Introduction

My name is Monty Price. I like music, and like to make sure I have free time from school. Also, I like to take pictures and post them on Facebook. I hope everyone is doing find today.

NAMI has become the nation’s voice on mental health and was founded in 1979. NAMI provides programs for the mentally ill and in Lexington consumers can go to the Participation Station. Also, NAMI provides programs to help families deal with their loved ones that have mental illness.

Dark Days

When I was at the age of 26 years my symptoms of mental illness caused many problems for me.  I started to have emotional problems for the first time and was hospitalized in Texas. Having emotional problems was like not understanding my situation and being confused. One of my darkest moments was when I was having a lot of fear and feeling angry about life. Moreover, not getting along with family and friends was causing problems for me in my life.  Also, not being able to hold a job and having dealings with the police. If you can imagine having avoid in your life and nowhere to go. Furthermore, not being able to function in society was a problem for me. These are some of the feelings I was experiencing at my first hospitalization and more distress as well.

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            My name is Jennifer and I am a recovered mental illness survivor—

            I have endured severe mental illness for over half my life.  During that time, I suffered from clinical depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and borderline personality disorder.

            Due to the depression, my behaviors ranged from excessive crying to excessive sleeping to suicide attempts.  I felt feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, and helplessness.  All I thought I wanted to do was die.   But in fact, what I really wanted was help with overcoming my severe sadness.

            During my manic states, I endured impulsive, spontaneous, and irresponsible behaviors.  I felt on top of world.  I felt excessive amounts of energy.  I had racing thoughts.  I had delusions of grandeur.  I’ll be honest.  It felt great to be so high, but it is also very dangerous.  Risky behaviors can lead to much endangerment of self and others.

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Thank you NAMI for being there.  Thank you Phyllis Arends, then the Executive Director for South Dakota for getting myself and my partner, Timothy Flaskamp involved in starting a Connections Recovery Support Group.  Since  almost 5 years ago, Tim and I have become “In Our Own Voice” Presenters and Trainers also.  I had onset at 42, with a Bipolar Disorder, a PTSD, and a Panic Disorder.  All the while, fighting with a back injury. 

After the second surgery, I was told I was terminal.  Yes, the therapist had her work cut out for me, and TIm’s support and understanding was crucial. Oh, and Yes, I am in the best relationship of my life, a gay one with a remarkable man, who himself could be called “Mayo Clinic’s Miracle Man”.  I was overweight, diabetic and the Doctor said a gastric bypass would be the answer as she had to get the weight off me right now. 

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I am a mother of a young-adult son, Nathan, now 26, who suffers from the debilitating mental illness, paranoid schizophrenia. Since his age of 19, I feel that he has been in hospital more than he has been out. I know that I am not the only parent who has experienced this with a child. It is heart-breaking, and true, and every day, in our hearts, we cry in grieving for these lives and minds of our children who we often feel powerless to help.

The facts: 1-in-100 individuals suffer from schizophrenia. What does this mean? It means that each and every one of our lives will be affected by this illness - it may be ourselves who will become ill, or it will be our child, or another loved one, friend or colleague. This illness has very real physical, emotional, economic and social consequences, for the individual, families, communities, nations and the world.

A part of me died inside the day that I received my son’s diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. It came only after a long number of his teen years where he suffered increasingly difficult anxiety, on and off depression which led to self harm and impulsive actions. His first psychosis is an image that will never leave my mind.

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My name is Robert Hagee and I have a mental illness, I have had the illness since childhood, it was believed to be schizophrenia when I was young but came to schizoaffective disorder. If I was to write anything about my illness it would be this: that without my mother who was very strong from her life struggles as a child and as an adult, I would not have survived; I look back and realize if I was to know of all my issues and struggles to come when was a young and not to know of the good I do not believe I would have continued. There are other issues with my health and the hardest thing I face is that my mother will be at my funeral and my only regret I would ever change is the fact that my mother has had to experience my life with me.

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In August of 2019, I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes and my doctor recommended exercise to treat it.  This all started in 2005, when I was diagnosed with a postpartum mental illness and treated with medications that have known metabolic side effects.   My diagnosis was later changed to Schizoaffective Disorder.  Every time I’ve been taken off medication, I’ve gotten sick again, so I need the mental health medication, even though it has side effects.

My work provides the benefit of points towards a gym membership. So, I joined the gym after I learned about my diagnosis. As part of joining my gym, I had a free consultation visit with a personal trainer. At the end of the visit, we sat down, and he took out his notepad.

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Remember you are not define by your mental illness. Your hope becomes your recovery. Your strengths and positive coping strategies empower your destiny to recover.

Recovery is possible if you believe that you are not your diagnosis. The road to recovery is not easy. Hope, strength, support, determination, and education on mental illness can help an individual with a mental illness recover so that they can live a productive and gratifying life in their community. Some individuals with mental illness can work, attend and graduate from college, buy a home, and have families.

Hope equals maintaining a mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy lifestyle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a story I wrote for the peer support group newsletter for September National Recovery Month. I wanted to submit it the article here to share my voice as a Wisconsin Nami Member, and a peer just like you. Here is part of my story…

Coming Out of the Closet
About My Recovery

By Deb Thompson

September is “National Recovery Month” in fact it is SAMHSA’s 25^th National Recovery Month. For those of you that may not know SAMHSA stands for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. This year’s theme is “Join the Voices for Recovery: Speak Up, Reach Out.”  So I would like to Speak Up while Reaching Out, to the reality of my recovery and recovery experiences with you.

Many of you do not know who I am; I tend to stand back in the shadows whenever possible. But for many reasons I want to “Come Out of the Closet” about my mental illness, which is depression.

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Hello,   My name is Minyon Bond. This composition is about my life as a mental patient and as a subscriber to NAMI.  NAMI has asked for stories from persons involved with mental illness. I have been a NAMI member and subscriber for many years. The comprehensive overview which NAMI provides has been of frequent value. It is my hope that this story may help others like me.    I am one of those people. I am a Consumer.  I am BIPOLAR. I am a 73 year old woman with BIPOLAR 1 DISORDER. I have been under psychiatric care for 42 years.  I have taken many psychiatric medications. I’ve had three psychiatrists, my current one for over 35 years. Along the way I worked in field research with plants, in basic research in spinal cord injury regeneration and for 33 years as a professor of Biology/Botany in a local Community College.  I have been retired for six years.

I spent my best 35 years with Denise, my dearest friend and deepest love. There were good times and bad times but she was there for ALL times. In 2014 she died of Swine flu. Last year my friend David  introduced me to Tim. Tim produces music. Because of his patient coaching, Tim now also produces my music. Most of my time is spent writing, composing, playing, singing and recording our songs.  Life is good again. Different but good.

How did I get here?  In January, 1975, I entered a mental hospital. This was labelled as a failed suicide attempt. Why failed? My friend David hauled me out of my swimming pool. My original diagnosis: SCHIZOPHRENIA. I was treated with several medications from the Thorazine family.  These ultimately resulted in profound depression.  None of the several varieties of antidepressants helped.

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I just want to talk to people about my mental health struggles throughout my life and how I’ve overcome each and everyone of these hurdles and how I could be inspiration to others. Through the power of open and honest communication and never giving up on oneself I’ll be honored to talk about my struggles but also my hope that I can give people that are struggling today day with things that they cannot control in the midst of the coronavirus