Dialogue on Mental Illness

Roaming around the blogs during the last few weeks I've noticed quite a few posts mentioning a variety of mental illnesses - anxiety disorders, episodes of depression, and major disorders like bipolar. To my mind these sorts of disclosures and dialogue are very good things and it is one of the ways in which the anonymity of the internet has positive effect. Anything that further enhances any individuals ability to reach out, connect, get information, get feedback, or express themselves is very beneficial.

Myself, I've disclosed here before having suffered through and recovered from two bouts of clinical depression which were spaced approximately 10 years apart. I remember clearly how isolating and debilitating those times were; how tough they were to get through especially when there were times I wanted nothing more than to simply throw in the towel and give up. At the time one of the things I found most confounding was that there seemed to be no 'cause and effect' at work. It seemed I had gone to bed one night perfectly fine; next morning I had sunk into a world that was foreign to me - no colour, no light, no happiness, little feeling of any kind except despair.

Since having pulled out of the last episode I try on a regular basis to engage in a self monitoring exercise as a way of taking my mental 'temperature'. It helps me to identify trends in moods and perception of my world. I pay much closer attention than I used to to nutrition and enforcing regular eating habits. One way in which I endanger myself is working shifts on an ongoing basis and constantly upsetting my sleep patterns. (Awareness is half the battle.) Seasonal changes have a definite affect on me - with the days drastically shortening and the prospect of winter breathing down my neck I feel myself steeling as if for battle.... and perhaps for me it is.

So I try to be conscious of the things I can do for myself and be responsible so far as possible for my mental health. Proper nutrition, proper rest, light exercise, exposure to the outdoors, variety of experience, vitamin supplements, read, draw, take photos, plan a project and execute it. Live.... But more than any other single thing is the human contact; sharing the experience, reading about others, talking with others about mine, writing. With my wife, family, friends, doctor, co-workers, online friends... whoever I have in my corner helping prevent me from returning to 'the pit'.

Sometimes the best thing for me is to be of use to someone else.