I’m the “artsy” one in my family; the black sheep. Translated, that means I’m the moody one. Or at least I always thought that was the reason for my dark moods growing up. To some extent that’s true. That sensitivity, thing – whatever it is, that makes us turn inside ourselves and feel things more [...]
I am not ashamed of my illness. I have bipolar disorder and you have a bad case of acne. Who cares right? Unfortunately, for some people, someone who has a mental illness is more than just that. To them, we are the myriad of distorted perceptions that are wrongly associated with our illnesses; crazy, psycho, [...]
There is still a lot of mystery about my own life that it seems a bit odd to be writing about it, which is sad, I should know everything about my own life. It is mine after all. What I do know is that when I was very young, my biological dad left. The only [...]
Truths and Stigmas Today I’m straying from my normal happy, silly self I present on Evil Joy Speaks. I’m honored to be writing a post as part of Stigma Fighters. I know many of you know my story, some or all of it. Many may not. If this message can help just one person, it’s [...]
Stigma from the Source by Dyane Leshin-Harwood “Stigma = a mark of disgrace or infamy; a stain or reproach, as on one’s reputation.” I was diagnosed with postpartum bipolar disorder in 2007, seven weeks after the birth of my daughter Rilla. I was thirty-seven when I admitted myself into our local hospital’s locked-down mental health [...]
I’ve been living with depression on and off since I was 13 years old. It’s a black hole that I haven’t been able to climb out of on my own when it reaches the clinical level. Everyone gets depressed sometimes, and a lot of people can get through it to the other side on their [...]
I Hate the Color Red “So, when exactly should one begin to feel comfortable at a new job, I always feel nervous?” I asked my boyfriend, now husband, at the age of 18. Hmmm, you should already feel fine, it’s been 6 month,” he said. This was the first time I knew something was wrong [...]
Eleven days before I turned 20, I was diagnosed with depression and bipolar II disorder. About four months later, I was also diagnosed with anxiety and mild panic. Those aren’t exactly easy diagnoses to handle. It’s not like being told you’ve got strep and this medication will make it better. Finding the right medication is [...]
Before I went public about the fact that I live with Bipolar Disorder type 1 last year, not many people in my life knew that I had been diagnosed with a mental illness at the age of 27. It wasn’t something that came up in casual conversation. But ever since opening up about how this [...]
Well, where on Earth do I even begin? If I was to look back on my life, it seems like one of those worst-case scenarios you’d hear about in a psychology class. While I might be 27 years old, it feels like I’ve already lived an entire life. Life has been chaos from day 1 [...]