Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by severe, unstable mood swings, impulsivity and instability, poor self-image and stormy relationships.
I have learned that I am not personally responsible for my disorder, but that I am responsible for how I react to it. Today, I choose acceptance.
I have been diagnosed for 10 years. It hasn’t been an easy trip. You see, I have both schizophrenia and bipolar.
The stigma behind mental illness runs deep and it destroys lives. I’ve decided to share my story in hopes that it will provide inspiration to others.
Each week, NAMI receives books from all over the world on various mental health topics. Every person that sends us a book has the hope that their story or their professional experience can be helpful or meaningful to our community. We believe that everyone’s story can have a...
A mental illness is a condition that affects a person's thinking, feeling or mood. Such conditions may affect someone's ability to relate to others and function each day. Each person will have different experiences, even people with the same diagnosis.
Continuing the national dialogue beginning with the historic White House Conference on Mental Health, more than 2,500 national newsmakers, policymakers, best-selling authors, consumer and family activists, and leading medical experts in neuroscience, psychiatry, and research ...
In this year alone, I’ve had a suicide attempt, a drug overdose accompanied with a felony possession charge, a reckless driving conviction, a DUI conviction, I lost my job, and a host of other difficult situations.
When I was eleven years old, I walked through a plate glass window. There was a lot of blood, and I was rushed to the nearest hospital, panic-stricken, with a wound on my leg and another on my face. My mother was concerned that the rather superficial wound on my face would...
Josh Santana is a musician and music instructor in the Boston area. He spoke to NAMI Chief Medical Officer Ken Duckworth about his experiences growing up as an exceptionally bright student but also a kid who dealt with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),...
NAMI Ask the Expert welcomes Dr. Christine Crawford, Associate Medical Director at NAMI, who will provide an overview of the various stressors that people can experience over the winter months.
NAMI is pleased to announce the first day plenary speaker for NAMICon 2022, actor, author and mental health advocate Mayim Bialik.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has released A Family Guide to Mental Health: What You Need to Know, oriented especially to African-American families affected by medical illnesses such as major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
I’ve had three psychiatrists over the last 12 years. A social worker referred me to the first while I was hospitalized. My spouse selected the second using a “top doctor” guide. These two psychiatrists had excellent credentials. I stayed with each for five years, but my con...
I started attending NAMI meetings as part of an outpatient program, which was proceeded by my first ever manic episode and my diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
“Kelly, come to the office please.” My heart raced as the classroom intercom cut out. Up until then, I’d been half-listening to a lecture in my fifth-grade social studies class, but now I was wide awake. Did I do something wrong? Am I in trouble? Countless possibilitie...
Movies and TV shows that have mental health as a theme can inspire conversations, change the way you think or just entertain you for a few hours. Here are some suggestions for your movie night.
My husband’s bipolar disorder causes him uneven highs, where he has so many new ideas and goals that he can’t even keep track of them all. But he also faces extreme lows, that can be gut-wrenching as if he’s been hit by a wrecking ball. He can’t go to work; he can barely c...
Venlafaxine is an antidepressant medication that works in the brain. It is approved for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, and social anxiety disorder (social phobia).