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"duval76 is one of, if not the best sng player in the world."
-Anonymous


OK, so here's my blog.
The other day I saw an article in my local paper in glaring bold type and an exclamation point saying Loonies plot to kill Obama.
I am not one to be a PC tight ass, but this headline made me decide today that I need to start a blog and vent my frustrations
with the word crazy, some nutjobs, loonies or whatever. with this particular case there were
two skinheads or something who were busted by the feds for an alleged plot to kill Obama. The fact of the matter is that
neither of these alleged assassins had any sort of mental disorder, the problem with these people is that they are Dumb, Ignorant,
and hateful. And I think the media is letting dumb, mean-spirited people off the hook and the blame is put on the mentally ill
people. And yes, it is mentally ill people who are targeted here. What other group of people could they be referring to when the use
of the word loony or nut jobs. or crazies? It's something I see again and again in the media, usually the trashy shit, and then of
course the mass public mind absorbs this and the whole stigma of mentally ill people is re-enforced. Again, this was a stupid, ignorant
, hateful person problem, but I guess if this particular paper were to say dumb people plot to kill obama it would be offensive
to the general public as hitting to close to home. The majority of violent crimes are not committed by the mentally ill.
Mentally ill people do not abuse children and animals or rob banks. These crimes are committed most often by perfectly sane people.
The thing is with crazy people there are different categories of crazy (I will use the mentally ill for now on) There is
a subset of mental illness called psychopathy, and yes this is a mental disorder and these people do commit hideous crimes.
But there is a whole range of mental disorders, depression, bipolar, schizophrenia. These people are not dangerous.
Every now and then you will hear about a murder and at the end of the story the article will mention the suspect suffered
from bipolar. Yes, well we don't hear that the suspect may have had diabetes or red hair, or was a smoker. ( Although with bipolar or
schizophrenia, a person may perceive a threat that was not there and committed a murder, this does happen but only rarely
form a person in the midst of a psychotic episode.
These stories continue to re-enforce the notion that the mentally ill are dangerous loose cannons and nothing could be further from
the truth.

This headline was the final straw for me after I read an article last week on cnn, that the Vatican will begin psych tests
on future priests. This stems from the prolific rate of sexual abuse by priests. These priests were not mentally ill
they were perverted. Sometimes a person will claim a phantom mental illness after a crime to get an easier sentence. Again, this unrightly
puts the term mentally ill in conjunction with crime.

So I decided I would after all do this blog about me and my struggles with mental illness. I am an authority to talk on this
subject as someone who has endured the most horrific and rarely ecstatic symptoms have a mental illness. I'm 29 and have struggled
since i was 16. Been to many lock down wards, brief stays at halfway houses, and most recently a long stay at psych rehabilitation program after
a particularly ugly meltdown that happened last year. But the people I have met are nice people for the most part.
I guess it's the valuable human qualities I have seen in others who struggle with mental illness (not necessarily myself) that
have made me decide to voice my struggle and do my part to erase the stigma associated with mental illness. The quality I
have seen with many of these people in my forays at institutions is a magnified sensitivity. I will elaborate more on this
cuz that was kind of vague, but this entry is already becoming long. I myself have been diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder.
Luckily, there is some money in my family and I have received the best treatment money can buy. Except for one time when I was
sent to a ward for the criminally insane (see they have a separate name for this type of insane) so yeah these people did have a violent
past. In a nutshell, I hope that maybe I can help some people out who suffer with mental illness. I have always found if I am
in a deep, long depression the best thing i can do to help me feel better is 1) play with a dog and 2) read about someones
experience. So I figured I would return the favor. I've been through the ringer and I have developed some great coping strategies.
Of course, this blog will inculde other topics like poker (particularly the sng grinder life-as you can see from the quote up there
I'm really fucking good) so some poker advice, commentary on things that annoy me, my life has been one giant shattered piece
of glass and a trail of incinerated bridges, so auto biographical material as well, and just updates on my life. It will be a good blog.
I promise.

-duval76