I have had a major depressive disorder for over 15 years now. My thoughts move at the speed of light so I have trouble communicating sometimes. I’m in talk therapy and working through all the anger I have from years of trying to fit in with the rest of the population. CBT therapy has also helped with unhelpful intrusive thoughts and negative thoughts. NAMI-peer-to-peer also helped me connect with other people with similar stories. Mental vulnerabilities are real and people are speaking up about them now. You are not alone! #itgetsbetter

My name is Jamie. i have paranoid schizophrenia, and have had it since I was nine. It’s interesting to note that I have it - it does not have me. In the years since I was diagnosed, I have since gotten on medication and now have a full and productive life. I became a journalist in elementary school, and am now editor of my own online newspaper that is read all over the world. I’m also an Eagle Scout, a former Brotherhood member of the Order of the Arrow, 2001 National Scout Jamboree staff member, and have met and interviewed people. I have also covered a former president of the United States. I have also been a syndicated columnist, and featured in several papers in Texas.

If I can send one message to people, it is that, if one day you are diagnosed with a mental illness, seek treatment early and stay the course, including taking your medication. Don’t be afraid to branch out and try new things. Give yourself a chance and don’t give up just because something seems difficult. In fact, my mom often encouraged me to try new, positive experiences that made me feel a part of the world. She taught me to be smart and think for myself. When faced with a roadblock, she encouraged me to find the solution and to be a positive influence on others, disabled and normal.

The truth is that the illness is not the end of the world. Don’t give up. Find your talent and run with it. Give yourself a chance, and make the most of each and every opportunity to make a positive difference in the world. This challenge I embraced. It is a challenge I hope those reading this story will embrace. Thanks. Jamie.

For a long time I thought I was just a hell raiser going back and forth to jail. I was told as a child that I was no good and I would never amount to much. I went to school with marks from being beaten by an extension cord, I was locked in a closet for days and when I finally got out I was knocked beside the head and spit on and at by caregivers. I was always angry as I grew into adulthood, nothing pleased me and when I found out that I had something men wanted I used that to try and ease the inner anger and pain. I didn’t have many friends, because I was always running away from one thing or another. I never understood the whys of my moods. One minute I was okay with myself then I hated the world around me the next. My mind stayed cloudy and I cried a lot when nobody was around. I felt empty like I was a hallow log with limbs. Useless with no direction.

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I have tried, off and on, for two years to find a support group in my area, have left messages for the local NAMI representatives in the brochures I’ve come across… emailed people… and no one seems to be able to get back to me with information.   This is my feedback: That it needs to be clearer where the meetings are and what days.  It’s hard enough to be able to get anything even started with mental illness… not to mention continuing to try when there is no response.

Thanks for your time.

#IAmStigmaFree because I share my story at Crisis Intervention Team Trainings, public speaking engagements and conferences. I’ve been on the Board of Directors for NAMI Pinellas County for a couple of years here in Florida and I teach Peer to Peer as a mentor. But before I found NAMI, I was very alone in a struggle that went on for half my life.

At the age of 12, I began to experience depression and some mild paranoia, which I would only recognize as such many years later. At 15, I had my first suicide attempt. At 16, I was regularly cutting myself because self-mutilation had become my dysfunctional coping mechanism, along with anorexia nervosa, for which I was hospitalized for weeks at age 17, when I weighed 83 pounds.

However, none of this was the worst of it. Crippling major depression and an eating disorder were, I would realize later, much easier for me to live with than the psychosis that followed. At 23, I became floridly psychotic, delusional and paranoid, with constant auditory, visual, tactile and olfactory hallucinations. I believed, at first, that I had been heinously abused as a child and blocked out the memories, but then I began to believe I was a mind control victim of the CIA. I thought there was a microchip implanted in my body, monitoring my whereabouts and that people were communicating with me constantly through secret “double speak”, hidden messages and via reading my mind and sending me thoughts from theirs. I thought people on TV and the radio were directly communicating with me, and was sure that I had a personal relationship with Anderson Cooper of CNN, who I had never met.

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My name is Andrea. I am learning to live a better life. I have been involved with my local NAMI office for about the past 8 months and it has been a wonderful experience for me. I just finished a NAMI  Peer-to-Peer class in May. I got a certificate of Achievement  that I completed the education course. That meant so much to me. I have good people in my life.  I am feeling much better than I was earlier this year. I have bp2 and I have my up and down days but I now am learning new coping skills to deal with my bp 2. I have had bp2 for many years. I have made friends from my Peer-to-Peer group and I am very thankful  for that. I have also been clean and sober for 12 years. I know I am a fighter and I have been through so much. I have to keep going and continue to fight and be there for other people as well.  I am leaning to accept that I am ok just the way I am.   

My name is Kay Lynn and I’ve had mental illness all my life. I was diagnosed with mental retardation, but since they’ve done all the researching and studies, it was changed to mental illness… Anxiety Disorder w/ panic attacks; Major Depression; and ADHD. I did have some PTSD and Personality Disorder, but those have been eliminated.

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I was twelve years old the first time I tried killing myself, this event was the start to a long, hard journey. Although I have a loving family and people that care for me, I still feel alone. When I was 16, I was rushed to the hospital. Being that I had prior intentions of suicide, they pump my stomach. When they found nothing and I was unable to talk, they sent me to a psychiatric hospital. Still unable to reply to any questions, they sent me back to the ER. I had a stroke on the left frontal lobe, the region of the brain where memory and emotions are found. Although the stroke was not an attempted suicide, it has had an impact on my mental and emotional health.

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While I was living in New York I was fortunate to get in touch with NAMI.

When I first went to their office I didn´t know what to expect. My life with a Bipolar Disorder type I was a bit chaotic, with frequent episodes and without tools to manage the illness; I was looking for help.

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And I knew I wasn’t right 

So I planned on going that Friday night 

And I knew I wasn’t okay

Making it the perfect place for me to stay 

See, for most, a mental hospital isn’t a choice 

It’s one of those things where you are left without a voice 

Brought there suddenly against your will

Then before you know it, you are given a bunch of random pills 

But for me, it was where I was supposed to be

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