"In my humble experience, mental illness is as real as a broken bone, and must be treated as such. Although slowly evolving, psychiatry is seemingly STILL archaic. Psychiatric bandages in pill form are only the tip of the iceberg for a person who is struggling. Simply tranquilizing or quieting the often-frustrating erratic behavior inherent in mentally-ill minds with psycho-meds… is NOT the solution. A psychiatrist should NOT be a revolving door that hands out scripts like candy. A psychiatrist should BE all-encompassing compassion, and treat the whole individual. 

 

I write to you as a survivor; it is my mission to create awareness, understanding and hope through my writing. Diagnosed at the age of twenty with rapid-cycling Bipolar Disorder with schizoaffective episodic delusions, it was not until my mental tumble from the living one February, a decade later… that I was not-so-gently shown my path. Today, I live to share how I stayed afloat in this ever-cycling existence to help others understand they can, too.

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It was while I was curled into myself, cradled uncomfortably into the corner of my parent’s couch following a psychotic episode… incapacitated, over-medicated and unable to keep my coveted job as a high school English teacher that I found my way out of my own hell with a pen and paper. It was all I could do… the first step in a separation from an insidious diagnosis that did not allow itself to be ignored.

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Through my writing, my oftentimes harrowing look at bipolar disorder (based on my own experience) allows me the opportunity to help, not hide from the often stigmatized mental illness. I prefer not to dwell on bipolar disorder and its many faces and manifestations, rather I acknowledge it transparently and provide tools to navigate it mindfully.

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I choose writing, mental health advocacy and radio as my creative, cathartic mediums to help others. With my life experience with mental illness, medication and almost two decades as a High School and Middle School educator, I strive to lend readers, students, listeners invaluable, empowering, often quirky life advice, braided in a message of hope." - Amanda

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