Encourage Mental Health

     I was getting ready to attend a peaceful march to support Black Lives Matter and honor the memories of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. Like so many times where I have wanted to participate in group activism, my mental health disorder left me anxiety-stricken and unable to calm myself enough to attend. I felt a deep guilt. I reached out to my disability community on The Mighty to brainstorm ways to support the cause, and I realized that if we can do nothing else, we can take time to study systemic racism through the perspective of historically marginalized people.        As a social work student, I have spent a lot of time (and money) studying social justice and human rights. I thank Fordham University for facilitating uncomfortable, but necessary, conversations about privilege and power. We cannot begin to unpack injustice without reflecting on our own privilege and perspectives. My privilege as a white, middle class, heteros...

Published on The Mighty; please check it out! https://themighty.com/2020/05/letter-to-parents-adults-with-mental-illness/

     For hundreds of years (not exaggerating, research the history of mental illness treatment, it's awful), people have held a negative and dangerous opinion on mental illness. These years of stereotyping and discrimination are heavily ingrained in society and have been reinforced in the media and entertainment. Recently, more and more has been discussed about stigma, the harmful judgments and perceptions about mental illness. People are sharing their personal experiences and the public is beginning to believe that mental illness does not equate to violent, unmotivated, or unstable. This change in the conversation about psychiatric issues gives me hope.      However, self-stigma is rarely discussed but can be just as destructive. Self-stigma refers to how people with mental illness negatively judge themselves. As much as I advocate about ending stigma, I have stigmatized myself at different points during my battle with mental illness. When things are tough...

     I sat down at my laptop for my regular medication appointment. I knew this appointment was going to be different, and not just because this was my first time having a doctor’s appointment over Zoom. Today, I had to talk.       My medication appointments normally played out as:           “How’s it been going since we last spoke?”           “Great! Work, grad school, new house, pictures of dogs, etc…”           “That’s awesome! How are your anxiety and OCD symptoms? Any changes? Any challenges?”           “Nope! Feeling great. Gotta get back to work though.” I’d been on the same medication and dosage for over 3 years and had “graduated” to only seeing my Nurse Practitioner once every three months. After prior years of misdiagnoses and exhausting medication changes, I was proud of my stability and use of coping skills.   ...