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Kurlee · 01-04-2006, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldencurly

I have suffered from anxiety on and off for years. The last year of my marriage, I went to a psychiatrist at least once a week. My exhusband is bipolar and refused treatment and drove me batty to the point I needed help. Therapy was wonderful. It taught me to see things from an objective point of view. I learned to look my exhusband in the face and tell him he was mentally ill AND that was no reason or excuse for verbally and mentally abusing me.

The thing about mental illness is we have to deal with the stigma. One poster said that depression isn't mental illness. Everyone deals with sadness, but that is not depression. Depression is an overwhelming sense of hopelessness that affects your quality of life over a period of time, normally more than a couple of weeks. Anything shorter than that is viewed as "a rough time" and not technically mental illness. But actual depression is. And that's ok. We need to stop thinking of mental illness as a weakness of character. That's not what it is. It's an illness just like my asthma. It has to be treated and controlled for my quality of life to be what it should be.

I have taken prescription meds for my anxiety. I took Zoloft every day for 1 1/2 years when I was married and in therapy and living in hell. Therapy and medication helped me to see my world clearly and make rational decisions on what was best for me and my daughter.

A year ago, I went back on a shortterm medication called BuSpar when I was having a really rough time that was going to last awhile. Even though the situation lasted for months, I only needed meds for about 3 weeks.

Accepting who and what I am without shame or the negative conitation of being labeled mentally ill has helped my self-esteem (which took one nasty beating in a long abusive marriage) and my outlook for my mental stability for the future. I may have to seek treatment again. And I hope I can do that without giving a hoot what anyone thinks of me or my anxiety, yes, my mental illness.

I mentioned self-esteem. Mental illness is not the result of low self-esteem. Don't confuse the two. Self-esteem is how I see myself. Mental illness is when my body reacts chemically to a bad situation or a traumatizing event and begans a chemical cycle I cannot willfully break without treatment and medical intervention.

:gets off soapbox:

That was me. I didn't mean to make it sound like depression is nothing and I definitely didn't mean that depression is just a little rough time.
I have been through it too. I was on anti depressive pills for two years and went to a counselor for a year. Struggled with wanting to "jump off the train" for a long time. I know how horrible it hurts in your soul and what a black hole it is. A hole that doesn't seem to have any light in it at all.
(It came as a result of a very rough childhood.)

My thoughts about depression not being a mental illness comes from people the same stuff that you talk about. It's like mental illness is labeling people and that depression is a pretty common thing after all. (Meaning not as “heavy” as suffering from a psychotic illness.) We all feel ashamed over it (well, most do) and feel like we are weak. So I am kinda trying to say the same thing as you but didn't know how to express it better. Sorry.