on the use of mental illness for horror

so for THE longest time, people have had a fascination with mental illness! because its not completely understood, it can be scary. the bad part of this is people completely misunderstanding what an illness involves and portraying the illness as something scary or violent

specifically a target of this is psychosis and psychotic disorders

ive been diagnosed with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder and as a result of dealing with these illnesses, ive dealt with major issues throughout my life. ive been taken advantage of, abused, ignored, and mocked for my illnesses. the last thing i am is a prop made for something to be more edgy or interesting

psychotic people, among other disabled and less common people, are not your personal freakshow. please understand that we are people, and while we interpret things differently, we can still understand what you are doing

yes, for someone dealing with this, it can be scary. it can be really fucking horrifying. but i, and many other psychotic people, are not villains or monsters. we are people, and we are not just a part of a story, we exist