Have you had a mental illness?
I've been diagnosed with moderate depression and OCD.
I self harm, have some form of dermotillomania (I skin pick, can't let scars heal, bite the insides of my cheeks until they bleed.)
I have intermittent experiences of an ED which my GP can't be bothered to diagnose properly.
I'm pretty sure I have undiagnosed paranoia.
Have you faced any discrimination for being mentally ill?
Mostly from my own family. When my Mum and sister found out about my self harm they kind of bullied me about and got angry at me. As for people in general, most have been quite considerate. Really, all that I have noticed is sheer ignorance where people don't know how to react to you simply because they don't know enough about what you're going through, not because they want to discriminate against you.
Are there any positive things you have learned from having a mental illness?
I truly believe that if I hadn't gone through depression then I wouldn't be who I am today. It has helped me see that everyone has some form of "mental illness" at some point in their life. I've seen 'normal' people, with the symptoms that had me diagnosed with a mental illness.
I think my ability to empathise with people has benefited greatly and I just feel that in general, I am more open about things and willing to talk about anything freely.