Silver Linings Playbook

Dealing with mental illness in any relationship is hard.

Yes, I struggle with mental illness. I've been diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, Dystymia, and briefly when I was struggling with post-partum after the birth of our baby, OCD.

So I was looking forward to seeing Silver Linings Playbook. A look into mental illness and relationships seemed refreshing and applicable to our lives. Plus, it won all those Oscar nominations. And Jennifer Lawrence is so cute.

The movie was really good. First, it made me feel better about myself. "I may be a little crazy, but I'm not that crazy" sort of thing. Compared to Bradley Cooper's character, I'm a lot less hot but a lot more in control. Proud to be me!

The scene where the two main characters are listing off meds really struck a chord with me. I'd heard of those meds! I'd been on those meds! And I could really relate to the rattling off of different pills and how they worked for you and how they affected you.

I also really, really loved the part where he was judging her and she got all in-his-face about it. She claimed, "So you think you have, what, a super mental illness than me?"

Ka-bing!

It's so true. We try to put ourselves into categories. You only have depression but I have manic-bipolar disorder plus depression, so my problems are cooler than yours. I suffer from mild depression but I'd never cut myself or hurt anybody so I'm a better mentally ill person than you.

Well, if you haven't walked the proverbial mile...

This movie had a fresh outlook on mental illness as something we live with and live inspite of, not something that always controls us. Even the dad, who obviously suffered from pretty bad OCD that was both undiagnosed and untreated, showed us that anybody can be affected by mental illness, whether they know it or not, and that even the "mentally ill" can be good fathers and husbands and brothers and dads and sisters and moms and lovers.

I also liked how open this movie was to kink. There was a small part where she talked a little dirty, and the main Bradley Cooper character said he loved listening to it, and normal women would judge him for being some perv. But luckily the other character didn't judge him or assume he was a terrible person, she just let him think whatever he wanted was hot. I liked that.

This movie made me really realize how well I am living with and functioning with my particular mental illnesses. And how it doesn't keep me from being a good mom and worker and wife. I'm thankful for the doctor who diagnosed me with depression before I even had any idea I could possibly be suffering from it (I was there about my wrist, and I just happened to get a doctor who was not only really nice but had a background in psychiatry).

And that reminds me, I need to go take my meds. :)