My journey with mental health has not been an easy one. I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression in 2011. I was constantly having panic attacks at bight time which prevented me from sleeping. I finally decided that it was time to get the help I very much so needed. I did, and every since then I can better manage my mental health with the tools that my therapist has given me. There is light and hope even after the darkest of storms. Keep fighting ❤️

Hello Community,

I would like to begin this by saying to everyone reading this…that when I was diagnosed with depression, anxiety and panic attacks I also found out that everybody around me already knew what these words meant and everybody

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Hello my name is Alan and i have been struggling with my mental health for about a year and a half now and I’m just now recognizing that i have mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and panic attacks. I have started attending therapy and group therapy sessions and they have honestly helped me to see that i am not the only person in the world that feels that they may be going through something and that there are other beautiful souls feeling lost out there. Please seek out help, i know it can be hard with the stigma on mental health being taboo in society but understand that there are people and programs willing to help you.

Sometimes the trauma we experience is not definable in terms of scientific research or assessments. Sometimes depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues are never actually diagnosed but somehow those of us who experience these issues deal with them on a daily basis and find inspiration and hope in our communities and inside ourselves.  

I, like many others, have experienced multiple traumas in my life including rape, abandonment, intimate partner violence, a diagnosis of a “terminal” disease, homelessness, and drug addiction.  Yet, somehow, I have made it through these experiences and found help along the way.  Not from the system of care (as many of us know, the system of care is not really designed to “care”), I found help in the support and love from others who have also experienced similar things.  It is their courage and compassion that gave me the strength to keep moving forward.  It is their determination and insight that helped me work through the pain and fear.  

I am forever grateful for those who guided me along the way.  Your support will never be forgotten.  Your support helped me to not only find a new way to live but to follow my passion and help others.  Even though I have been dragged through the mud, I know my worth and value has not changed.  Today, I am working on a PhD. and hope that the work I do, the community bridges from research and academia to the real world I build, can help inspire others.  May you find love and peace in your hearts

 I was once a normal girl. I was once not controlled by anxiety, panic attacks, depression and manic episodes.  I was once carefree and my mind was my friend. Now it is an enemy I can’t escape.

I was once a normal girl. Before I was forced to be an adult at the age of 13. Before I was forced to raise my brothers and sister.  Before my mother became distant. Before my life became abnormal.

I was once a normal girl. Before I got addicted to pills. Before I was a cutter. Before I made my multiple suicide attempts. Before they hospitalized me. Before the first time the doctor told me I wasn’t normal at all.

Now I am not normal. I fight an internal battle every day of my life with anxiety, depression, and my bipolar disorder.  My mind is an emotional roller coaster. One minute we are up and I am on top of the world and the next I am so low I don’t feel worthy of living.  

Now I am not normal. Though I do not take pills that aren’t prescribed to me anymore and I don’t cut I do sometimes think about it. I have panic attacks all of the time over nothing. My relationship is struggling because he doesn’t want to believe that I am not normal.

I was once normal but now I am not. I have issues I deal with every day. Though some people don’t see how it’s an accomplishment that I let myself live another day to deal with those issues. I may not be normal but I am stronger. I am a fighter. I am a survivor.

Hi, I go by Utah.  I’m 45 year old caucasian male living in WA, State. At the age of 21 I started getting my first of many panic attacks and my last one being in December. Oh, I better go through the list of diagnosis I deal with on a daily basis. I have bi-polar II,  major depression disorder, PTSD, Trichotillormania, and Tonic Clonic Seizure Disorder.          

Besides those listed above, I have battled through four brain surgeries which complicates my skills with grammar, math, and English,  and other daily skills we take for granted. The Trichotillormania was so addicting I pullout all of my eye lashes and eye brows. Now it’s my head, but it allows me to relax. 17 months ago in April I became very manic over several months and then hit bottom. I was focused on hurting myself or others. I was in rage and had no fear. I was reckless in my vehicle even getting the attention of my kids telling me to slow down. 

From there I had the strength to go to a drop in clinic. I was so upset that the doctor wouldn’t see be I was in disbelief. I was fuming. I have great insurance. So after a few minutes after waiting for an hour the receptionist comes out and says you need to go to ER.  But due to the stigma I couldn’t.  I was working two jobs.  Once was a night job in a mental health transition center and my full-time job is as a mental health counselor with in a law enforcement agency. Can you now see why I wanted to see the doctor.  Anyhow I found a clinic across town where I take my clients whom are in need of medication due to being close to running out.  As of this moment right now I feel beat down, by depression and get tired of the highs. I take 17 pills and dread it.  When I’m at work is when I do best, working one on one with my clients whom are in prison.

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My doctor described my diagnosis to me in this way: I’m a 78 RPM person trying to function in a 33 1/3 world. For you baby boomers, you’ll know what I mean. If you’re younger than a baby boomer and don’t understand the analogy, ask your parents to explain it to you.

When I’m manic, I’m like the energizer bunny. Always going. Creating something. Wanting something. 

Right after I got diagnosed, I jumped into crafts and started making these little wooden window seats.

I didn’t create one or two, or a few. I created dozens. And dozens. And boxes full. I obsessed over getting every single wooden window seat in the Tampa area so I could make something out of it. Then I wanted a puppy. (Thank goodness my husband saw fit to tell me no at that time) Then I jumped into soap making. I made pounds and pounds of soap. (All of this is in less than a week.)

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My names Chandel and I’m 22 years old. I suffer from depression, anxiety and anxious thinking. It is real. You feel alone ,lost, scared and worried ALL the time. I’m happy that there’s people who understand this mental disease, who actually want to help. This is good!! I’m also thankful for my mental health therapist who is helping with my depression and anxiety. I’m tired of suffering and being worked for no reason!!

#Curestigma

My name is Eileen.  I am a 60-year-old happily married woman with one daughter and a successful career. I suffered from mental health disorders starting in my early twenties with panic attacks, Pre and Postpartum Depression, followed by on and off moderate depression throughout my thirties, and a major depressive episode at age 41 when I finally hit rock bottom.  I have had good mental health since I was about 43 years old.  I credit this good health to many things; support from family and friends, the right medication, seeing a good therapist, (by good I mean one that fits your needs), taking care of my physical health and yes, faith that the universe basically has my back.  But for me, even with all the resources I had, full recovery was not possible until I accepted two big facts of life.  Fact one, I Cannot Control everything that happens in my life.  Fact two, I am an Imperfect Human Being who happens to be predisposed to mental illness.  The acceptance of these two facts did not happen overnight and so recovery did not happen overnight.  But it did happen.  Recovery will be different for you, but it CAN happen for you too if you PERSEVERE.  You MUST persevere to truly know how wonderful life can be. 

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So I live with my own mental health issues.

But I have an issue when a group of people bully and harass an individual who struggles more. Lydia is 30 years old and suffers from Complex PTSD. Is Autistic, Bipolar with Anxiety and has Triggers and Panic Attacks. The bullies targeted her for nothing but cause drama. They never met her nor she them. They drove her to a suicide attempt but I am glad I could do an intervention on that attempt. No one was arrested because only Lydia saw them and in pictures or video of the incident. So she is getting stabilized and I hope that these bullies are brought to justice and thrown out of this RV park so Lydia can feel secure and gain some independence. 

  Someone tell me where I can begin. Please!