I, like 57 million Americans and 7 million Canadians, live with a mental illness. We are people with mental health ‘issues' or ‘consumers'. That's our official title: mental health consumers. Right, like I went comparison shopping for my best fitting pair of psychiatric illnesses.
You know: ‘Oooh, I just can't decide between this really acute panic attack and this moody deep blue depression thing. Oh and then of course, there's this adorable eating disorder - it's sooo slimming. God, I just can't decide. What's your return policy?'
No. I call it like I see it - I'm a person who lives with a mental illness. Well two actually: bipolar disorder and anxiety. Plain. Simple. Unlike political correctness and our mental health systems.
You either like the word ‘consumer' or you don't. Or, like me, you don't have the faintest clue what other word to use sometimes and for the sake of expediency you employ it. But I much prefer just saying individuals with a mental illness or say, folks with a mental illness. ‘Folks' has that nice homey ring to it.
The labels, descriptors and jargon of the mental health field are wrought with land mines for everyone involved: those working in the profession and those of us living with a psychiatric illness. And remember: those two groups are not mutually exclusive. There are many a doctor, social worker say, to name just two who get up every morning and wrestle with their ‘black dog' or sit across from their counselor explaining that "actually I'm managing the panic attacks much better". Words play a powerful part in recovery - I know they do in mine.
At the conclusion of my first get away to ‘Club Medication' (that is psych ward) I was handed a prescription: Zoloft and Epival. Anti-depressant. Mood stabilizer, respectively. Drugs for mental illness. But see, getting those kind of drugs is different than getting ones, for say, blood pressure, high cholesterol or even a... yeast infection. It feels like someone's saying, ‘oooh, your personality isn't ok.' Like you're the new kid in school and nobody will sit with you at the lunch table.
Don't get me wrong - I am not anti-medication (I'm not now anyway, not by a long shot). Meds are one of the best tools on my recovery tool belt. But come on people...the names of some of these drugs. No wonder we don't like taking them. They sound like something from a bad Star Trek sequel.
"No, no, I'm sorry Captain Zoloft and his commander in chief Colonel Paxil, aren't available for interviews. They're involved in negotiations with the Prozac Nation and Lithium Liberation Army."
God, my drugs never sound like those natural remedies. You know Golden Seal, Lavender, Kava Kava. They sound like children of Frank Zappa. I mean they even have a Saint, for God's sake. Saint John's Wort. No wonder it's easier to take them. Then again if you were a Trekkie, maybe you wouldn't care. Although the names of my medication hasn't changed I still take them - religiously, along with seeing my psychiatrist, doing psychotherapy, getting a good night's rest, exercising and eating well. My mom outta be proud.
