[Mr. Radio]

Today we race in a society that is all about fast and efficient work. We live in a society that pushes us to the edge of breaking and forces stress on the masses. What if I were to tell you that this is an unhealthy way to carry our lives and it can trigger a disease in the brain accompanied by a mental illness label that invokes stigma and more problems that are standing in the way of recovery. I had a mental break in the form of psychosis, later diagnosed as having bipolar disorder. My biggest problem is feeling up to speed with society, friends, and family. I believe in a western culture such as ours that talking is the norm for confident strong individuals and being able to communicate in a fast and efficient way gives an individual great chance at success. When the essence of conversation is lost or laying doormat inside someone who has experienced a psychotic break it can be difficult to feel normal or back up to speed with everyone else when in their reality they feel slow and not able to communicate at 100%. Recovery is a process that takes time and will gradually increase as long as an individual is stable and on medication and getting back to normal is the norm rather than the exception.
When coming out of psychosis it can feel like a very lonely time. No one and not even you really understand what just happened. After spending time at the hospital where little is answered one can feel overwhelmed with the new not false reality that they are now facing. Getting on medication and told all of your previous beliefs are wrong and you have a condition that is common among 3% of the population. You’re suddenly categorized and sent into a psychiatrist to receive diagnosis as bipolar, schizophrenic, and many others. After receiving diagnosis a person is still on the path of recover from their break. This recovery period may take many individuals a long time to come back from.
It is said that it is normal for someone who is recovering from a psychotic break to sit in groups and be quite with not much to say. This is part of slowing down and allowing the brain to recovery at it’s own speed. While people are continuing on their ladder of life just fine, you my friend did not reach the next step without falling off the ladder and starting from ground zero. What people have been building and learning from birth all adds to their presentation of their self in society. The place that you are in is lonely and new and something that has to be rebuilt from the ground. Picking up speed can take a long time for someone trying to get back to normal self and pick right up where they left off. This is where we have to remember that recovering is not like Wolverine, we have to take months and maybe even years before we say that we’re feeling 100%. Our brains all work differently so if your recovering and not happy with the progress, just look at what has happened that has made recovery easier, such as symptoms disappearing, healthier thoughts, and longer periods of time without any drug use.
The only drugs that should be used are the ones prescribed by the doctor. That is unless you want to have persistent symptoms and continue to have delusions and hallucinations. I understand they can be fun and even cool to have experiences by means of not normal realities, but believe me the imagination can run away and lose control of everything that you believe and send you into a state of fear from what your mind is doing to you. Staying on medication is also important, going back and experiencing those mind alerting states only delays recovery and sometime even resets it. Again falling off the ladder again and meeting a new challenge at ground zero again. It is said after each break one loses a sense of self and a part of normal functioning. I believe this is some part, but I also believe that if one can’t regain what was normal before they will fill it with what is the new norm of the new self and it doesn’t mean that it’s any less then what was before, it’s just filled with new presentation.
Getting back to normal takes time. I look and relate a lot of things to myself and that’s what this paper is about and informs me about my state of mind and opinion on progress and the state of recovery for me. I gone through periods where I’ve talked and none of it made any sense. Periods where I didn’t’ talk at all, where I felt I couldn’t write anything from the top of my mind, and still the most strong and persistent one is not feeling like I can talk up to speed with people who haven’t fallen off their ladder. I am a believer that this will change over time and where I’ve seen little progress I’ve see improvements and know that staying stable and on medication is the route to go when trying to regain full self. If it weren’t for the weight gain I would feel like I’m at 90%. Talking is better and I’m able to talk for a half an hour on my shows and then segments where is 3,4,5 and even 15 minutes on end at a time. Social interaction still provides difficulties, but I’m going to give this new me the satiability for at least a year and see where I’m at without any new breaks and with major changes in self.
I’ve always considered myself a pretty smart guy and I believe that with exposure and continuous social interaction that things will get back to normal and I’ll be able to live life at 100% percent once again, it just might be with 30 more pounds due to medication, but you have to take the positive with the negative. Give it a years time an if that doesn’t due the trick realize you need to just continue to take it slow you will get back to normal over a period of time. Friends and family are important to recovery so make sure you spend time with both and keep a positive attitude because things do get better. You just have to belief it.

Well said. Thank you for this.

[Crazy Hitch]

Thank you for this Mr Radio.

I really like this message:

"Friends and family are important to recovery so make sure you spend time with both and keep a positive attitude because things do get better. You just have to belief it."