My name is Amanda and I struggle with mental illness on a day to day basis. I’ve been diagnosed with OCD, depression, anxiety, and ADHD. Like many others, I struggle with a variety of mental illness. After many doctors appointments, mental breakdowns, and a pharmacy full of trial and error of medications, my mental status has went from being rock bottom to almost completely manageable. There is hope out there for everyone but it usually takes a lot of time and patience. I am beyond happy with the amount of medical resources that are out there for people with mental illness to utilize, however I wish there were more public awareness. Mental illness is a real thing and many people just believe that people like me are “crazy”, which is really not the case at all. I have a chronic illness that I didn’t ask for. It was what I was handed in life so I’ve had to learn to make the best out of the situation. My illness is no different than other chronic illnesses. If more of the population were made aware of mental illness then less people would be ashamed of their illness and more likely be open about their problems and seek medical help. I feel there has not been enough education or awareness given to the general public. Mental illness is something that is real and is here to stay, so it is more than important for awareness to increase. On another note, I would like to encourage everyone struggling with any type of mental illness to never give up on anything. Throughout my struggles, I have managed to balance caring for my 3 children, school, and a full time job. I’m not going to lie and say it has been easy because it hasn’t been. I have trusted in God and just told myself repeatability to never give up. I could go on and on and on about everything I’ve been through but I’m not because one, you will be reading for days and two, I have found it’s better to push your hardest to overcome your battles and avoid dwelling on things that can’t really be reversed. The best advice I can give is to be happy, live happy, and know that you can do anything you put your mind to. Just remember you can overcome any kind of obstacle or speed bump in life. Yes, it would be easier if the whole world understood our problems, but for now, until there is more awareness, we’ve got to help each other and lean on God and on the people who love us. I wish anyone with any extent of mental illness the best of luck. I can only pray that one day more people will be more understanding to these illnesses.

Hi,

I would like to share my mental health history to enable others to seek help and not give up hope. My start of mental health issues started when I was about 17 years old. I had OCD like symptoms and was given medication. I also had anxiety which was treated the same way. Some years later I was told I had attention deficit disorder . By now I was frustrated with all the diagnoses and was frustrated. Some years later while switching meds I spent 16 weeks in 2 mental hospitals.

I became a Christian soon after all this and prayed for relief of symptoms. I haven’t felt better but I try to help others who are struggling with similar conditions. I am recently divorced and have 2 great sons ages 13 and 17.
I am available to help those who need help. I am not a health care professional but I am intuitive and maybe can direct you.

God bless all

Gary kleiner

My name is Jennifer. I am bipolar. I am not ashamed to admit that I have a mental illness. It is a disease, just like any other disease, it’s nothing to feel ashamed of. I have manic episodes, high anxiety, depression, chronic pain, mood swings, etc. I am currently on Social Security Disability for mental illness. I’m 41 years old & Ive lost every job I have ever had because of my illness. I was never fired for missing work or not doing a good job. I was always fired for issues pertaining to getting along with co-workers or customers. My mood swings, depression & anxiety took over my life. It ruined my marriage. Until I was diagnosed & medicated properly, I was suicidal. 

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Hi everyone!

I have lived with mental illness all my life although I wasn’t diagnosed with depression until I was 19.  It wasn’t until 2010 that I was diagnosed with Severe Anxiety Disorder that stemmed from PSTD.  At that time I was also diagnosed with ADHD and Borderline Personality Disorder.  I was hospitalized twice in 2010 and once in 2011.  I was so frightened and felt like I was a “bad person” who couldn’t control her thoughts or actions.  For many years I dealt with emotions that turned to self-hatred and self-harm.  I couldn’t take it anymore.  How I managed to raise two great kids and last 22 years in a marriage is beyond me, but by Gods grace, I did.  One of the most important things that has helped me in the past and continues to help me is a dynamic support team.  I see a therapist twice a month, a psychiatrist as needed for medication control, a mental health staff member from the county and a ARHMS worker that comes into my home weekly that helps me with things that promote mental health.  For many years I dreaded leaving my home as fear of being “found out” by my abusers.  It has only been since this last summer that I have gotten a part time job where I come into contact with the public.  This was a huge step in my healing process, though I have to make a commitment to follow through by going to work when I am scheduled.  Living in darkness and pain is very hard, and when you don’t have support from your family it makes it even more difficult.  So, I surrounded myself with people who accept me where I am at and who help me over the rough patches.  I hope this helps you realize that there is hope out there, though sometimes you have to look for it.

