Mental Health in Music

The story of John Nash is devastating.  I will not ever guess what his life was like as a paranoid schizophrenic...but I will guess mine.

I am Bipolar.  I have Temporal Lobe Seizure Disorder.  I have Panic Disorder.  I suffer from Agoraphobia.  I take 7 medications on a daily basis that are split between morning doses and bedtime doses.  I take an eighth medication on Saturdays.  I will take medication for the rest of my life because there is no cure for any mental illness.  I have lost family ties due to my mental illnesses because they would rather see me as an outcast than simply ask.  I am stigmatized by society and by my own family.

I once lived next to a long-term psychiatric facility.  One of the patients was severely ill with paranoid schizophrenia.  Patients were let outside during the daytime.  This one patient, however, slipped through the cracks and was outside late at night every night screaming and cursing so loud to what only he could see that the police were dispatched frequently.  To this patient, his life was very real and his mind was not imagined.  Yet, can this really be true?

The rational part of the brain would say no.  Yet with mental illness, rational gets lost in the crowd of psychiatric hospital stays, exposure to other ill patients, constant level checks, medication management, therapy, and psychiatry for life.

I am writing this post today because I am meeting with my psychiatrist tomorrow afternoon.

My mental health is not imagined and my life with mental illness is very real.

Stigma is a brutal and lasting term created by society.  If you know someone with any mental illness - severe or lesser in extent - just ask.  The more you know, the more you can understand and provide greater sympathy.

Just ask.