Mental Health Advocacy

This sank like a stone in GD. Maybe I'll get more run time here.

I have a mental illness called schizo-affective disorder. It's not a widely known illness, but it is estimated that about .5% of the population is afflicted with it. That works out to about 1.5 million people in our country. The symptoms of the illness are basically the mood swings associated with bipolar disorder with some schizophrenic symptoms. For the bipolar part of my illness I take lithium and that requires periodic blood work to ensure that I have the proper levels of the drug in my body. They also check for other possible problems while I'm in there including my blood glucose level and that requires some fasting. Today I had to go get the blood work done and afterward I stopped by this little mom and pop's diner in my home town for a feast. I got an omelet with hash browns, a plate sized pancake, and a bowl of oatmeal.

As I was sitting there stuffing my face a guy came in and sat at the table next to mine. We are both regulars so we have seen each other before, but have never talked. He asked me who I thought was going to win tonight and I said Obama. He looked at me strange and then I remembered- the college football championship. We're in Ohio. :D I've got them primaries on the brain. He took a look at the spread on my table and commented on it. I told him about the blood work and the fasting and he said he thought he'd be doing the same thing as me after that. Then he asked if it was anything serious and I told him no, it was just some routine stuff. He paused for a minute and I think he was expecting me to tell him what the blood work was for. So after a minute or two he asked me.

I paused for a few seconds wondering what I should tell him. None of his business? Lie? Tell the truth? I'm a pretty adventurous person so I told the guy about my illness. He hadn't heard of it, but he had heard of bipolar disorder. I told him about the medication and the symptoms. He was genuinely interested and we had a good little chat. When I tell people about my illness in person they sometimes react with fear when they realize that they are sitting next to a genuine crazy person. It was refreshing for someone to react with honest curiosity. The last time I was in the hospital was 4.5 years ago. I've been well throughout that time due to good doctors and medication compliance and I don't have any reason to believe that I'll ever experience another symptom in my lifetime. Many people don't seem to understand that mental illness is treatable and that it is possible for that treatment to turn even the sickest into stable, productive, peace-loving citizens such as myself.

Now I'm going to talk about Britney Spears. I hope you're still with me and aren't ditching now because I think I have a different perspective on this than what you are getting in the main stream media. The portion of this post that follows is a cross post from the mental health forum. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Regarding Britney Spears.

I don't know what's wrong with her, but I'm hoping she gets the help she needs. I can see a couple of positive things coming out of her successful treatment besides her well being. The potential for some really great music is there as well as the mental health community gaining a high profile advocate if she chooses to go public with whatever diagnosis she gets.

Things are not looking so great right now, though. She only stayed on the psych ward for the mandatory 3 days. I think it takes longer than that to get someone stabilized. It seems to me that if she were serious about getting treatment, and with the resources that she has, that she would have stayed there longer. I was in the hospital for 7 days last time and while my recovery was dramatic in that period of time I still was not 100% when I left the hospital. I only left after 7 days because my insurance would not cover me for more time.

There is also the trauma of experiencing mental illness for an extended period of time, and she has obviously been unwell for quite some time. I still have problems with flashbacks and self loathing due to all of the crazy shit I did when I was experiencing my symptoms. It's getting better with me putting more distance between my insane period and now, but it's been 4.5 years. It may be something that I never get totally worked out, but I hope not. I think Britney is going to have a real tough time with that one, too, probably more so than me due to the publicity of her melt down.

Anyway, I wish Britney all the best and hope for her speedy recovery. Maybe the hospital was just too uncomfortable due to her notoriety and she is getting the help she needs privately. I certainly hope that is the case.

I have several.....but I realized awhile ago that the only way to beat the stigma against mental illness is to not be ashamed, as the mentally ill have done nothing to deserve or bring on their conditions.....I am still in the process of being stabalized.....I think its great you have come so far....

I feel noting but compassion for Britney and hopes she gets the help she needs, sooner than later, as these illnesses only get worse the longer they are untreated and, me being a perfect example, stabiliation can take years.....

and I certainly respect those who do not want to reveal that aspect of themselves especially to strangers.

Thank you. It's true I've come a long way, but I still have some more work to do. Mostly with the psychologist regarding the past crazy stuff and self loathing for that reason. I'm not like that all the time. It's just that at times I feel powerless over those emotions even though their cause may be ten years old.

Between my bouts of depression, my Uncles bi-polar and whatever issue my sister has, its an everyday thing for me. Thus I talk about it like its no big deal. That seems to help, but still so many people don't understand.
As for Brittany Spears, I am distressed by what happened to her, its bringing back some bad memories, and I think like in my family she has a long hard struggle ahead of her.
What really irritates me are the people who are piling on, saying she was trying to get attention and wanted to have her kids taken away..No. Sorry, to me she is acting like my sister, extremely selfish, self-centered and behaving in a self destructive way without realizing just how badly she is behaving. (ALthough the celebrity thing probably doesn't help)

People don't seem to understand that they probably run across mentally ill people all the time. They are out there trying to do what everyone is trying to do while dealing with thoughts and emotions that are foreign to most people.

For example, I am completely honest about most of my illness with my co-workers. I've been at the same job for a few years, and they know me. Same goes with my best friends and closest family members.

I too feel for Britney. She's really in rough shape. At first I chalked it down to youthful indiscretion and bad decisions, but the more I see of her whole situation the more obvious it is that she's got something going on besides a case of being irresponsible.

And you're right: three days is definitely not enough time to stabilize most people. Of my three hospitalizations, the shortest was seven days, and I was barely functional when I got out. It still took a couple of months to approach anything resembling "normal". Even after my other two stays (of 10 and 11 days each), I was still only at 50% when I was released.

I'm sorry to hear this sank in GD, but maybe it's better that it's here in the lounge. GD is a bit of a piranha pool these days.

Nice post. :D

I hope you are doing well now days.

Congrats on your treatment success. After years of trying to be "normal" and hiding just about everything about myself (and being miserable as a result). I decided to stop worrying about it. No one has had occasion to ask about my mental health (mild depression & anxiety), but I'm not shy about telling people I'm gay, and I feel great.

Regarding Britney... It would be a lot easier for her to stay in treatment if the MSM freaks didn't treat every crisis as if it were news. Her family seems pretty opportunistic, too. II hope she can get well in a private hospital away from everyone.

Here's to liberation! :toast:

and so honest and kind and a refreshing perspective on mental health issues and how they affect people.

You should write a blog, seriously. You have great writing skills, and I actually think it would benefit a lot of people, or folks could just enjoy your writing.

:thumbsup:

I owe my writing skills to the good people here at DU. I looked over my first little story I wrote for you all here and the grammar was terrible in it. I know I'm still not perfect, but I was still embarrassed by it looking over it 2 years later. I went through it and made corrections. :)

I guess I've had lots of practice. I'm going to do something with my writing one day, but I'm not sure what that is yet.

Not to make light. But I tend to like hanging out with crazy folk. They are more sane the the sane ones.

I hate the stigma.

I have depression

I feel the entire world population has some form of mental illness. I swear.

I hope I make sense

:cheers:

CB

The healthiest people are the ones who seek help. I believe this.

:kick: