http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm This is the Real Lives Blog from Mental Health America en-us Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:54:46 -0500 Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:46:00 -0500 BlogCFC http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss webmaster@mentalhealthameica.net webmaster@mentalhealthameica.net webmaster@mentalhealthameica.net http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm no http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/9/4/A-thinker-philosopher-and-reader by Elvia in Texas In 1996, at the age of 22, I was hospitalized for the first time after severe sleep deprivation during my senior year in college. I was diagnosed bipolar but it was unclear whether that was accurate and if so, what did that mean for me in my life. [More] Recovery Hospitalization Bipolar Disorder Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:46:00 -0500 http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/9/4/A-thinker-philosopher-and-reader http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/9/4/Recovery-brings-confidence-joy-and-peace by Cheryl in Virginia As a Child, I was sexually abused and had an alcoholic parent. I was an anxious child and as I grew up I had many depressed and manic episodes throughout my life. [More] Abuse Recovery Hospitalization Bipolar Disorder Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:39:00 -0500 http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/9/4/Recovery-brings-confidence-joy-and-peace http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/9/4/Learning-to-trust-others-and-forgive-himself by Forgotten Dad in Washington First and foremost, I am a survivor. How has this disease affected my life? I have had difficult times with relationships. I keep everyone at a distance. Even those who I know I can trust. Trust is a big issue. I can count the number of people I trust on one hand. And even with those people there are doubts of trust. [More] Self-Injury Depression Hospitalization Anxiety Suicidal Ideation Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:54:00 -0500 http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/9/4/Learning-to-trust-others-and-forgive-himself http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/9/4/A-father-struggles-with-hard-times-and-unemployment by Tony in California My name is Anthony, and I was injured while serving in the Gulf of Oman. I served with VFA-97, on board the USS Kitty Hawk CV-63. The reason for this message is very complex, but I will try to summarize. You see, I was discharged from the Navy back in 1995 with a very small severance pay of $5000. Before deployment I met a young lady close to my base. We fell madly in love and couldn't get enough of each other. That was back in 1993. We got married and started our family. [More] Hospitalization Substance Abuse Uninsured Depression PTSD Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Panic Disorder Unemployment Suicidal Ideation Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:29:00 -0500 http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/9/4/A-father-struggles-with-hard-times-and-unemployment http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/4/24/Learning-how-to-face-her-eating-disorder-wiht-courage by Lauren in Colorado July 7, 2007 was the best and the worst day of my entire life. After spending a week and a half in a medically-induced coma, I awoke to learn that I had walked away from everything and everyone I had ever loved or cared for. With absolutely no memory of the nearly fatal suicide attempt that took me through complete kidney and liver failure, I came to learn that the lies of my eating disorder had convinced me I was not worth the air I needed to breathe. [More] Recovery Hospitalization Eating Disorder Suicidal Ideation Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:31:00 -0500 http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/4/24/Learning-how-to-face-her-eating-disorder-wiht-courage http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/4/24/Dont-do-it-alone--use-the-resources-you-have-around-you by Stephanie in Maine I suffer from a variety of things. The first is being brought up in a household totally unaware of 'Mental Illness' and being 'disciplined' as my father was disciplined. My grandmother on my dad's side was the first person I believed to have a problem. My father has always had a very 'hard' way of living and was always the very first to tell us, 'stop crying' if we were being punished. [More] Abuse PTSD Depression Hospitalization Family History Post partum depression Suicidal Ideation Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:18:00 -0500 http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/4/24/Dont-do-it-alone--use-the-resources-you-have-around-you http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/4/24/Tired-of-the-mental-illness-label-detracting-from-the-person by Susie in Wyoming I was born and raised in Southern Illinois, right outside of St. Louis. I really can't tell you when I first noticed my depression/Bi-polar illness. But from high school, which was 1972 and on, I have abused alcohol and drugs and overdosed several times which required hospitalization. [More] Alcoholism Hospitalization Divorce Bipolar Disorder Substance Abuse Suicidal Ideation Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:10:00 -0500 http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/4/24/Tired-of-the-mental-illness-label-detracting-from-the-person http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/4/24/A-second-chance by April in Georgia My Bipolar disorder has been the dictator and ruler of my entire life up until about three years ago. As a child, it destroyed my self-esteem, isolated me, confused me and eventually, consumed me. As a teenager, the black cloud seemed to get thicker; however, the common misconception was she's a teenager. [More] Recovery Hospitalization Divorce Bipolar Disorder Substance Abuse Suicidal Ideation Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:36:00 -0500 