I have been affected by mental illness since the age of 15. You see, that is when I was first diagnosed with Severe Clinical Depression. I am now going on 43. Through the years I have been diagnosed with anxiety, PTSD, and Bipolar Disorder. It has been a long road. It hasn’t been easy. There are days that I want to give up. But my message for you is this:

YOU CAN DO IT!

YOU can live a life with a mental illness. YOU CAN have a family. YOU CAN have friends. YOU CAN have children if you choose. YOU CAN have a successful career. YOU CAN have a successful LIFE!

It won’t come easy. Even people who don’t have a mental illness have it rough at times. But it is possible. It might take a little more work, but if you are determined, you can make things happen!

Bipolar disorder has made my life interesting for sure. And I am not ashamed that I am still trying to find my way in the world. But I am doing it. I am living life, one day at a time. I am dealing with my moods and managing my illness with medication. Not many people understand, but if you talk about it [your illness], and explain it in a way people will understand, we can break the stigma that surrounds Mental Illness.  

Enough is enough!  The challenge of living with a mental illness has struck me and many members of my family, female and male, and today, I am taking a stand. I will be their voice…for anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and more. I will not walk in shame and defeat for my head is lifted to the sky. I will not let society put us in a category, define us, or mark us as “crazy” or “half cracked”. We have to address mental illness in our global society and aim to defeat it like any other illness of the body. It has no perspective race, gender, or culture and it comes to steal the joy of living on this beautiful earth.

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My name is Bek. I am a 34-year-old mother who has PTSD and postpartum depression, as well as unspecified bipolar disorder. For the first time in my life I actually feel somewhat stumped when it comes to writing about my mental illness and the road of recovery. I started attending NAMI meetings as part of an outpatient program, which was proceeded by my first ever manic episode and my bipolar diagnosis. 

Depression has been a part of my life since puberty and high anxiety layered itself on top of that. Sharing my story with others has been part of my overall healing and I hope by writing this that someone out there feels less alone. The episodes are real, the panic is real, the mental strain and trauma is real. You get the picture. 

I feel like my emotions have always overwhelmed me, struggling to “get out of my own mind” and did not actively seek any mental help until my mid twenties.  I initially sought out cognitive behavioral therapy which was something very foreign to me. Change your habits, change your thoughts, feel better, right?  It allowed me to move through some of the issues that had grown deep roots in my psyche and medication was prescribed to work in combination with the therapy. I didn’t really care what I put in my body. I felt like I was in permanent survival mode but at least I was taking steps to “feel better.”  I survived. I also self-medicated with marijuana, which seemed to help keep mania at bay and in general made me feel like I could handle life better.

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I have struggled a majority of my life with mental illness. I have been diagnosed with the following: depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, severe generalized anxiety disorder, postpartum depression, and bipolar disorder. I stand my ground with my battles as they are constantly attacking me, but I am still here. If you or someone needs help, please do not be afraid! I have fought hard to find the right doctors and the right cocktail, do not ever give up! We are all In this battle together, nobody is alone. With love from a battler of this mental madness.  

I have bipolar disorder with psychosis. It is controlled by medication, but what a lot of medication! Although I have been ill for almost twelve years I was only diagnosed as bipolar two months ago. I feel that many labels have defined my problems including posttraumatic stress disorder, postpartum depression and psychotic episodes. I often wonder if the label changes anything about the suffering.

Recently I have wondered about the psychosis. Here is a little of what it was like:

I am elated and the world is a wonderful place to be. There is a sense of magic in everything and I am at the heart of it. Places to go, people to see and decisions to be made. What clothes to wear and why? I create my own clothes with golden material and feel like an angel going about town.  I am interpreting events, yes, I am busy. I am taking notes and have even quit my job. Suddenly my family seem alien to me, they look at me strangely now and wonder about me getting a job. I have left my husband and he is waiting for me to return.  I feel rushes of emotion which I cannot control - I rip up paintings I have made and stamp on CD’s smashing them to pieces. No one can keep up with my pace…but then there is a knock at the door. My parents called the authorities and I am going to hospital.

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Hi my name is Robbi I’m a 43year-old mother of 3 at 32 I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Mental illness runs in my family.   My mother and grandfather were not diagnosed So unfortunately due to lack of awareness of the disease resources and lack of proper medications at 8 I lost my mother and witnessed  her suicide . At 10 I  witnessed  the  death of my grandfather to suicide also I’m a twin. Despite my extreme trauma and my losses I continue to fight for those like me who need support resources hope love kindness caring respect…most of all stop the stigma. I do not drink nor do drugs. I have no criminal  record. I have an Associate degree as an Licenced Optician. I want to do what ever I can to help who ever I can. God has seen me thru and I feel like this organization will help me achieve those goals as well as I feel thats my purpose. It brings me great joy to give others hope. I want to become a motivational speaker like Les Brown.  With Gods help I will❤

I’ve been dealing with my fiancé’s bipolar disorder for 6 months now.
Are episodes of depression, drinking binges, extreme highs, lack of empathy part of bipolar disorder?
I’m trying to learn all I can about this mental illness. I love him very much but it feels like I’m on a roller coaster ride with his emotions. I want to hug him and slap him at the same time.
Now I know I am not alone, and find some comfort in that. From what I’ve read the symptoms vary. Thanks to everyone for sharing, now I know I am not alone and find some comfort in that.

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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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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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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