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.

I first began to experience symptoms of bipolar disorder in my early teens. i was put on Lithium while in a hospital and right away the almost catatonic depression I was in began to ease. From there on in, it seemed medication would be the answer to everything that was wrong with me. For years i was on every depression medication available, tricyclics, MAO inhibitors–when one stopped working, I was simply put on something else. Then things got better and I needed no medication through my twenties. i still struggled with lows, but there were no suicide attempts, I was able to live and love, to work and, for the most part, even enjoy life. Then, at the age of 29 I had a manic episode and my medication nightmare began.

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As many do, I fought the idea of mental illness and medication. At 50, I finally accepted my diagnoses and began the journey towards stability. Learning all I could about my multiple diagnosises and what I could do to help myself I faithfully began treatment, never missing an appointment nor a dose of prescribed medication. 

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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.

I feel like an alien, I don’t belong, I don’t want to be here, I’m not made for this earth, nobody understands what it’s like because you just can’t put it into words and even when you can you feel like a burden or like you’re crazy or attention seeking.
You know everything and yet you know nothing, constantly questioning who you are because once you think you know that illness comes tapping at your door and you suddenly feel lost again.
From a troubled past of bullying and being made to feel so small and insignificant, guilt trips, abuse, neglect, abandonment, death, violence, a broken home and self harm..
Nothing has ever felt like home.
Always thinking about giving up, never being good enough, wanting to fit in and be loved but at the same time all you want it to be left alone and not hurt anyone.
Being completely fine one day then losing control the next.
Locking yourself away and shutting everyone out and then when you’re finally alone you get hit with depression and crave someone to pull you out.
Problems with your self image and having to grow up too quick.
Abusive or unstable relationships where they react in a way which triggers the things you try so hard to keep hidden away.
Begging and crying to friends, family, hospitals, councillors and doctors to please just fix me I can’t take any more of this.

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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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Hello,

I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety at age 20. Im now 35 and in recovery, using meditation, exercise, health food, prescription medications, and continuous learning about mental illness to stay well, and not forget about the suffering I went through, but to use the experience to empower myself and others to end stigma. I was wrongly diagnosed with depression and anxiety, when they were comorbid symptoms to the ADD I had no idea I was truly suffering from. Today I’m on all the correct medications, feeling the way I did at age 19, and I’m turning my passion for teaching, speaking, and supporting NAMI, by being an advocate for a living. It’s so fulfilling, to be rewarded daily, when I speak to schools, my support group, and online. I suggest this as a form of therapy to anyone who has a voice with an important message to spread. Being part of something so big is the best medicine I’ve come to know! 

My name is Michelle Schlosser Russell and I am a Mental Health disorder person suffering from Bi-polar Disorder as well as ADD. I have a 6 year old son who is also suffering with ADHD and different types of learning and behavior disorders. Everyday it is a different challenge for us to survive in this mean cruel world but of course we definitely try to make the best of it. It is routine for us to wake up every morning and take our medications as well as every night before we go to sleep. We try to interact with others as normal people do but it is very hard as people with our disorders have difficulty getting along with others and understanding others.

My son especially has a hard time just listening and learning with and to others. So you can see how living day to day is challenging to us. I have a hard time holding down a job and saving money and it causes a lot of problems in my life. We are constantly on the verge of losing our home and I struggle daily to make sure my son and I live as normal people do and so therefore I make sure to jot down when our rent is due and I am always late which costs me an extra 100 each month that I really dont have. I jot down when our light bill is due and this is also another bill which has given me trouble because I have forgotten to pay it before and my lights have been turned off which has lead me into trouble with trying to keep my son.

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A message of hope: for years I struggled with heavy alcohol abuse of close to a handle of vodka every couple of days as well as drug use. I somehow managed to get through college and my last quarter in college went to a psychiatrist who somehow found an answer: major depression and moderate ADHD. She took a gamble, prescribing me medication. I have been 100% clean for over a year, am engaged to a beautiful young woman, am employed, and have an amazing life. There is hope. AA helped me in the worst part of my struggles mostly as a group to listen to me. But I needed to get to a psychiatrist who was good (I had been to “famous” psychiatrists before who weren’t good). I still almost can’t believe my life has changed so much for the better!

Hello, my name Daniel and I struggle with Schizophrenia. It really all started with me being to scared to get near under my bed, in which I would jump to my bed from as far from my bed as I could, occasionally making me hit my arm or knee of the bed frame. Next, I’d look up to a figure staring at me or going to another room and someone is staring at something. Finally, the delusions were the worst part. I’d think if the full moon was full, I would be unsafe, I thought my limbs were turning purple or that someone was after me. My friends would tell me nobody is where I’m saying one of my hallucinations would be or would say that the moon or something would hurt me. I didn’t believe I had Schizophrenia or any other mental illness but finally, I believed my friends after the first psychotic episode. I was stressed over school and decided to go on a walk and sit down for a while. I constantly got worried someone was behind me and would look behind me often. Finally, i looked behind me and a figure was staring at me and started walking towards me. I kept saying, ”Please leave me alone,” or “Please dont hurt me.”

Anyway, now I’m with friends that help me through it and understand.