in-crisis support: 800.273.TALK (8255) • mental health information and resources: 877.726.4727
Working to end the stigma and discrimination of mental illness.
I refuse to allow my daughter to go through life suffering like I did for twenty-three years. My parents kept me from being medicated because of the stigma attached to being mentally ill. I will not allow my child to suffer any more than she has to. There is help out there for everyone!
I didn't deal with the death of a loved one well, at 12 I started bruising myself and writing diary entries that were suicide letters I never planned on using. At 15 I started cutting myself.
Living with bipolar disorder has affected every single aspect of my life; from what time I go to bed to when I am going to have children. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have the support of my family and friends.
I want to help stop the stigma of mental illness, because I believe that it is my mission to spread the word to everyone that mental illnesses should not be seen as taboo, they are real, and people need to listen. WE are the voice. As I once heard in a very inspirational speech, together, we can all “turn our disabilities, into possibilities”.
Words cannot describe the highs and lows I have felt in my life. And yet, I do not feel like a victim. I am not a disease. I know that I will have to manage my bipolar disorder for the rest of my life.
Sometimes those closest to you are the ones that are the least accepting of the news. My family doesn't want to talk about the mental illness.
My motto is, "just because I have a mental illness does not make me bananas." I'm a person, not a diagnosis.
I'm 24 years old and have suffered from depression since middle school. When I was 20 I knew I wasn't coping with my problem well so I hospitalized myself to get the treatment I needed.
I am a mother of a son that is dealing with Early Onset Schizophrenia.....No child should ever have to suffer with this. It is not fair nor is it a wish I would want for anyone.
My husband and I suddenly lost a bi-polar friend to suicide a few years back. At the time, neither of us knew he had been diagnosed bi-polar or that he had gone off his meds. Unexpectedly...he was gone.