Advice to People with a Mental Illness

My muse struck, and I must follow where she leads. Back to the series about my mood disorder tomorrow. At least this is related.

Advice to people with a mental illness:

1) Keep telling yourself that it is what it is: a disease. Not a personality flaw, not a thing to be ashamed of. You won't believe it for a long time. That's why you have to keep saying it to yourself.

2) Get treatment. You know those annoying people who bitch and bitch about how their tooth hurts but won't go to the dentist because they're pussies? Yeah, that's you, except instead of the tooth it's your personality, and it's making everyone miserable. Suck it up and be responsible for your own health. GO TO THE DOCTOR. You deserve to get better. The people around you deserve a you that isn't such an annoying, irrational asshole.

N.B.: The first step should be to go see a regular old internist to get some blood work. If it's (say) a thyroid problem that's causing the ruckus, you can treat that a lot quicker and easier up front. Once you've exhausted what your internist can do for you, go see a specialist. Just like you would for any other illness. (Funny, that).

3) Do what the doc tells you. Self-medication is one of the tools in your toolbox -- Winston Churchill got through WWII with Bipolar by medicating his downs with booze and his ups with bricklaying.

"It was either this or bomb Dresden... by myself... without a plane."

...but it's only one tool among many, and a lot of ways of self-medicating have nasty side effects (the carpal tunnel from obsessive gaming is not that bad... heroin is not so kind). Remember what I said about medicating your brain being like taking a ball peen hammer to a malfunctioning watch? Still true. But using a fifth of bourbon instead is like dropping a wrecking ball on the thing.

4) If you don't like what the doc tells you, say so. Even though there will be vast swathes of it you won't be able to be objective about (see number 9 below), you know your disease better than anybody. Speak up, and speak up often.

5) If you still don't like what the doc tells you, get another doc. Giving up on treatment entirely because your last psychiatrist/therapist was a moron buys you nothing but an excuse to stay miserable. Congratulations.

6) Your disease will lie to you. It's what it does. It is, by definition, irrational and stupid, although your rational mind laid on top of it can make it very, very crafty. Those little voices telling you to kill yourself? They lie. Tell them to fuck off. They won't. Do it anyway.

7) Exercise. I hate this one. I fucking despise it with the passion of a cat thrown into water. But it works. Do it when you can.

Yeah. Pretty much EXACTLY like that.

8) Be patient, and be kind to yourself. This shit will take time. Serious time. It took me close to two years to find a blend of meds that really worked for me, and it's under constant revision. Be patient, and don't blame yourself when you don't get better right away. Blame the disease.

The perfect pill for you is that one. No, wait... that one.

9) Find an advocate. Find someone who can speak for your interests when you're not being rational. Someone who can go to the psychiatrist with you when you just can't face it alone. Someone you can trust when they say "you're not thinking straight". Then believe them when they say it.

10) Get laid. This will often involve the person from number 9. I have no idea if this has any therapeutic benefit, but it always helps my mood.

Above all, find someone you can talk to about it. If you don't have someone, message me. I'll tell you exactly what I said here, but it will be personalized. I understand that helps some people feel special.

-- The Prolix Wag
Don't hate me because I'm smarter than you. Hate me because I'm a dick about it.