My illness has disrupted my life and the lives of those around me

by Jacki in New Jersey

I have had mental illness starting at age 14. My illness has disrupted my life and the lives of those around me. At any given time, I have been very disruptive to myself. At the young at of 15, I was not the child you wanted to be sitting in your child's math class.

One day, I did not want to take history so I walked in, threw a desk across the room and they excused me. I spent most of the time self-medicating because I knew something was wrong. My mother dropped me out of high school, I did get a GED with no classes, just barely passing. I ran away from home from 14 on. I ran away to Florida and Texas, and spent time in Trenton Psychiatric as a kid as well as an adult.

I got married at 21 had four children by the time I was 24. My marriage was an unhealthy one, but I stayed in until I was 39 years old. I ran from that also. I still lose track of time. I had ECT at carrier which put me on a working track.