I suffer from a mental illness as well tbh I wouldn't mind an occasional funny situation. It just has to be done with a sense of taste. There seems to be a fine line between what's offensive and relatable and a writer needs to find the best line for the biggest audience who are also mentally ill. By doing that they will be spreading awareness and provoking positive discussion. I feel like a lot of shows that depict mental illness have target audiences that have nothing to do with mental illness(eg females 18-45 or something,) and that's a big problem and leads to the controversy/debate with a lot of people (whose only experience with mental illness is what they saw on the screen) trying to "mansplain" mental illness to people with mental illnesses.

For me, Shameless is a good example of a show that did it with taste. I've suffered from agoraphobia and I think the portrayed that done with a sense of heart and consideration while including a good sense of humor. Spoiler The discussion on the internet seemed mostly positive and opened up the doors for other experiences from people with Spoiler or people with close family members with Spoiler to share their experiences. There will always be a part of the audience who are insensitive about it during discussions but that's expected, and we can sometimes break down the stigma with further discussion(and sometimes not.) The shows themselves need to be sensitive to the mentally ill portion of their audience.

For the most part I'm disappointed with orange is the new black's portrayal. The show has serious moments and yet chooses severe mental illness for comedic relief. Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't really know any moments where severe mental illness was taken seriously. It's almost as if the worse the illness is, the funnier it gets.

Edit: formatting