by Cynthia in Michigan

I was 48 years old and in the Autumn of my life. No longer flying below the radar, I was struck as if by lightening. For many years our father told us we were Greek's with a type A disposition and it was easy to believe by our energy and enthusiasm. Unfortunately, we were hypersensitive and were agitated easily. Gatherings were often noisy but they were stormy too. My depression began about the time my father became ill. I had no knowledge of the darkness that was about to engulf me.

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by Renee in Pennsylvania

My search for the meaning of life began at the age of 14 when drugs and alcohol became a way of life for me to cope with the years of abuse and the nightmarish memories of my past. I became a high school drop-out and ran away from home, looking for love in all the wrong places. I had been consumed body, soul and spirit by overexposure to alcohol, drugs and sexual abuse by the time I was 17.

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by Cheryl in New Jersey

Hmm...Where to begin? Well, I was fourteen when the misery struck. Being a freshman in high school was rather easy for me. I was vice president of my class, participated in various groups such as SADD and student council, and also succeeded at a varsity level in tennis and softball. But then, like night and day almost, as if something inside of me snapped, I fell into an extremely deep depression. I didn't eat, I couldn't sleep, hygiene became a thing of the past. all I did for months was lay on my bedroom floor and stare at the wall.

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by Barbara in Pennsylvania

I was literally the last person anyone would have expected to develop a psychiatric disorder. I've never used recreational drugs or abused alcohol. I had a good childhood and adolescence. I attended a fine undergraduate college (Smith) and graduated cum laude. In fact, I shared everyone else's belief that I was immune to bipolar or anything like it. If you're among those who still think immunity to mental illness exists, wake up (Even men can get breast cancer, you know.)

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by Marsha in Kansas

When I started my downward spiral after hospitalization, I was asked to quit my trade school classes and take a break from the stress of it all. It was a nice way of saying we don't want you to come back. I couldn't handle the stress of marriage so I divorced my second husband. He got main custody of my daughter but I got half custody of her during her last year of school. She came to live with me full-time.

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by Rayelle in Minnesota

My mental illness has affected my life since I was around five years old. I grew up in a very violent and abusive home in Minnesota, as have a lot of my mentally ill friends. I have five siblings who grew up there with me and we all suffered the wrath of alcoholic parents who used us as punching bags. I was beaten regularly and even have memories of a sibling that was murdered in our kitchen, but no one ever talks about it or acknowledges it even happened. That caused a lot of anger and rage towards most of my direct family members, and I have cut most of them completely out of my life. That, I believe, was the healthiest thing I have ever done.

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by Hope in Arizona

I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder when I was 28 years old and was found ripping a Bible in a church. I had never expressed anger before, having grown up in a dysfunctional household. My parents abused drugs, and I was subject to activities that one might read about in newspapers but never admit to. I had experienced so many traumas in my life that I was good at blocking memories from my mind entirely.

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by Melanie in Virginia

I had always had problems with feeling down, melancholy even, but that first episode of major depression was different. Not only was it more intense, it was also preceded by six months of utter hyperactive activity and productivity. I would later learn that those six months were my first episode of hypomania.

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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.

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by Brandi in Ohio

I can't remember a time when I wasn't depressed. As a child I always felt like I wasn't normal and that something was wrong with me but didn't know what. My parents didn't believe in mental illness or psychiatrists/therapy, so the feelings I was having just kept getting worse. When I was 16 I tried to commit suicide.

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