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Fighting the stigma of mental illness…

For additional videos and information, go to:

www.bringchange2mind.org

Acceptance

~A Poem~

She denied when first informed.

When she heard the girl was sick and always would be.

“Not my daughter.”

“She’s brilliant. We prize that.”

~

She raged as illness unfolded.

Living the day-in, the day-out, fearing dreams would never come about.

“This is not our life!”

She had such plans. She cherished them. She clung.

~

She trembled when the crazy bubbled up.

When her fear, fueled by helplessness, boiled on over with it.

She’d always had control.

That’s how she lived.  She controlled.

~

She prayed when hope refused to settle in.

When getting through a day sans crisis was success.

“God can do miracles.”

“We need one. I’ll do whatever it takes.” She begged.

~

She mourned as miracles failed to manifest.

When she knew the girl was sick and always would be.

When she knew that her mind was truly ill.

She, they, so prized it.

…time…

She loved when they spent time together.

When the girl chose to live and she chose to live beside her.

When she knew their plans had changed, but that the change was right and good.

They would move on. They would be well.

~

And now.

They rejoice.

She is ill, but lives, stays, well.

Lives, loves, learns. Well.

And ~ blessed be ~ brilliance, bravery, beauty ~ accompany.

They, too, are here to stay.

My beautiful son Michael has his own beautiful son.

After years of struggling with addiction and bipolar disorder, Michael has spent months working hard at sobriety and medical compliance. He’s in school, working and dedicating himself to his young family.

I share this to encourage you.

If you or someone you love deals with a serious mental illness, addiction or both, take heart, have faith and maintain hope. Michael was terribly ill for nearly 7 years. His dad and I were repeatedly told to “let it go” and “give it up.” We didn’t. We’re glad.

I’m not telling you to tolerate the intolerable, but I am urging you to maintain relationships, continue to love, and offer help and support when it’s solicited.

The rewards are SO worth the challenge.

And if you ever need to share your story or vent your feelings, I’m just a click away.

Lovingly,

Kathy Larson, author and illustrator of “Dancing Crazy,” generously agreed to an interview about this recently published children’s book aimed at helping kids understand bipolar disorder. Here is an excerpt from that exchange:

What motivated or inspired you to write “Dancing Crazy?”

I really had no choice.  Our daughter experienced the most challenging event in the course of her disease.  Doctors feared she was moving into a permanent catatonic state; we feared she was dying.  After spending three months in a secured setting, Susan was released from the hospital.  The world immediately became a different place-for her and her husband, their children, all of us, really.  Each of us helped as best we could-praying, baby-sitting, cooking meals and doing the laundry, all the while seeking reassurance in words we could understand.  There were many excellent books on the market for adults, but none for little ones.  So I wrote one.

Please share your personal experiences with serious mental illness.

Although never diagnosed with depression, my mother spent long hours staring out a window or napping on the couch.  As children, we figured she was just worn out from raising the five of us.  Now, as adults, we wonder how Mom even survived with such responsibility and little support.

Over the years, many of my students have suffered physical or emotional abuse from mentally ill family members.  Others continue to live with the results of parents or siblings who have either attempted suicide or been successful.  I think of one little fifth grader who stopped coming to school after excerpts from her father’s trial were detailed in the local newspaper.  She was positive everyone would figure out she was the person he’d raped and “stare at her”.

On a personal level, several members of my family take medication for anxiety or depression; and a few more probably should. Looking at the myriad of mental illnesses-from schizophrenia to borderline personality disorder to just plain naughty-we’ve got it all somewhere.

What do you hope to accomplish by publishing “Dancing Crazy?”

“Dancing Crazy” will reduce the fears of many children as they deal with Bipolar Disease.  Kids’ worries are so much the same.    Did I make my parent act this way?  Can someone “catch” bipolar?  What’s going to happen to me or my family tomorrow or the next day or the next?

What do you want people, especially children, to know about bipolar disorder?

Bipolar Disorder is a disease caused by a chemical imbalance in somebody’s brain. Your mom or dad did not get it because they work too hard.  Nor did they get it because they have too much fun.  The truth is everyone in your family will still have good days and not-so-good days, just like they did before someone got diagnosed with bipolar disease.

To learn more about Ms. Larson’s book, or to order it for yourself, click here. And if you know of other books about mental illness written specifically for children, please contact me.

Fondly,

Children whose parents suffer with serious mental illness have very few resources to help them understand and cope. Now, thanks to educator and author Kathleen Larson, they have one more. Larson, who spent 35 years as an elementary school teacher, has penned and illustrated a book explaining, in the simplest terms, a mother’s mental illness.

“Dancing Crazy” tells the story of three children and their mom’s symptoms and hospitalization. Without fear or stigma, Larson illuminates the realities of managing a serious mental illness within a family.

The children learn the basics of a chemical imbalance and how they can help their mom stay well as other loving adults in their extended family care for them.

Larson does not sugar-coat, nor does she dramatize. “Dancing Crazy” is a wonderful starting point to help kids understand adult mental illness.

A valuable resource to parents, doctors and therapists, “Dancing Crazy” should be included in the library of anyone working with children affected by mental illness, as well as every elementary school’s collection.

I received an email from a young woman who attended one of my lectures with her parents. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder in her mid-teens, she’s struggled with addictions for nearly as long.

After hearing from her I felt simultaneously sad and encouraged.

I felt sad because she described an abusive romantic relationship in which her illness is used as a point of shame and degradation.

I felt sad because she’s actively using methamphetamine and cocaine, with no inclination to quit.

I felt sad because she no longer sees her doctor or takes the medication that could eventually keep her stable and well.

