Hi my name is Peter and I am a survivor or trying to be. I suffer from Mdd, OCD, social anxiety disorder. I am 46 yrs old now I am trying to understand why all these things are happening to me at this time in my life, when I was younger I didn’t notice some of these things for example: my ocd was not as bad but my family was well aware because they would point out some of my behaviors,my depression got worse as I got older and my social anxiety I didn’t notice because I was always drunk. I’ve been sober 8 years, now and I am trying different meds with my doctor to find what will work for me some of my symptoms are getting better. and I have good family support and counselor all I am saying is we all need to be here to support each other we are not alone and I want to be able to also be there to help if anyone needs to talk or needs someone to listen,because I know I sometimes need someone other than the people that surround me at the moment. God Bless everyone and lets all keep hope and our heads up we are all winners.

                                                                                                                                     Always a Friend

                                                                                                                                         Peter

Mental illnesses are difficult to deal with. Many people have them of all ages too. And even if you have the same illness as someone else they are very different so I can’t tell you what to do about it I’m not a therapist but I can tell you my story (so far!) and hope it gives someone inspiration.

My name is Athena and I am dealing with severe depression and don’t want to accept it even saying it, is weird but it is there and it is a struggle because when every day all you can do is look at the bad things and look in the future and only see the memories you will NOT make is difficult none the less but I manage on my own. I haven’t told anyone its a secrecy and no I don’t take medication I just find something to distract me I go on YouTube or find a hobby even sitting in the garden is stress relieving I can’t say it will work for everyone but maybe it will. I have tried to commit suicide but its okay . Sometimes I just think positively and it can be really hard to do but I do it I think if the future isn’t here yet then how can I know what will happen I know I’m safe no matter what . Nothing in my life really is looking up but I’m not gonna give up , neither should you because who knows? Maybe a miracle is waiting just around the corner!

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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 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

I was once a child filled with inspiration and love for the world around me. I found beauty in the smallest of things and that is what made me special. What made me special to others was the fact that I was a little girl; an object to be used. I was abused in ways which words cannot express and that inspiration and love left my little body and the spark for life left my eyes. I became an echo of who I was supposed to be and there was nothing that anyone could do about it. This darkness ran in the family and it grabbed ahold of my heart and wouldn’t let it go.
As I grew I found solace in art; any type of art that could express the dark void inside became my sound escape from my reality. In time I began to find a new meaning through educating myself about others who had gone through what I had. Scoring 9 out of 10 on the ACE score, it was highly predicted that I wouldn’t amount to anything, but I have. No money, little family, no friends, but education was the key. I graduated a year and a half early in the top 5% of my class in high school; I graduated Sum Cum Laude with my Bachelor’s degree in psychology and am now working towards my PhD in clinical psychology whilst working fulltime for the Department of Child Safety for my state government.

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What do I hope for when I talk about mental illness?

I know what I don’t hope for.

I don’t hope that people will think my life is harder than theirs.

It is not.

It is a different struggle, one that I want to help demystify.

I hope that by sharing my struggles it will help me to understand what is going on even more.

I hope that it will make those embarrassed to live with mental illness, feel a little more comfortable.

I hope that it will make those who don’t fully get it, get it a little bit more. 

I hope it will make people ask questions, reach out, reach into themselves.

I hope it will remind myself that we don’t need permission to be vulnerable, that it is not a deficit, that being vulnerable doesn’t mean you’re being a victim.

I hope that people will understand while it is nothing I’m ashamed of (most of the time,) it does not define who I am, and I can’t wait till it is less a focus of my life. 

I hope that people get that mental illness is not a personality trait, that it is a disease, cause as personality traits go, I’m a pretty fun time.

What I hope for myself is that I can believe all of this, that I can let go of people not getting it or opportunities lost because of my openness, because there is so, so, so much more in the win column for sharing

This the continuation from my first submission , it got sent on an accident and it wasn’t completed.  So what I was saying is when I read Harvest time on NAMI’s not alone page when she talked about the Good Seeds & Bad Seeds , I understood what she meant plant good seeds and receive a good Harvest, and throw a way the Bad Seeds an don’t pass them on to anyone.  I realize that that is the truest statement that I read , I realized that that is what I’ve been doing all my life, with my children , husband, with everyone and allowing others to throw there Bad seeds on me.  So With that being said, I’m going to do my very best to cope and plant good seeds and throw away the bad.  I going to go to this DUI school  an get my license back , continue my therapy ,continue my Meds and most of  all plant good seeds an take care of myself.  and know truly,  believe that there is no HOPLESS SITUATION. 

Hope. Such a small word, a powerful word. Hope is a word that can rally a multitude of emotions. Add “-less” at the end or “-ful” and you get two completely different meanings. Let me tell you about my story from hopeless, to hopeful…to offering you hope.

My name is Heather. I am on the cusp of 30. I was diagnosed with Bipolar NOS in my first half of my semester as a freshmen in high school. Ouch. Anger was the first emotion, then shock, fear, shame, hopelessness. I ended up in Out Patient in few short months that followed. I was cycling hard. Five minute cycles all the way up into a flying mania (and a bundle of laughing hysteria) plummeting down into tears of depression and desolate hopelessness - only to fly right back up to the peak of the cycle again. I was lost. Confused. Hopeless.

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Even when you are down, in between medications and trying to keep your head up for therapy, there is hope. Even when it seems like your mind is your worst enemy and that no one understands, there is hope.  I have hope every day, some days more than others, and today is a good day so I am thankful.  But there have been bleak periods not too long ago, when I felt that my world was falling apart. It was then that I relied on my support team I have in place, my daughter (20), my psychiatrist, who is amazing, and a good priest who helps me feel connected to God. I presented my symptoms and situations which were affecting my mental health and then I listened to those who know me best and took their advice.  It was not soon after that that the walls started to come down again that got built up and I was able to make good decisions about my mental health.  It is now that I am at a better place and I have more hope than ever before that I am going to be ok.  

Pax

Victoria