I though I'd just start this thread
so its pretty clear,
What is mental illness to you?

[Anneinside]

A black hole you fall into.

[nicoleb2]

hell....

Something that is completely misunderstood over & over again

[tutitaylor]

It is lonely . . .

[TerryL]

Not even an illness at all, unless it has a biological cause like schizophrenia, otherwise just someone who has been hurt by others....

[theGirlNextDorm]

It's like carrying a something that's a blessing and a curse. That's what bipolar is. Then the blessing turns into a curse. You know no one else would ever be able to understand completely. That's the way it goes.

[lil-angel-wings]

two words i wish I'd never heard

its like being in the bottom of a well and everyone keeps coming to draw up a bucket of what ever they need, but they dont see me.

i cry for help and no matter how long the rope is it just wont seem to reach me and im not strong enough to jump up and grab on to it.

every once in a while i get a hold of it get up a bout half way or so and then some thing happens and i loose my grip, flling back into the depths of the well

at times i scream as loud as i can and other times i just curl up and wish that time would end

mental illness is not suppose to define me...but i losse my strength and i define my self that way

today i just want to say " leave the blob in the corner "
Put something in front of it so you dont see it and that way it wont bother you
just forget i was here

[venusss]

Originally Posted by TerryL

Not even an illness at all (...)

I don't view myself as will. I am troubled and difficult. I have plenty of issues. I have scars on my soul................ and I am trying to make the best of this situation and sometimes it is hard. Very hard.

A dark hole that sometimes I can't get out of, I would love to be happy and well it is one thing in life I wish for.

It's something that terrifies the crap out of me...to not be in control of what's going on in my head & how I feel 8\

[Mylifeisdepressing]

I agree with a lot of theses.
A black hole you can't escape.
Something misunderstood.
Loneliness.
Hell.
All I know now.

[Lou8]

Hi, I am older and have had bipolar since I was 30, diagnosed at 46, the meds gave me RA but I am doing fine now and am on zyprexa and celexa taken together. My most difficult thing is that I get insecure and fear is my most pressing mental health problem. My marriage is good and I have constant contact with my children, grandchildren and family in general. My Dad is 98 and mean as ever but he would help me in a pinch if I needed it. My family of origin is no big deal to me but the family and stepkids that I have raised, and especially my daughter and her kids mean a lot to me. My husband is the best and I am lucky to have found someone who understands me.

[greylove]

My Bipolar 1 is light years beyond my worst nightmare.

[taylor43]

To me i feel like im going crazy allot of times.

[Rohag]

Among other things...it's like a disease of the will, volitional malfunction. I have a greatly diminished capacity for desiring, wanting, feeling.

[TerryL]

Originally Posted by TerryL

Not even an illness at all, unless it has a biological cause like schizophrenia, otherwise just someone who has been hurt by others....

I used the wrong word..."just"...I meant "it's really about..."

[gma45]

To me mental illness is......a disease of the mind body and soul past and present that I fight with on a daily basis invisible and unbelievable to the rest of the people I come in contact with IRL! Kind of like pain which know one believes could be so bad!

[jellbell]

To me it feels like nothing... a place with no light, no walls, no ceiling, no floor, no one else, no sound, no air... the absence of anything that could comfort.

[GRUMPYPA]

Something I had no choice in

[nicoleb2]

Right now,

It is fear, fear of my thoughts, fear of making my thoughts become actions. Fear of living, fear of not living.
Fear of going to see my t on monday and of what she is going to say

[roads]

Originally Posted by Jarebear

I though I'd just start this thread
so its pretty clear,
What is mental illness to you?

I've not thought about myself as being mentally ill until my bipolar diagnosis three yrs ago. I knew I was clinically depressed, which at age eight I didn't think of as mental illness. Alcoholism, when that label was added in my mid-thirties, was an addiction--again, considered disgraceful but I don't remember mental illness being mentioned.

But when I was diagnosed bipolar, I was in the psych unit of a local hospital. No missing the mental illness connection then! It's additional complications on my already-complicated life. It's added responsibility, in that I have re-evaluated my commitments to friends--even to pets. I've reassessed my living will and other legal papers. I've had to make some clear decisions, when I am in a "good mind" about when I do and don't want to make certain decisions for myself--& who will make those decisions for me, when I cannot.

Acknowledging my mental illness & the consequences has turned my life inside out. It's been the most difficult thing I have ever done. I'm amazed I actually faced it & did it all.

[bluemountains]

My mental illness provides very little time for being normal. I am labeled as bipolar 2, which now the pdoc says is better to call a mood disorder. Evidently bipolar scares insurance companies but mood disorders don't.

As I get older the depression and hypomania get worse with each episode, and I meds eventually lose their effectiveness...so mental illness to me is a constant battle to find normal, although I can never quite achieve it, so I just hope for peace.

Bluemountains

Lonely, misunderstood, confusing hell. And then you have to face the stigma that comes with it :/