I do all right. However, when people tell me I "choose" to be ill, it makes me see red. If there was any way I could magically get out of being mentally ill I would have done it by now. People need to realize that its a real problem, not a choice.

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on Jun. 26 2013 at 11:54 pm
theweirdworder DIAMOND, Newtown, Pennsylvania
65 articles 49 photos 17 comments

Favorite Quote:
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.<br /> -Plato

Sarah, I have depression and GAD. I love this poem so much; you perfectly described everything that I go through. Thank you.