Hey all, Ive had a 10 year long struggle with depression and a life-long struggle with anxiety, and have recently come to terms with my diagnosis as bipolar 2. I have in the last 12 months reached a very content, stable and well place despite a few hiccups.I have joined the BlueVoices, and have recently dedicated myself to coming to these forums to offer others advice on services and support available. So I like to offer support and hope as a person who has recovered to lead a normal, happy life.
Some ideas I like to remember and offer:
1. Therapy is key. There are many different types of therapy, so find the therapy that's right for you. ACT therapy changed my life and my entire outlook on not only my life but my "illness" (quotation marks).
2. I reject the term "mental illness". I prefer the term "mentally interesting" or "different". Yes our "issues" can causes us immense suffering and grief. But through challenging and overcoming the bad parts, we can embrace the good parts. My battle has given me strength, courage, determination, and great tenacity. That's cool!
3. Some of the greatest artists, inventors, musicians and comedians in the world were thought to have (or did have) mental illness. Mozart (depression), Beethoven (bipolar), Buzz Aldrin (depression/ alcoholism), Jim Carrey (depression), Charles Dickens (depression) were just some.
4. I believe those of us with depression and bipolar etc can achieve great feats of inspiration, creativity, inventiveness and musical talent when we learn to divert our energies into healthy hobbies.
5. I believe that the current social stigma that mental "illness" means theres something "wrong" with us and needs to be "fixed" is incorrect. I believe we need help to manage the extremes of our moods, and prevent depressive relapses. But everyone needs help sometimes. We are different, not damaged. As I said, we have an amazing ability to develop great personal insight, phenomenal inner strength, and highly developed creative skills/ talents.
I believe in learning to cope with the bad stuff our issues throw at us, so we can get to a stable and well place and divert all that energy into talents, hobbies and careers so we are truly amazing, interesting, gifted people.
So I offer this as hope for others. Don't become your diagnosis- its only a medical term, a little diagnosis box. You're a person, and there's so much more to you that can never fit into a little medical diagnosis box. Embrace you!!
