Don't call me crazy...

I realise this was a few days ago now but I've needed a couple of days to myself recently. Figured I'd do a piece on the BBC Three documentary that aired as part of their 'mental' season earlier on this week.
The show, called Don't Call Me Crazy, broadcasts the inner workings of one of the many young mental health units in the UK.
Viewers witnessed teenagers struggling with a range of issues, OCD, severe depression, anxiety, eating disorders and self harm in a very raw and real way.
I feel the show did a lot to break down negative stereotypes, such as OCD sufferer Emma explaining that the condition isn't merely liking things neat, it's a deep compulsion to do things a certain way in order to avoid severe repercussions. She also said the very poignant 'OCD doesn't define who I am' which helps to paint the image of mental illness not being a characteristic of the individual. Beth-who was in the unit for anorexia-a beautiful, bubbly girl, similarly said that people fail to understand mental health problems because they can't be seen.
It was brilliant to see the people on the program have their own identities and lives outside of the disorder, like 'normal' teenagers do. Loving college, dancing, films, messing around and dying their hair.
I'd say that the documentary, although accurate and shocking, focused too much on the outbursts and negative episodes, with very little attention paid to the treatment the guys in there received. We saw Emma enter and leave within a dramatic space of time, with no examples of treatment for her disorder. Similarly there were a lot of scenes of screaming, wall-punching, face-down-restrained teenagers, and images of young people huddled in a corner with blankets over their heads. The overall outcome was a rather bleak one.
As the program progressed the story of Beth developed and worsened. I nearly switched off having to see her struggle to eat carrots and a protein drink. The turmoil she was so clearly going through made me feel sick and fearful. Eventually she was sectioned under the mental health act, and as she wept I did too.
Unfortunately since the show aired she has faced a few spiteful people on Twitter commenting about her weight which is incredibly dismaying, but the outpouring of support for Beth in response to this was encouraging.
It was an emotional, troubling, saddening program to watch. I'm glad it was made, I'm glad people can see the horror mental health problems can cause people, and I'm in awe of the brave teenagers willing to be filmed at their most vulnerable points in their lives, but I don't think I can bear to sit through next week's episode.