PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSIS, INPUT NOT ALLOWED In 2015 I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD). My psychiatrist told me I had only about three features, “not the whole thing.” And yet, my file—for all medical personnel to see—showed that my diagnosis was borderline, the whole thing. In their book Beyond Borderline: True Stories of Recovery […]
Read More...MENTAL ILLNESS AND BEING HEARD I’ve been reading about William Wilberforce and how he worked to ban the Atlantic Slave Trade. It took years before the British Parliament would listen and abolish the trade. Wouldn’t we all like to have a voice like Wilberforce’s to speak for us when no one wants to listen? Some […]
Read More...VOICES OF MENTAL ILLNESS Have you ever noticed how some organizations created to be there for the welfare of people with mental health issues, talk more about us than listen to us? It’s the same when groups of people gather to talk about how they can support us. They talk about us. We ourselves are […]
Read More...When We Lose the One we Depend On As a person with a diagnosis of mental illness, dependent on others for your everyday needs, have you ever wondered what would happen if your husband, wife, or other caregiver were to die? Will your rights be protected? I fear for mine. Were your husband or wife […]
Read More...But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh…?” (Exodus 3:11) … “…I am slow of speech and tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; […]
Read More...First published in March 2014 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:30-31 Isn’t it great […]
Read More...A few months ago I published a little booklet called We Are Real People. One of the points it makes is that we are not always given the opportunity to speak for ourselves. Others speak for us, expressing our needs, speaking about us. But do they really know us or understand us? We need to develop […]
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