I felt sad because she sounded isolated and frightened and sad, herself.

But my feelings of encouragement dominated.

I felt encouraged by the fact that she was honest about the mistreatment she received. She was not hiding or denying it. Recognizing something is wrong is the first step toward righting it.

I felt encouraged because she knew she used illicit drugs to manage her illness and to maintain her romantic relationship. She made no excuses and realized her behavior and choices were unhealthy.

I felt encouraged because she admitted that she needs to see a doctor and asked for low-cost options in her area. She was reaching out, searching for help, asking for resources.

I felt encouraged because, stuck in a darkness of her own creation, this sweet soul seeks something better, seeks the light.

She will find it.

She will overcome.

She will get well.

I am encouraged. I have hope.

Tom Wootton has taken his personal experience with bipolar disorder and shifted the universal paradigm.

As a former accelerative learning trainer for major corporations, and the author of “The Bipolar Advantage” and “The Depression Advantage,” Wootton challenges pervasive attitudes about serious mental illness and charts a different course looking at the positive as well as negative aspects of those conditions.

Through Bipolar Advantage, a company that teaches individuals how to turn their symptoms into assets, Wootton’s mission is to “help people with mental conditions shift their thinking and behavior so that they can lead extraordinary lives.”

“We are dedicated to the concept that recovery does not have to be limited to 90% of full function; true recovery means doing the hard work that brings you to 150%! We strongly believe that we can turn our ‘condition’ into one that becomes an advantage instead of an ‘illness’ or a ‘disorder’,” says Wootton.

Through talks, workshops, videos and books, Wootton and Bipolar Advantage have helped thousands of people to realign their thinking with their realities and turn disadvantages into assets. And now he’s applying those techniques and skills to corporate America.

According to Wootton, “In recent months discussions about the boom and bust cycles of our economy going back to the Great Depression have been the focus of many news stories. During boom cycles companies experience periods of inflated feelings of power or delusions of grandeur, characterized by excessive risk taking and out of control spending. During bust cycles companies experience periods of indecisiveness, black and white thinking, loss of energy and fatigue, even feelings of worthlessness and suicidal thoughts. These reactions are classic symptoms of bipolar.”

He goes on to say “Businesses can be trained to understand how different reactions and thought processes are assets when they are acted upon with the powerful understanding of bipolar conditions. Training individuals, management groups, and CEOs to recognize ‘bipolar’ assets and how to utilize them… shifts companies from immobility to confidence and action. Bipolar Advantage teaches essential tools for weathering the current global financial changes.”

Consider the Bipolar Advantage perspective on the following questions:

Is there any evidence that a Bipolar Economy is an advantage for business?

Yes, there’s a great deal of evidence. Companies can and do prosper during times of economic turmoil. What do GE, Disney, HP and Microsoft have in common? They were all startups during steep declines in the U.S. economy. GE started during the panic of 1873, Disney started during the recession of 1923-24, HP began during the Great Depression, and Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft during the recession of 1975. All these companies realized that they had an advantage by adopting a different mindset, a different way of seeing the crisis. They saw it as an opportunity.

How can a business turn market turmoil into an advantage?

Bipolar Advantage can help by bringing in experts who can shift a business’s thinking from a reactive fear-based response to one that is creative and opportunistic. Wootton emphasizes, “With a keen understanding of how the mind functions in different states and how to best utilize those states, Bipolar Advantage can take your company way beyond the pop psychology of positive thinking.”

What is this shift in thinking?

Generally speaking, companies that not only survived but also thrived during the Great Depression were those that took advantage of their creative capital; those people who already knew how to manage the mood swings in their own personalities. Those that understand their strengths and are able to use deep introspection to explore opportunities in a crisis are the ones who excel in turbulent times.

These are compelling ideas for compelling times.

I think Tom Wootton is joining the long list of brilliant minds whose mental “illness”  led to amazing accomplishment.

What are your thoughts?

Researchers at Indiana University have learned that even minimal amounts of physical activity, like walking, gardening, housekeeping or circuit training, improve the mood of people with bipolar disorder, major depression or schizophrenia. And this information can easily be applied to anyone searching for relief of anxiety, depression, or a simple, nasty mood.

Working with 11 people from the US and 12 people from Serbia over seven consecutive days, researchers randomly paged the participants, who immediately completed questionnaires about their mood and recent activities. The responses were compared to data collected during the previous 10 minutes using accelerometers worn by the participants that measured activity levels and duration.

The average amount of physical activity of the participants was comparable to that of sedentary adults, somewhat lower than adults with developmental disabilities and significantly lower than activity levels of active adults.

Most important, the study proved that he least active experiences correlated with less positive moods, illuminating the need for physical activity as a regular part of psychiatric rehabilitation.

“We found a positive association between physical activity level and positive mood when low to moderate levels of physical activity are considered,” said study author Bryan McCormick, associate professor in IU’s Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Studies. “Physical activity interventions that require lower levels of exertion might be more conducive to improving transitory mood, or the ups and downs people with SMI experience throughout the day.”

The lesson learned: If you’re feeling blue or anxious or particularly foul, go for a walk, take a yoga class, get on your bike or go for a swim.

DO something.

Be physically active.

Literally…

Move To Improve!

Much to the world’s chagrine, Carrie Fisher is not Princess Leia.

Carrie Fisher is a writer.

And she’s very, very funny.

Both talents are verified in Wishful Drinking.

I loved this memoir not because it exposed any great truths about bipolar disorder or addiction, but because it exposed great truths about learning to live with them.

Honest, open and hilarious, Fisher points the spotlight on her own life and directs us through an amazing production.

Bravo, Ms. Fisher! Bravo!