I DEVELOPED PHYSICAL DISABILITIES In many—if not most—cases, people with mental illness need medication to help them cope with life. That has certainly been the case for me. In 1965 I was diagnosed with schizophrenia because of my struggles with psychosis. That diagnosis stayed with me for twenty years until it was changed to bipolar […]
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...He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Isaiah 53:3 Good Friday is a time when we remember how Christ suffered and died for us. I hope this […]
Read More...A PLEA TO THE CHURCH Where do you go when you have an illness that medical professionals and counselors don’t want to deal with – treated like an untouchable in a modern world? Have you ever thought what that would feel like? It’s happening all the time to people with BPD. In their book Beyond […]
Read More...We who live with mental health issues are also looked down on, shunned, disrespected, excluded, not considered to have credibility. Is this situation so different from the treatment given to those who Gandhi and Mandela fought for? Isn’t it time we got angry about the unjust attitudes towards people with mental illness? Who can help […]
Read More...The years 2016 and 2017 were some of my most difficult times ever. But, as some have said, it’s often in the suffering that we come closest to Jesus. It’s a mysterious phenomenon. I came close to Jesus by putting myself in the shoes of biblical characters and spending time with him as they […]
Read More...When we begin to struggle with mental health challenges, we’re given meds and we’re given a label (a diagnosis). And from that time forward, it’s hard not to live without a different persona—one that is looked down on. One that even we ourselves look down on. We may lose our confidence. Many in this unfair […]
Read More...There is an insidious form of stigma that’s common in the lives of people with mental illness. It’s caused by mistreatment that’s real but not obvious, and so, when complaints are made, they’re not believed. The victims’ ability tell the truth about a situation, is all too often questioned. That’s unfair and a great injustice. […]
Read More...He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Isaiah 53:3 Why does it hurt so much to be ill thought of because your mind doesn’t work the same […]
Read More...From an anonymous person: “People who have not experienced it simply do not understand the emotional and even physical toll mental health issues cause. Suicidal thoughts and ideations became the norm for me. It is not that I ever truly wanted to die, I was just tired of living. I was tired of the pain […]
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