Mental health for this one human

The Mental Health Blog Party almost escaped me as the past few days my mental health has taken a dip. I've been following my shrink's advice pretty well, except that the last two weeks I haven't had as much exercise each day and my flavoured fish oil supplement ran out.

She has been very thorough in getting my total physical health checked out with blood tests and ultrasounds for my suspiciously sore wrists. Now the arthritis has been diagnosed, I have mild pain control when I need it plus the fish oil and glucosamine supplements to attempt to hold deterioration back and even maybe regrow some joint covering. My slight thyroid deficiency has been dosed up, I don't have constantly cold hands and feet & I was at least more cheerful before I forgot the fish oil.

Therefore, today I drove into town and fetched my Melrose Lemon-Lime, de-odorised Fish Oil (as made for the Australian Rheumatology Association), guzzled a big 15ml dose and took myself somewhere in the sun. Off down to the beach I went to capture some warmth & sunlight before the black clouds roll in with forecast rain. Plus, I treated myself to a big fat boisonberry icecream cone! Let's hope I'm back on track in a day or two.

Classic madness= bedlam

There has been a little stigma attached to being depressed but more misconception, in that many people think that depression is ONLY a part of bipolar and they expect me to go all effusive & extravagant in between episodes. It's hard to explain the complexities of different mental disorders to ordinary people. To many people depression= MAD and Mad= totally out of control & round the twist!

It doesn't help the cause when the media dwell on poor souls like entertainer Matthew Newton, who has been out of control with his manic-depressive problems, ie. bipolar and in the headlines. There is a certain moral stance that people take when they hear that some violence has occurred during a manic episode such that they blame the person's character, rather than their inability to control their illness. Sure, if Matt Newton had murdered his girlfriends, he should be held partially responsible for his actions in not keeping his illness under control before it got to an extreme stage. However, loss of control involving some hitting or punching is hard to predict and is something a therapist and BP person need to work out. Good Control takes time, patience and a certain amount of luck.

The relative "fame" of Matt Newton's parents in Australia also makes people bitter towards him, saying things like "he's a spoilt child and should be punished for his crimes like anyone else". This is a man of 35 whose illness did not become fullblown or diagnosable until his late twenties, so his behaviour is hardly a result of childhood experiences. I would be happy to never hear anything more about the poor bloke or his confused parents (who are NOT young any more]. Maybe in a few years it would be good to see Matt settled in a quite niche writing scripts for TV or movies, but that's the limit. If he becomes more ill and needs further containment, I definitely don't want to know, but I hope his true friends stick with him, whatever.

For my own illness, maybe some stigma has been involved in my not being able to get a job for the past five years. I don't know. However, if I lose what little hope I have of being employed again and being able to secure some sort of a future, then my friends may never hear anything from me again, either. That's my life with a mental illness.
Mind Body Organisation is hosting this blog party, so give them a look too.