Today has been a good day-it's the first day in a while that I have actually felt energized, which is nice! In this post, I am going to skip over the coping skills section, as it is another one that is a bit long-so look for part III soon!
Acceptance
Has been a long, difficult process for me. It took me a long time to accept that I would
need to learn how to manage my illnesses and live in recovery for the rest of
my life. Medication alone is not going
to cure me. Mental illness is a part of me, but it does not define me. I used
to really struggle with taking my medication, but I think it was because I had
not fully accepted that I needed it.
Taking my medication is no longer hard for me, but for a long time, I
had to remind myself that I was sick when it was time for my medication, so
that I would take it. For a long time, I struggled with feelings of
shame, resentment and disbelief, but it helped me when I thought that all of
the coping skills that I learned and now use as a result of having mental
illness have helped make me a healthier and more positive person than I was
before I became sick.
Treatment
I have been inpatient hospitalized six times, which
helped keep me safe, get onto a new medication regime and have taught me how to
eat healthily. I have participated in
many outpatient programs and those programs allowed me to process my feelings,
learn about and practice using coping skills and shown me that I am not alone. I have taken art and music therapy at
different times, which I have really enjoyed, because I am a really creative
and artistic person AND because sometimes it feels safer exploring feelings in
art and song than it does talking about it in a group. I see my therapist once a week, I see a
psychiatrist every other month, and I see a nutritionist every few months. What really turned my life around is when I
took my therapist’s Dialectical Behavioral Therapy class or DBT and I have now
taken it twice. It has changed my
life!!! Its motto is that it creates a
life worth living and in my case it really has!
DBT teaches four key skills: how to have better relationships; how to
tolerate distress; how to be mindful or “in the moment,” and how to regulate
your emotions, i.e. not have so many mood swings.
This is a Creative Commons picture that I altered, originally photographed by William Murphy.
Successes,
Hopes, and Dreams
Graduated in 2006 with an English degree-It was one
of the hardest things I have ever done. Proud of my life right now-I am able to
use my DBT skills and to rely on my communities and for the most part I am
doing better than I ever have before. Because of my hard work, last fall I was
able to have my diagnosis of Borderline removed and now I am able to say that I
am in recovery from it and the eating disorder.
I have moved away from only being comfortable in mental health settings
and now am a full participant in the community and am the leader of my own book club and my own Bible study. I have my
own recovery blog and hope to one day turn it into a book to show other people
that hope is real for a life worth living even if one lives with severe mental
illness.
Link Love:
Because conservatives don't value work. They value
"having a job"—a thing defined by the most privileged aspects of
employment in the US.
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