When you have mental illness, you’re more than likely to encounter some form of discrimination, from social stigma and exclusion to a lack of legal protections. Thankfully, as the mental health community raises awareness and challenges stigma, the larger conversation is be...
It happens to me a lot when I talk about my depression. Someone will suggest that I “be grateful” for the wonderful life I have. By acknowledging the many positives in my life and by expressing gratitude, they reason, I won’t be “so depressed.” I fully acknowledge that I ...
I was on the phone with my mentor, telling him how great I was feeling — that I had made it to the “other side” of a depressive episode that had lasted years and cost me a six-week stay in a psychiatric hospital. When I stopped chattering, my mentor said, “Be careful. Yo...
I arrived at the psychiatric hospital in June of 2019. I had struggled for years with major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, and they both worsened after having my two kids. Leading up to the hospitalization, I had been abusing my anxiety medication (...
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.
You’ve done it! High school is over and it’s time for college. Everyone is just so proud… and you’re alternating between wildly optimistic and sure of certain failure. As a person with a diagnosed mood disorder, you just barely survived high school—and that’s no exagger...
NAMI recently spoke with Dr. Dilip Jeste, a keynote speaker at the 2013 NAMI National Convention and an expert on mental illness in older populations.
Trying to tell the difference between what expected behaviors are and what might be the signs of a mental health condition isn't always easy, but identifying a problem early can help lead to the best outcome.
Educate yourself as much as you possibly can, then bring this education to the table. Discuss with your family, friends and healthcare professionals. It could save your life.
Learn about mental illness. Early education and detection might save you from triggering a lifelong condition.
My parents were instrumental in helping me shed the deeply-internalized fear that my diagnosis would limit my future. They reminded me that if I took care of myself, my career would follow.
Education is to mental illness as training is for a job. Learning coping skills, information about medications, treatment options and new research is what prepares you to deal with the inevitable challenges of mental illness. Without education, recovery is a much slower, p...
I am a psychiatric nurse. I work with patients every day who are in the hospital with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, borderline personality disorder, among other conditions. I do my best to help them put the pieces back together, so they can go home to their f...
As a mental health advocate, I've listened to many brave souls share their stories about living with mental illness. I've also chatted with concerned parents who are seeking help for their recently diagnosed child. But what do you do if you have a mental illness, and you w...
An estimated 7 million adults in the U.S. live with bipolar disorder, a mental health condition that causes dramatic shifts in a person’s mood, energy and ability to think clearly. Its effects can be disabling; an estimated 83% of people with bipolar disorder had serio...
We are devastated by the news of the terrible tragedy of Caroline Costello’s death. Our hearts break for this young woman and her family. Our compassion and tears over her death also extend to Michael Laudor’s family who showed never-ending love and support for their son sin...
Mental Illness Awareness Week is Oct. 1-7, 2023.
It was April of 2017, and I found myself lying in a residential treatment facility where the only solace was a purple comforter. I couldn’t seem to get enough medication or Teddy Grahams to numb out the reality that I was currently facing. What I did not know at the time,...
While there will always be good days and bad days for me, the stigma against speaking out about mental illness is causing me more harm than the mental illness itself.