Vibrant, Fierce, and Fully Alive Kelly I guess I have always had a positive outlook on life. I have always had a recognition that when I want to accomplish something I will. Once I had the information that some of my communication and habits were unhealthy and were actually causing me my continued problems, and…
I’m Not My Illness By Kathleen If you overcame hopelessness that you could get better from a mental health or emotional problem, was there a turning point for you? My turning point was working with my current therapist who believes in me and held the belief I could and would do more than I thought…
To Make My Life Feel Worth Living By Kerry During your mental health care, have you often felt hopeless about your chance of getting better? Failing at being a “good patient” (on time for appointments, remembering appointments, remembering to keep up with changing med routines) supported all my ideas about being broken. Counseling was like…
I’m Finally Able to Become the Person I Thought I Wanted to Be in My Twenties Christa I am a Prozac guinea pig. I used Prozac to my and many others detriment, in 1995. I used it because I was homesick. By training, I am a psychiatrically disabled attorney. I started on Zoloft during a…
Too Much Help Doing Too Little Good and Too Much Harm Mary Hintz I think that the fact that I was quiet caused folks to fill in with their imaginations what they did not know about me. I grew up in a little town and didn’t know there was a family history of mental illness.…
More Than the Absence of Illness Has a mental health provider ever told you that you could not reach a personal goal because of your psychiatric diagnosis (for example, education, career, independent housing, relationship, children, etc.)? Most psychiatric professionals expressed such disdain and surprise at the goals I was achieving that I felt very diminished.…
Take Control of My Life Jen Banathy In what ways have you found psychiatric medication(s) harmful, if any? Horrible side effects; turned me into a “zombie;” numbed my feelings so that I could not learn to deal with my emotions and process life events; created other illnesses (migraine headaches, hypothyroidism, sensitive stomach); created a dependency on…
Out of the Mental Health Care System In what ways have you found psychiatric medication(s) harmful, if any? My personality was completely altered, I lost self-control, I was extremely emotionally vulnerable and suggestible, I was hyper-vigilant, easily panicked, I constantly felt death was near (no surprise, given that the medication was bad for my organs),…
Dust Off Your Dreams By VT During your mental health care, have you often felt hopeful about your chance of getting better? No. I was placated and pitied by clinicians. The tacit message was, “You’ll get worse, then you’ll die, probably by your own hand.” Hopeless treatment. I wondered why they continued to help me…
I Will Move Toward What I Want By Diana During your mental health care, have you often felt hopeless about your chance of getting better? Yes. At the beginning there were providers who said that I would always be mentally ill, have a diagnosis and would need to take medications for the rest of my…