Navigating a world that often feels cold, insensitive, and unaccepting of mental illness is lifelong work, a healing journey with ups and downs that has no end. As a highly sensitive person who has lived with anxiety/depression/OCD/ADHD since childhood, struggled with self-harm, substance abuse, and eating disorders, and is a rape and domestic abuse survivor, I have sought out many forms of therapy over my lifetime, both traditional and alternative.

One concept that I became familiar with in Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is having a toolbox. Every individual’s toolbox looks different and will evolve over time. It is essentially a list of our skills and techniques for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness, and interpersonal effectiveness. I would like to share some of my go-to tools for self-soothing and traversing times of heightened anxiety/the unknown: 

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I have been diagnosed with a long list of mental illnesses. I suffer from severe depression and anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Out of all of them, BPD affects my life the most. I have had BPD my whole life. From pre-school to elementary, I would cry the night before, the morning of, and during school because I wanted to be with my mother. One of the symptoms of BPD is fear of abandonment/paranoia of being abandoned. I did not want to be separated from my mother because I was afraid of being left behind.

Other symptoms of BPD are: feelings of extreme anger for no reason, a pattern of unstable relationships, disassociation, mood swings, depression, anxiety, impulsive dangerous behavior, feelings of emptiness, distorted and unstable self-image, and self-harm/suicidal ideations.

BPD also affects the way one thinks. They see things only as black or white - there is no gray area. In addition, people with BPD put someone they just met on a pedestal, then immediately drops them if the person says/does something they do not like/approve of. It can be the smallest thing and most times, the person has no idea that they did anything offensive. Having BPD distorts the mind, leaving the person unable to think clearly and logically.

I have burned so many bridges because of my fits of rage, my inability to handle stressful situations, and my attachment issues (fear of abandonment).
I have been in and out of the psychiatric ward at the hospital because of BPD. Every time I am released from the psychiatric ward I am hopeful and optimistic, praying that this will be the last time I will be in the psychiatric ward. Except, I always end up going back. I feel so frustrated because I am taking ten steps backwards from recovery.

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1. I’ve had anxiety since 1st grade, depression since I was 11 years old. This was in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Nobody talked about, understood or even knew about mental illness. It was referred to as “growing pains”.
2. Unfortunately, I wasn’t diagnosed until the early 1990’s; also with compulsive overeating, bulimia, borderline personality disorder, relationship/male dependency, survivor of mental, physical and sexual abuse and rape, codependency, PTSD, attention deficit disorder, self harm (cutting), suicide attempts, etc. 
3. When finally diagnosed, mental illness was still not really recognized by insurance companies. Therefore, receiving proper treatment was limited and frustrating. I’m sad and angry that I wasn’t able to get the help I so desperately needed as a child, my life might have been brighter growing up. 
4. I was finally able to receive therapy along with medications to help cope with mental illness. It is still a struggle. Couple of times my medications stopped being effective and I struggled with depression and anxiety. My doctor and I kept trying different medications and ECT’s (Electro Convulsive Therapy) until we found a combination of medications that worked. The ECT’S didn’t help me, but I know friends that find them very helpful. It gets difficult at times, just keep working with your doctor/therapist and there is a light at the end of the dark tunnel.
5. I’m very glad that children and teens are able to be diagnosed early and can get treatment so they have a chance to a brighter future. Even though we still struggle with the stigma of mental illness, times have sure changed since I was a child.

Everyone struggles with something in life. Some struggle for brief periods of time and some struggle every day. I belong to the some who struggle every day. Since I was 5 years old I have constantly struggled with mental illness. I have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, ADD, ADHD, PTSD, and attention deficit Disorder. My dad, step mother, and Step Father physically abused me for most of my life because they didn’t understand what I was going through and my Mother was the only person in my life to try to help me through everything I was dealing with. Unfortunately I did not trust anyone around me due to how I was treated at home and because I was constantly bullied at school because I was different. Eventually the abuse I was facing at my step fathers house led to me going into a state of shock and I tried to hurt my mother because I was so out of it and thought she was my step father. I was 15 at this point and was detained. 

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And I knew I wasn’t right 

So I planned on going that Friday night 

And I knew I wasn’t okay

Making it the perfect place for me to stay 

See, for most, a mental hospital isn’t a choice 

It’s one of those things where you are left without a voice 

Brought there suddenly against your will

Then before you know it, you are given a bunch of random pills 

But for me, it was where I was supposed to be

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