A young wife and mom I know, a former student, spoke recently at a NAMI training for those who love and care for people with mental health challenges. This young woman–let’s call her Elizabeth–told the group about her childhood.  Elizabeth grew up with a mom with mental illness, a mom who loved her dearly but who, when things got beyond coping, would just go into her room and check out of life for a while.  She’d leave the kids a note that might say something like, “You kids are on your own. I’m tired of waiting on your ungrateful little selves.”

Elizabeth, who has a big personality, outspoken and strong, would go and stand at her mother’s bedroom door.

“You get OUT here!” she would yell. “You come and take care of your children!”

That never worked, but in a couple of days, the mom would re-emerge, rested and ready to cope again. Then life would be fine for a while, until the stress built up to the sticking point, and the next note appeared on the kitchen table.

“I always thought that was normal,” Elizabeth said. “I thought everybody’s mother had her disappearing days.”

Then Elizabeth grew up and got married. After the birth of her baby, she plunged into a depression that did not, for a year, dissipate. Instead, other troubling symptoms arrived, and Elizabeth finally came to realize that she, like her mom, was mentally ill. Her treacherous journey to recovery and independence leads her to advocate for others who haven’t yet completed the trek. It leads her to understand her mother, with whom she remains very closely tied.

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Hello.  We all can live a great, purposeful life managing Bipolar Condition or any mental health situations. 

The social stigma of mental illness used to bother me to no end…and contribute to my problems!  I’m over that now, but I prefer to call it Bipolar Condition vs. “Disorder”.  I also prefer to discuss Mental Health vs. “Illness”.

My story in general: 

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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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Hello, I have always thought that sharing my story with the mental health community is important to bring hope to others that are just like me.

I’m a 37 year old divorced mother of two boys. I have been in therapy of some kind or another since I was 7 years old. Mental illness runs in my family as well as substance abuse addiction. I believe I was born with my many disorders that progressed and worsened as I got older, abused illegal drugs, prescribed medication and had my children. In my early childhood I showed all the many signs of OCD. I also grew up in an extremely chaotic family where my mother suffered terribly with her own mental illness that was never acknowledged or treated and an emotionally absent father. My two older siblings coped with this by using and abusing drugs and my older sister was put into rehab when I was seven. My older brother simply moved away and is still an addict today covering up his own mental health issues. My younger sister was extremely emotionally disturbed and would act out violently towards my parents but especially towards me. She would later become a drug addict for many years and thankfully entered recovery 4 ½ years ago.

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There is a phrase - “I’m mad and I’m not going to take it anymore.”  Well, I’m mad and I’m not going to take stigma home ever.  We need to change the-name/title/catch phrases/.  Mental Illness is not the case for everyone.  And, Mental Health is everyone’s, not just those who have a brain disorder function, be it chemical, hereditary, or imposed.  We need more discussion to brain storm the “Stigma” with new definitive terminologies to distinguish the varied conditions of mental disorders.  

Hello everyone, my name is Christian O’neal Coleman I developed a passion for work in the helping professions about 5 years ago. Good mental health is key for overall functioning in life and life would simply be hard to live without a healthy mind. I know. If you or a loved one has a mental illness, I’ve been there. I had a low point in my life; a low point I never thought I would rebound from. However, I bounced back and from then on, I decided to embark on both a personal and professional journey to help people who have to take mental illness with them throughout their life journey. In conclusion, I want to let everyone know that happens to be reading this that if you have a mental illness of any kind, you may think you are alone BUT you are not! There is help out there, tons of resources for you. Also, if you are someone who knows someone who may be experiencing a mental illness in their life, you may not always know what to do for that person but always remember this: a pat on the back, a hug or any other cordial act of reassurance is often times more than enough to put a smile on someone’s face.

Please know and always remember that YOU ARE NOT ALONE :-)

Thanks for reading everyone and please be well!

It is time we with mental illness spoke out with a clear voice. Simply to say despite our mental illness we can not only exist but thrive. It starts with confidence that is always objectified. Whether it is affected by ourselves or the people around us. I believe mental health is the new civil rights initiative of the 21st century. We who suffer will not be cast aside. Or even more, we shall not be labelled by our illness. We know we suffer but we do not have to be reminded of it by the social culture we live in today. Many call it a stigma to mention mental health. But to get help and get better this stigma must be exhausted. The main focus of this message. However, we still are stronger than the images suggest. We are mental warriors. Let us therefore use the fortitude to drive off our own illness to combat the enemy we encounter which has no face. But rather it’s character is displayed in dismal mental health support for many of our comrades. Displayed in the notion that unsatisfactorily there will never be a cure. Sure it is a major hurdle to overcome. But in the words of our savior Jesus Christ “with God anything is possible.” I know this is a different way of thinking. But I also know thinking any direction else is not only unproductive but dismissive. I have suffered too long to accept the notion that the next generation will deal with the effects of our inaction. Rather I am willing almost certain that we will win the fight against mental illness.

-Kevin Jose

October is mental health awareness month and anyone who has been touched by mental illness has an important story that needs to be shared. There are people that need to understand that these issues are okay to talk about and feel all the feels.

I feel compelled to share this story about my anxiety and depression because mental illness took the voice of a friend of mine and countless others when it doesn’t have to. It’s a journey, but there is hope.

            “I have a chemical imbalance in my brain. I did not ask for it, nor did a diabetic ask for their illness. Yet, you stigmatize me for mine and call me crazy yet you give compassion for the other.”

That chemical imbalance for me, according to a psychiatrist, is generalized anxiety disorder and depression. Before the diagnosis, let’s go back to December 9, 2016 at around 3:30 in the morning when I was literally catapulted from my bed and my journey began… I jumped up as if someone was stabbing me in the heart. I thought for sure, this is it, I’m dying. Not realizing that I was walking around and pacing in order to decide what I should do next. Needless to say I wasn’t dying… I decided after calling my primary care doctor that I should go to the ER. They pulled me into the room right before the ER pretty quickly after getting there as they often do with unexplained chest pain. They took an EKG of my chest and sent me back to the waiting room. After they took me back to the ER they went through chest x-rays, physical exams, multiple doctors and nurses, and then they said you’re not having a heart attack. We only treat you for what you came in with so we’re sending you home and just follow up with your primary care doctor. What?! That’s it?! Do you people not realize I am actually going to die? Spoiler alert- I’m still here.

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The smell of cigarettes and unwashed bodies

Some shuffle about as in a daze

Other pace with boundless energy, dizzying to the eyes

Some stand with confidence, looking straight ahead

So alike to the others, yet so different

Mental illness

Mental health

Detereoration and deliverance

A few shift about on walkers

Many walk unaided, alone, aloof

Young and old, accompanied and utterly devoid of company

They watch the world with wary eyes

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