What's Inside:
FDA Orders "Black Box" Warning on Antidepressants Prescribed for Children and Teens

President’s 2003 Report Languishes a Year Later

First Person: Acting in Our Own Best Interest

Back to School Kit Give Parents Practical Ways to Reach Kids

Campus Mental Health Problems On the Rise

Lessons Learned: MHA Takes Mental Health Back to School

From the MHA Field

June Meeting Drew Experts, Advocates to the “Fight for Justice”

NMHA Tools You Can Use

Research in Brief

Many times I would answer my doctor honestly when asked if I were taking my meds as prescribed. The answer (three out of five times) was, “Yes, I am taking my medication as prescribed.” I was hurt very deeply at my doctor’s look of disbelief each time I said this. But when I started keeping my medicine in a daily/weekly pill box, I noticed at the end of what I thought to be a perfect month of taking my meds, there were pills left peppered underneath the transparent caps.

I would not stubbornly refuse to take the meds if I truly believed they were helping. Here’s the problem: The very reason some people don’t take their medicine is the same reason they are given the medicine. We have degraded to a state where we are unable to determine on a consistent basis that which is in our best interest. It is at this time that the doctor prescribes such strong and life-changing drugs as antipsychotics, serotonin re-uptake inhibitors and dopamine enhancers. It would be sad indeed if a doctor prescribed these drugs, which drastically alter our brain chemistry, if they were not necessary. And if they are necessary, then we may need help following our medication regimen to avoid a long stay in the hospital.

We may need a friend (make that a few friends) to engage us on a somewhat daily basis, ensuring that during the times when there is confusion, paranoia and uncertainty, there is a hand, which consistently points North, and a shoulder on which a tortured soul can lean.

I sense that many believe that people who have mental illnesses are a lost community. That it would not be economically sound-or even possible-to further educate and train them in a meaningful way, even about how to maintain a consistent medication schedule. After all, “Who has the time?" uninvolved or misinformed individuals may say. “Learning would be slow, they obviously don’t understand, you can’t teach a person that doesn’t want to learn, and who wouldn’t prefer handouts and government assistance checks to working and owning a life?" Well, just about everyone I know.

I would much prefer to take part in my own recovery, to do things for myself, in my own time, than be lead around on a short leash. I, much like other consumers and not unlike the rest of the world, want to be free. Free of illness and free to make decisions about our lives. To do this, I work with my doctor to make sure I get the proper medication, and, importantly, in the correct dosage. I encourage everyone to call their doctor whenever there is a problem and leave a message about how you feel or your guess at what might be wrong. And when you need to talk, call up or e-mail a trusted friend, and share heartache just as you would share joy. There are just too many people on the planet for us to think that we might be alone.

I have peered through the doorway of sanity. I have crossed over the threshold as if it were a bridge taking me from a place where I wasn’t doing well on the meds to one where I was doing much better. I harbor a desperate desire to set fire to that bridge, for I know that without help, I must turn back. So I have relied on friends, members of my support group, their shoulders wet with tears. But my hand never wavered from theirs; on their shoulders I rested my fears. I am proud to say what I’ve always known: Try as I might, I can’t make it alone.