Mental Health Support

Last edited Mon Dec 31, 2012, 02:49 PM - Edit history (1)

instead of letting the illness define you, you define what the illness means in your life.

mental illness is no different than other chronic conditions that are managed by medications, we are no different than someone who uses medications to manage a chronic illness. our illnesses just happen to be chemical imbalances and nothing that 'physically' manifests for others to see. let me talk to you about my experience with stigma a bit. i am pretty sure i lost my old job as a reporter due to, at least to some small degree, my stay in the psych hospital. i called my boss and told him straight up where i was and why i was there. i can't prove it, but i know internally that was a contributing factor. and you know what? losing that job was the best thing that could have happened for me because it was just contributing to my symptoms and further degrading my quality of life. i may be a lot broker now, i do not work the most glamorous job, but i am happier than i ever was in my old life. since i went back on my medication early this year, even my boss has noticed my attitude and performance at work has increased and i unabashedly tell him it's my meds. i am lucky to now live in a (personal) world where no one i interact with gives a tin shit that i am a bit 'crazy.' i don't pull my illness into the conversation out of context, but i am not shy about identifying who i am.

i am not bipolar, i am a person with bipolar disorder. i am not mentally ill, but a person with a mental illness. we are people, not illnesses.

and so you have some form of mental illness? never forget or be ashamed of that, but don't let it define who you are. my diagnosis has allowed me to become more comfortable with myself because it helped me understood why i felt the way i did. i felt for a long time like the real me was bound and gagged in a closet, held hostage by the yammering bullshit committee in the back of my brain. the medication has all but vanquished the committee and the real me was able to stumble back out in the light and grow and be nurtured in a way that she was not afforded before.

but i have many more identities than simply being a mentally ill person. i'm a friend, a wife, a sister, a daughter, a boss, an employee, a damn good cook, a supportive ear and sympathetic shoulder, a person. my illness may affect some of my relationships, but it does not define how i interact with anyone. i can't change my diagnosis, no more than i could if i were diabetic or asthmatic, but i don't have to let it define my life.