The Mental Health System Has Failed Me...ALMOST!!! This essay is about the six million times I have been failed by the mental health system. If you have read my essay in the first Stigma Fighters Anthology, you know I have been in an out of psychiatric hospitals and have seen countless providers for medication management. [...]
I Have A Fabulous Life... And A Mental Illness I remember eating lunch in a bathroom stall in high school. That sucked. I think the bathroom might be the worst place ever to each lunch. It’s lonely and... it smells like poop. My heart breaks for that girl in the bathroom, quickly eating her ham [...]
I am my own greatest gift to the world!! Please read those words carefully and take them all in before judging. I say that as much to myself as to anyone else. Because it's taken me years of therapy, analysis, soul-searching, shaman-style self healing, and connecting to spirituality to finally figure it out- I AM [...]
Okay, so lets cut to the chase here....I have a mental illness. I take four medications a day. Eleven pills, three times a day, everyday. That's what it takes to get me through the day. I also see my Therapist every Monday morning and my Psychiatrist 1-2 times per month. You can see how having [...]
I don't like needles. I don't like the idea of a permanent commitment. And I certainly don't like doing things that make me nervous. So why would I choose to get a tattoo? There has been a lot of news lately regarding the Semicolon Tattoo Project. People have shared that their tattoo is a commitment [...]
The Monster in My Head I have bipolar disorder. My moods shift from high energy and euphoria to low energy and deep feelings of despair. I began having symptoms when I was thirteen. I have had a problematic life, with its ups and downs, but God blessed me with good people and experiences. High school [...]
Dear all, First and foremost my love to you all. My name is Jonny Ward, or the ‘Anxious Fireman’ on Twitter. I am 5’11”, I’m strongly built, a fire-fighter. I enjoy strongman training, travel, adventure, the outdoors and working with my hands. I wear jeans and white t shirts, boots, I sweat! Oh and I [...]
Should I Have Become A Mother? My greatest gift in this world is my daughter. She exudes so much love, and yes quite a bit of whininess, but she is a wise and kind being. And I probably never should have had her. I look back on my life and see the pain, the craziness, [...]
In Death I Dream of You Yet See me dying, withered and decaying between crisp white sheets. I wait for the prick of the needle. It comes and the warm reprieve takes me again. I run. Dark and empty city streets. I stop, my heart pounding and resounding in my head. Thin pools of water [...]
TURNING A FAMILY CURSE INTO A BLESSING My name is Tom and I was diagnosed on Good Friday 1993 with bipolar disorder. The diagnosis came too late to save my marriage and my career as a professor of broadcasting at a small Christian college in Arkansas. It could have saved my brother’s life, too, but [...]