http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/4/24/A-second-chance http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/4/24/Overcoming-depression-and-accepting-things-one-can-not-change by Karen in Wisconsin I am 30 years old, married, with one son. We are a happy family, but I still struggle from time to time with mental illness. It's something that runs in my family - my grandmother was one of the most severe cases, and had multiple suicide attempts; my grandfather committed suicide when he was 82. [More] PTSD Depression Hospitalization Recovery Family History Eating Disorder Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:20:00 -0500 http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/4/24/Overcoming-depression-and-accepting-things-one-can-not-change http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/4/10/With-therapy-I-have-learned-to-cope-better by Cathrine in Michigan My name is Cathrine. My birth was traumatic and a root cause of my mental and physical conditions. I suffer from BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder), Depression, ADD, Anxiety and panic disorders. Some of my mental problems I have suffered from all my life and some have gotten worse and developed due to my hypothyroidism and my environment. [More] Depression Hospitalization Unemployment Uninsured Borderline Personality Disorder ADHD Anxiety Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:18:00 -0500 http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/4/10/With-therapy-I-have-learned-to-cope-better http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/4/10/Writing--the-best-therapy-and-its-free by Deborah in California From childhood, I vividly remember sitting on top of my shoes inside of the closet, as I hid away and cried. I would cry for hours, if no one caught me and yelled at me to stop. Sadness was my existence; I did not have the words to articulate my experience. Almost every day, I went through an inexplicable pain; not only did I suffer with depression, but also I was being sexually abused, and I did not have the words to voice my experience. Living in a small, rural town during the 70's meant that family secrets prevailed. A book about molestation did not exist in the town library. [More] Hospitalization Trauma Borderline Personality Disorder Recovery Abuse PTSD Self-Injury Depression Anxiety Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:45:00 -0500 http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/4/10/Writing--the-best-therapy-and-its-free http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/4/10/I-am-a-beautiful-talented-successful-woman-and-I-needed-help by Morgan in Illinois As far back as I can remember, mental illness has affected my life. My diagnosis, like many, is one of many disorders. I can remember the fights my parents had because my father, who suffered from bi-polar disorder, refused to seek help but self-medicated with drugs, alcohol, and countless women. My mother overcompensated by keeping an immaculate home and starving herself to meet the unattainable expectations of my father...always with a smile on her face. Even at 4-years old, I felt like there was something I should be doing differently, that it was my job to fix everything, and mostly, that it was all my fault in the first place. [More] Recovery Depression Hospitalization Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Family History Eating Disorder Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:01:00 -0500 http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/4/10/I-am-a-beautiful-talented-successful-woman-and-I-needed-help http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/1/10/God-spared-my-life-for-a-reason 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. [More] Hospitalization Substance Abuse Recovery Uninsured Depression Alcoholism Bipolar Disorder Self-Injury Homeless Unemployment Suicidal Ideation Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:17:00 -0500 http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/1/10/God-spared-my-life-for-a-reason http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/1/10/Its-a-battle-we-have-to-fight-EVERDAY by Jamie in Tennessee I'm not sure when it all started, but I think I've always dealt with depression. I just didn't always understand it. The first memory I have of it was when I was six and my grandfather died. I remember trying to hide my feelings because I thought I felt different than everyone else. I wouldn't even cry. Everyone thought I was too young for it to bother me, so I didn't let them know it did. I was always socially withdrawn because we moved around a lot, so I didn't have any friends except my sisters and brother. When I was seven, my oldest sister (who is 10 years older than me) started to molest me. [More] Hospitalization Substance Abuse Anxiety Family History Uninsured Abuse Alcoholism Depression Self-Injury Unemployment Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:08:00 -0500 http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/1/10/Its-a-battle-we-have-to-fight-EVERDAY http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/1/10/Dedicated-to-making-the-world-a-better-place-for-people-with-mental-illnesses by Jennifer in Florida At the age of 12, I began to have trouble with depression. This became a chronic problem for me, which eventually resulted in a suicide attempt at age 15. At the same time, I was developing anorexia nervosa, which I struggled with for many years. I was hospitalized for my eating disorder at age 17. I had also developed an addiction to self-injury as a teenager, something that I was able to completely stop doing when I was in my twenties. [More] Hospitalization Substance Abuse Suicidal Ideation Eating Disorder Uninsured Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Homeless Unemployment Schizoaffective Disorder Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:53:00 -0500 http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reallives/index.cfm/2009/1/10/Dedicated-to-making-the-world-a-better-place-for-people-with-mental-illnesses