by Tamoa in Virgnia

I am just turning 35 years old and have lived with mental illness all my life. I remember asking my mother when I was little, "was I retarded like my uncle'" who is now 60 and has the mentality of a ten-year-old. I was crying all the time and could not sleep at night because I was afraid of things coming out from the bed or closets that I was actually seeing. My parents didn't think anything of it at the time. As I got older it became progressively worse.

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by Yolanda in Florida

At the age of 21, my doctor delivered devastating news and diagnosed me as suffering from bi-polar disorder. In my early teens, I experienced episodes of pure misery, which could quickly turn into extreme jubilation. In those early years though, I only understood the depression side of the disorder. After all, how could extreme exuberance be connected with an illness?

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by Kathy in North Carolina

Several years ago, I experienced chronic depression in which I could no longer function at work and at home. The painful symptoms of depression were so extreme that I tried to take my own life. Months before this happened, I sought out professional help, but without insurance I ended up in a mental health system being treated with no understanding and no empathy from the counselor who assisted me. I walked out of the counselor's office even more depressed.

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by Lea in Arkansas

I was the next to the youngest out of five kids. I did graduate from school, but I struggled. I really didn't have time to make friends in school because I tried so hard just to pass. When school was out, I went home and slept!

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by Angela in Alaska

My depression started while I was young. I was a child born from an alcoholic, so I had missing endorphins (I found this out after doing research on depression. When I was 13 years old, I was medicated for severe depression after my father, who had abandoned my family when I was four, died.

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by Harry in Indiana

Hello everyone! I am Harry. I am 24. I have an awful headache. I have been suffering from mental illness since 10 and didn't seek treatment until 15. It began in the fall of 1993. I had a weekend that I describe as being sad. The world turned flat. I became obsessed with beings coming for me in the night.

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by JoAnn in Illinois

I am one of the few people with a mental illness that did the unthinkable. I became clinically insane and committed a crime. I was found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity for hurting someone; my own child. My childhood was, unfortunately, a common one. I had a violent, abusive, alcoholic father. I came from a large family where I was the oldest. There is a long family history of depression, alcoholism, and anxiety disorders on both sides of my family. So genetics gave me a major depressive disorder with psychotic features, and I suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

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by Joan in Wisconsin

Early in my childhood, I was sexually abused and threatened to stay quiet. I have often wondered if those events had not occurred would I have had a normal life, even though mental illness is prevalent in my maternal gene pool. As my young life progressed, secrets came out and people were hurt.

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by Bob in California

I started dealing with mental illness as a child. Now I know that my mom was diagnosed with manic depression in the early 1970s. My brother and I became a release for her maniacal rages. Beatings, screaming, hunger, and neglect are the best way to describe my childhood.

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by Elizabeth in Florida

My mental illness has affected me in so many ways. My relationship is what is hurting the most. I have a fiancé and two kids - a 2 two-year old and an infant of 4 months. I love my fiancé so much, but I'm afraid that if I don't do something about this that he will give up on me and leave.

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