I used to think mental illness was something most people could just overcome through effort and atitude—mostly due to some bad experiences with people who basically blamed all their problems on some undiagnosed "problems." Then I started living with some guys, one of which really struggled with a ton of different issues (bi-polar being the least of which).
These are real issues and I really learned to understand not to judge and to be very careful with other's feelings and expectations. Above all, it's nice to see people accepting vulnerability—I think we're all insecure, so it's important that we're all patient with each other. It's also nice to know that people struggle with anxiety issues—I can be like that at times as well... I really like to see things done once before I dive in myself.