Mental Illness and homelessness in Canada

I read an article this morning in support of the Canadian government's plan to prepare a comprehensive mental heath and addictions strategy.

Whether it's accurate to say that 2 in 3 Canadians do not get the mental health services they need isn't important. What matters is that the people in power are addressing the issue. May the powers-that-be in Canada work cohesively and prudently towards a solution.

Another addition to the Medicated Many

A friend of mine, proudly among the Medicated Many, shared this article with me today. It's about a woman not afraid to share with the world that she must take prescription medication to manager her mental illness: depression in her case.

Love it!

What I don't love is the sentiment that a person must be taking the easy way if they're on medication. Really? Do you think it's easy to take a drug that for a good 2-3 hours twice a day you are just groggy? Do you think it's easy to weigh the difference between extreme fatigue with lack of ability to function?

I'm on Seroquel to manage my Bipolar 2 disorder: simply stated, I don't get psychotic nor require hospitalization during periods of hypomania (which, by the way, are the times when my brain is firing so many thoughts at once I can accomplish very little.

I like how seroquel allows me to function. I really don't like how lethargic I feel for a couple of hours following my morning dose of 50mg. The 200 mg in the evening helps me sleep, something I didn't do well for years, because my brain was always on. The day I realized that I hadn't had a good night's sleep in at least a decade was a huge wake up call of acceptance that my brain chemistry has been off for a long time. And despite alternative methods to solve the problem (Reiki, Acupuncture, herbs, exercise) I needed meds.

So I'm on them. And I'm just as whole a human being as someone who doesn't have a mental illness.

Do people abuse their medications? Sure! Just like people abuse alcohol, power, and food. But let's not clump the whole of the population with mental illness into that category. t would be like saying everyone who drinks is a raging alcoholic.

And that's not anywhere near the truth.

The link between mental health care and people in prison

I've believed for a while that if our governments (federal, state, local) allowed for easier access to and more affordable services for health care, our prisons and ERs would be significantly less crowded and that we'd loose fewer people to suicide.

Here is an article that discusses the premise that reducing the behavioral services ultimately results in paying significantly more later.

In a nut shell,

studies consistently show that $1 spent on behavioral health care now will avoid $11 in spending down the road for emergency room care, jail, prison and other services.

Here's hoping the Ohio government cuts spending very wisely.

Today is National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day

I love seeing news about positive things going on in the Mental Heath world. It shows that more and more people want to see changes to mental health care that make receiving help more easily and readily affordable.

Here's the link for National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day.

When I was bullied...

I just read this article on how bullying can negatively affect a child's mental health. And after my initial "No, really?" reaction, I started to think about the 2 big bullies, no wait, 4, that terrorized me as a child.

Since we're all grown up now, I will not use the actual names. Who knows, maybe the boy who punched me in the nose the day we had a substitute bus driver because I wasn't cool enough to sit in the back of the bus instead of my assigned seat (I hated that we had assigned seats on the bus) runs a yoga studio. And maybe the boy who put boogers in my hair one bus ride home is a hospice nurse humbly helping people cross over to their next life. And maybe the really, really fat girl who used to call ME moose-burger at the top of her lungs (God, I can still hear her calling me that as I walked to a friend's house to play one Saturday) and who told me almost weekly from the time she moved into the house across the street with her family that she was going to "beat my ass" is a svelte physical trainer helping other obese women get healthy and strong (For the record, she's not. I do actually know a bit about where her life took her. I'm trying to be nice, here.) Or the skinny girl who tag-teamed a full-on brawl with the fat girl against me when I was in the 7th grade... pretty much because I finally stood up for myself, believing that after 5 years of empty threats to have my ass beaten by the fat girl she'd never follow through even if I called her on it is now a librarian. (I still remember the curse my big sister gave her after that unequal match-up. Priceless, and very effective, really).

But still, I was bullied. Even thinking about those creeps from my childhood brings up all sorts of angry emotions I didn't know I had. Those kids were cruel. And even sitting in the principal's offices after each occurrence (well, except for the booger thing) didn't ever make things better. More kids seemed to terrorize me. Ooo... after the big brawl when I was in the 7th grade, skinny girl's "posse" threatened me in the lunch room. "We're gonna beat your ass if you ever talk to the principal again about skinny girl or fat girl. You'll have to deal with us.

Yeah, like I wanted to deal with any of them. I wanted to be left alone.

Kids can really be cruel. And it's sad to think that kids are still bullying and being bullied. But hey, I guess even grown adults bully and get bullied.

At some point, we really do learn to think how sad, scared, unhappy that bully really is to have to bring someone else down in order to feel good about themselves. It certainly doesn't make what they do to us ok. But it allows me to feel a little more sympathy for them.

And that's what we teach our kids. That when kids to mean things to other kids, they're probably very hurt, sad, scared, and unhappy and the only way they can feel good is to make someone else feel bad. And how sad that must be for the person. And it's not okay to take sad and hurt feelings out on another person.

I'm not sure that perspective was ever given to me as a kid. I remember lots of "just ignore it" and "the better person walks away" and "don't let it bother you."

It did bother me. I learned to act like it didn't, but inside, I was crumbling. Because individually, they aren't a big deal. But when added up over the years, yeah, they took their toll on my mental health.

I haven't thought about all those events at one time in years. And I'm glad I did. Reminds me of what it felt like, and how mother-bear I'm gonna get on ANYONE who messes with my kids. I'm strong enough now to fight back. And smart enough to know how to deliver the "leave my kids alone" message loudly and clearly.

And

Bipolar Disorder comes in many varieties

According to all of my therapists, my bipolar condition is relatively minor. Knowing that bipolar disorder tends to worsen as one gets older is a little difficult to digest. But, living in the now and not fretting about what is to come makes more sense than living in fear of the future. I have great mental health professionals on my side, monitoring me and my mood. It's not a secret that I hate taking medication daily. But i do know it's the only thing that works for me (and trust me, I've tried many alternative methods for achieve and maintain optimal health and none of them balance out the chemical imbalance in my brain the way seroquel does.)

One of my cyber-friends also suffers from bipolar disorder. Her experience is very different from mine. But still, I'm sharing it because it's another example of someone who isn't afraid to be vocal about living with a mental illness.

She's writing a book about her life as a bipolar patient too.

Here's just a glimpse into her life: My Life as a Bipolar Mom

Great websites for Mental Illness Support

Why are sites like these not more widely publicized?

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
NAMI MD
NAMI - Howard County