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Having formally studied mental illness and also suffering from mild clinical depression myself, I'm of the opinion that unless you have studied it, have it, or have a close friend or relative with it, the average person just won't understand mental illness at all. It's so counter-intuitive in so many ways.

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Then how do the masses get educated on something that has a hipster mentality of, "you won't understand" ?

Generally curious. The only solution I see is some empathy machine that allows you empirically experience someone else's experiences (VR perhaps?) along with understanding their feelings while going through those experiences.

I guess I'm asking for the ability to read minds...

I genuinely don't know. There's no motivation for the masses to educate themselves about it. And to complicate matters, there are also the occasional faker or malingerer. It's a difficult field for even an expert, let alone someone who doesn't even have a casual interest.

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