I'd like to say I'm immune from stigma. After 3 years of blogging about mental health, and 2 years as an advocate, you'd think I'd be able to shake the shame surrounding my diagnoses of postpartum anxiety (and postpartum depression, antenatal depression, postpartum OCD, and generalized anxiety disorder) with ease. And from the outside, it [...]
I am a survivor of many things. I am a trauma survivor. I have survived multiple adverse childhood experiences, suicide attempts, psychiatric disability, addictions, profound losses. I was born to a single mother, a creative artist with a delightful spirit who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, whose care I was removed from by the age of [...]
I am the eternal optimist. I am that happy, perky little person that probably drives you nuts on a Monday morning. You may catch me doing Sean Connery "Celebrity Jeopardy" impersonations or spot me dancing down a hallway at work. I love to post inspirational things, make people laugh with crazy stories, and fight for [...]
Double Depression. That was my first mental health diagnosis, at age 40, two years ago, almost to the day. I didn’t believe it. Men don’t get depressed… that’s a woman thing, right? Too much touchy-feely stuff leaves you touched in the head. Better to just buck up, suck it up buttercup, and move on. Yep, mental illness stigma was [...]
My first dealings within the mental health system was at 13 years old. I was suicidal and deeply depressed. I was prescribed anti-depressants and had to see a counsellor. My counsellor tried family therapy where she told my mother that she considered me to be an attention seeker. I stopped talking about anything with her [...]
My life on the Bipolar Train They always say that hindsight is 20/20 and I have to admit that “they” are right. I have been asked by several people when I noticed I had a mental illness and frankly, for the longest time I didn’t know. It is really hard to be that introspective sometimes, [...]
Anxiety: A Plague, Years Of Wonder The cloud of anxiety makes other voices Slytherin; This is not English, I would think, 7, 8,9 years old, my blonde boy cap, freckles, fat cheeks, I can't understand you. I watched faces. Eyes. Hands. The sharp outlines of buildings and overpasses and freeway signs and fences and cars and sidewalks that slanted into [...]
My story started in the Bronx. Northeast not the South of urban fairy tale. My mother had me her senior year in high school. Instead of going away to college as she dreamed, she went to local college(oddly next door to her high school). I have very few memories of those years obviously as it [...]
"I know what's wrong with you", The doctor said, as she folded her hands behind her head. "You're Bipolar. You have Bipolar Disorder, Type II. That's why the antidepressants you've been taking work great for awhile, then just STOP working. Your body chemistry must have a mood stabilizer to temper the antidepressant, or you'll have [...]
In the UK, mental health support is exceptional for young people. The services available are resourceful. However, I beg to differ with the services for people over the age of 18 seeking mental health support. For instance, booking an appointment with your Doctor can take 8 weeks. I first fell into the mental health system [...]