Quote:
Originally Posted by Isolda van der Meer
Well... I usually get depressed when the autumn comes, so... no. I'm never ready enough.
But I must say that I used to love autumn and winter when I was a child. And it still can be kind of magical for me. The colourful leaves, the bare trees, the snow...
What forced you to seek treatment for your disorder?
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Well, having to get some form of treatment started at age 15, but I wasn't formally diagnosed until I was 32. However, I didn't truly (truly) seek treatment in a very authentic way, until I was 34. I was in a particularly horrible mental health crisis, not that I hadn't been at other times before that. But I was closer to having serious self-harm thoughts than ever before. I was actually serious about driving my car into a tree. That thought wouldn't leave me and I thought that if I did, it would somehow free me. I had also had HR threaten to fire me. Six workmates when to HR to wage formal complaints about me because of my extreme behavior. I had mania with mixed features really bad, and I became very aggressive and even scary. I had also been drinking very heavily for a long time. Each night after work, I would come home and probably drink between six and 10 drinks before falling asleep. The drinking exacerbated the issue.
Q: Who in this world do you think has been the most helpful for you, in terms of helping you manage your mental illness?