THIS LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES CHRONICAL WAS JUST PUBLISHED IN their LATEST ISSUE.
October 10 is Mental Illness Awareness Day. More than ever before, the various conditions – whether bipolar disorder, anxiety, schizophrenia or obsessive compulsive disorder – are highly treatable. An individual can live a “normal” life and no one need know, unless you tell them.
We, at New Directions Support Group, recommend you find a good psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and a peer-led support group. There is nothing more comforting than sharing your story – confidentially – with others who have “been there.” In this way, you won’t suffer from the isolation that makes us feel worse.
Medicine can lift your spirits. Many folks struggle against using medication, but given a chance, they learn it chases the darkness into light.
Other treatments include the new transcranial stimulation therapy, (TMS), where the patient sits in a chair and the doctor “taps” on their brain. This new strategy is highly effective.
Use the Internet to discover support groups near you.
If you feel suicidal, do not hesitate to dial 988, and you will find a person to talk to. Perhaps they will suggest you visit a psychiatric hospital. There are many excellent facilities in the Philadelphia area.
Hope abounds more than ever. Visit your local library and find books such as Kay Jamison’s “An Unquiet Mind” or “A Brilliant Madness” by Nobel-prizewinner, John Forbes Nash, Jr. and “The Unapologetic Mind of Black Mental Health.”
Although it is imperative to stay on your medication, ask your physician if your illness may have resolved itself when you are over sixty.
Yes, this phenomenon does indeed occur.
- Ruth Z. Deming
Willow Grove, PA
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