Mental in the Midwest

Trigger warning:  Talk of suicide.

My name is Erin, I’m 37 years old.  I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder II when I was 29 and then with Borderline Personality Disorder when I was 31.  I’ve attempted suicide 4 times, 2 of which landed me in the ICU.  The last time my doc wasn’t sure if I’d caused myself permanent brain damage.  That was in 2010.  I have since completed my first Master’s degree, gotten married for the 3rd time, advanced in my job as an instructional designer at a highly respected university, and started a second Master’s degree.

I am way more that my diagnoses.

Read the post in its entirety!  Visit blog for mental health 2014 | Mental in the Midwest.

Pride in Madness

It was the discrimination the I experienced as a youth with mental health issues that drew me into any sort of advocacy work although I didn’t start this blog until December 2011. It’s very important to me that others know their poor treatment of people with mental health issues is unacceptable, violating our human rights and inaccurate.

If I can get a little selfish, this blog is also a great “fuck you” to those who though I would never amount to anything other than becoming an alcoholic or possibly being dead. I am successful in my personal and professional life and many of us with mental health issues are and if we are not it’s because we’re working with a system that doesn’t help us.

Read the post in its entirety!  Visit Blog for Mental Health 2014 | Pride in Madness.

Not a Punk Rocker

Today is good, tomorrow might be OK.  Yet you worry about what will happen if these meds stop working…next week, a few months, or a year like you almost got to this time.  What will happen when they don’t work?  What will happen when you run out of things to talk about in therapy? What will happen if all the meds stop working?

You, and I, can’t think like that.  Sometimes we can only think one day ahead at a time to keep moving forward toward something better. It’s OK to only look a day at a time right now. Eventually you will want to start looking further.

Trigger warning:  Talk of eating disorder, abuse (emotional, physical, sexual), suicidal ideation. 

Read the post in its entirety!  Visit Going in Circles | Not a Punk Rocker.

Chopping Potatoes

When my water broke at the end of my third pregnancy, it released the flood waters of postpartum depression.  What I didn’t know was what else was dammed up behind that.  ’Regular old’ depression, I suppose, and most definitely, anxiety.  In some ways, my life has never been better since this deluge; in others, it’s sucked eggs – big, nasty, rotten ones.

But awareness makes a huge difference in all lives – those struggling to achieve mental health and those alongside them.

Read the post in its entirety!  Visit I Pledge Awareness . . . to the Cause | Chopping Potatoes.