[Serious] Have you ever dated someone with a mental illness? How was that like? Would you ever do it again?

I have anxiety myself (it's in check 90% of the time, and my partner is good about giving me a swift mental kick when I need it), and have dated someone who also had anxiety, was formerly depressed/possibly suicidal in the past, and imo had some mild PTSD.

I would not do it again unless they had it under control. I feel like a hypocrite for saying it, but mental health has a lot of ownership to it. I own my mental health and know when to reach out to professionals when I need it. The guy I dated did not do that. He never sought professional help, and instead blamed me for calling him out when he treated me like shit because he would blame that on his anxiety, when in reality, he was just a shitty person who happened to have anxiety.

I know it's hard to seek help and there is often stigma attached (with him, it was because he was active duty military). But I tried multiple times to get him to get help, and he just wouldn't. It got to a point where I was risking my own mental health to help him.

/r/AskReddit Thread