By now, I suspect that most of the bipolaratti have heard about Sinead O’Conner’s open letter to Miley Cyrus. Perhaps some of you have nodded along in agreement. Perhaps others of you felt that, while well-meaning, Miss O’Conner is in steep violation of the Underpants Rule. Whatever the case, a letter was written, and it was only a matter of time until it garnered a reply.

As to be expected (by me, at least), the response was what one would expect of a young American — riled up and insulting. It would have one thing if Miss Cyrus had opted to just be a bit nasty, but she went right for the mentally ill button and pushed it as hard as she could. I know the media loves to bash on the mentally ill, but that doesn’t make it okay or cool, or in any way an acceptable defence against a person attempting to reach out and share their experience (however well-intentioned or misguided the attempt may have been).

This, quite expectedly, garnered another reply from Miss O’Conner. This is where my thank you comes in — thank you, Sinead, for standing up for yourself, and other mentally ill folk. I won’t say whether or not I felt you were in the right to express your concern in the first place, but I think you were emphatically right to call out Miss Cyrus on her inappropriate response. I know just how hard it is to speak up; I’ve lost at least one friend this year that abused me for calling out the inappropriateness of their postings as relates to mental health. It’s hard being mentally ill. It’s harder being out about it. It’s even harder still to not stand there and be a target. So in that, I hope that your most recent posting makes Miss Cyrus think about her actions, and hopefully rectify them. Admitting to a problem and seeking health for it is a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness, and therefore it is emphatically out of line to treat it as such.

I hope everyone else is having a good day out there, and that everyone’s weekends are looking to be enjoyable/relaxing/etc.

<3!