“There’s nothing wrong with these people, they just don’t have support.”

When I was hospitalized for my ptsd giving me suicidal ideation, I had a long conversation with one of the nurses. He said something to me that has stuck with me for many months afterwards. "There's nothing wrong with these people, they just don't have support."

Granted, the people I got to know were non-violent. They had a range of mental illnesses but they were all very kind and loving people. They didn't seem mentally ill, they seemed unsupported. Sometimes you could see these dynamics when family visitations happened.

It made me wonder how many cases of mental illness are caused by the environment they are in.