Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts

15 Fascinating Quotes on Mental Health

Love is a serious mental disease.
― Plato

I'm not a big fan of psychoanalysis: I think if you have
mental problems what you need are good pills. But I do
think that if you have things that bother you, things that
are unresolved, the more that you talk about them,
write about them, the less serious they become.
― Stephen King

If the national mental illness of the United States
is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia.
― Margaret Atwood

In the past, men created witches: now
they create mental patients.
― Thomas Szasz

When you've been locked up in a mental institution,
people are going to ask questions. It was OK,
because I didn't have to act perfect all the time.
― Drew Barrymore

“I wanted to tell her that if only something were wrong
with my body it would be fine, I would rather have
anything wrong with my body than something wrong
with my head, but the idea seemed so involved and
wearisome that I didn’t say anything.
I only burrowed down further in the bed.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

“depression in its major stages possesses no
quickly available remedy: failure of alleviation
is one of the most distressing factors of the disorder
as it reveals itself to the victim, and one that helps
situate it squarely in the category of grave diseases.”
― William Styron, Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness

“My life isn't good or bad. It's an incredible series
of emotional and mental extremes, with beautiful
thunderstorms and stunning sunrises.
Some would say this is my artistic temperament.
Others would say i am mentally ill or bipolar.
I SAY... it's a bit of both and i make the most
of them, CREATIVELY.”
― Jaeda DeWalt

“Bipolar illness, manic depression, manic-depressive
illness, manic-depressive psychosis. That’s a nice way
of saying you will feel so high that no street drug can
compete and you will feel so low that you wish you had
been hit by a Mack truck instead.”
― Christine F. Anderson, Forever Different: A Memoir of
One Woman's Journey Living with Bipolar Disorder

“I get absolutely shitfaced. I am shitfaced and hyper
and ten years old. I am having the time of my life.”
― Marya Hornbacher, Madness: A Bipolar Life

“People with BPD are like people with third degree
burns over 90% of their bodies. Lacking emotional
skin, they feel agony at the slightest touch or movement.”
― Marsha Linehan

“My heart keeps begging me for a reason to keep
beating, but I'm running out of lies to tell it”
― Stephanie Ware

“Depression: the healthy suspicion that modern
life has no meaning and that modern society
is absurd and alienating.”
― Neel Burton, The Meaning of Madness

Sometimes the appropriate response
to reality is to go insane.
― Philip K. Dick

“If being sane is thinking there's something wrong with
being different....I'd rather be completely fucking mental.”
― Angelina Jolie

Be the drug!

...just say yes!

Excellent Madness quotes

Insanity is relative. It depends on who has who
locked in what cage.
Ray Bradbury

Earth is an insane asylum, to which the other planets
deport their lunatics.
Voltaire

The whole religious complexion of the modern world
is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum.
       Thomas Paine

Being born into the Royal Family is like being born
into a mental asylum. Marrying into it is not something
to be taken lightly.
       Johnny Rotten

It's been my policy to view the Internet not as an 'information highway,' but as an electronic asylum filled with babbling loonies.       Mike Royko

Reality is always controlled by the people who are most insane.       Dogbert

Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world.
       R. D. Lang

I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity!
       Edgar Allan Poe

Ordinarily he was insane, but he had lucid moments
when he was merely stupid.       Heinrich Heine

There is a pleasure sure in being mad,
which none but madmen know.
       Dryden 1681

See, the human mind is kind of like... a piñata.
When it breaks open, there's a lot of surprises inside.
Once you get the piñata perspective, you see that losing
your mind can be a peak experience.
       Jane Wagner

Madness need not be all breakdown.
It may also be break-through.
       R.D. Laing

You're only given a little spark of madness.
You mustn't lose it.
       Robin Williams

Sanity is a cosy lie.
       Susan Sontag

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Bipolar Disorder Has Its Upside?

finally... the other side of the story
is starting to come out. i hope.

Bipolar Disorder Has Its Upside, Patients Say

In a British study, 10 people with bipolar disorder —
a serious mental illness characterized by swings between
elation and depression — talked about positive ways the
condition had affected their lives.

The participants described an amplifying effect on their
own internal experiences, say the researchers in their study
published online April 1 in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

For instance, a participant the researchers call Alan (names
were changed to protect privacy), said: "It's almost as if it
opens up something in the brain that isn't otherwise there,
and er I see color much more vividly than I used to. ...
So I think that my access to music and art are something
for which I'm grateful to bipolar for enhancing. It's almost
as it's a magnifying glass that sits between that and myself."

In some cases, participants believed bipolar disorder had
helped them achieve goals that would not have otherwise
been possible. For Alan, this meant performing in comic
theater: "Had it not been for being bipolar, there's no
chance I could have done it," he said.
read the rest of the story here...

Bipolar Disorder Has Its Upside, Patients Say

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Krishnamurti on mental health

Bipolar? Hell, yes!!!

Just came across this story and wow!
Like the sky cracking open big and blue
after a rainy night...
here's hoping more researchers are encouraged
to look into this side of bipolar living!

Study captures positive experiences of people with bipolar disorder

The problems of living with bipolar have been well documented, but a new study by Lancaster University
has captured the views of those who also report
highly-valued, positive experiences of living
with the condition.

read all about it HERE!

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"Normal"? ...whatever

i know there are many people with bp who suffer
from it more than i do, and that i was born lucky
in terms of my family, and was fortunate to get
to see such an excellent specialist for my diagnosis
and the process of finding suitable meds...

but i think was also fortunate enough/ immature
enough/ whatever enough to have consciously
decided decades before i was diagnosed that
"normal", on its' best day, was wildly over-rated.

"normal" to me was high school- a place i regarded
as a concentration camp of the mind, an institution
full of stupid rules and bullies of every age and size,
seething with ignorance, petty jealousies and fear.

"normal" was what i encountered working my way
through school as a janitor, and the major
corporations i worked for before deciding
to create my own life.

above - ye olde belle curve

"normal" people started wars. "normal" people
thought being rich was a reason for living. they
didn't like anything that threatened their desperate
need for certainties. they were afraid of grappling
with serious questions about the fundamental
assumptions that propped up their world view.

they were afraid of the edge. they were afraid
of death. they were afraid of themselves, ultimately.

i remember many years ago, talking with a friend
one night on acid when he said "you know man,
you're never out of high school" and it was chilling -
in the way that only a profound revelation that
resonates in your bones can be...

above - normal tonsils

he was right. since then i've heard the same basic
premise from others but more importantly, i've
seen the proof of it over and over and over again.

and as i've learned more about my own diagnosis,
i've also learned that many of my heroes and heroines
over the years in the arts and sciences and politics
have also struggled with depression and bipolar
disorder and host of other mental illnesses while
they were creating work that touched my soul
and changed the world in ways large and small...

from them, and from friends and others along the way
over the years, i've developed what i think of
as a healthy disrespect for "normal"...

but of course, i'm "mentally ill". i'm "crazy".
i'm "manic depressive". i'm the one on medication.

whatever...

below - penis/normal & not

one side effect of my bad attitude though has been
the disarming of the "normal", in the sense that
i don't give the word or the people who identify
with the power to hurt me anymore, and i certainly
don't think they are in any way "better" than i am,
in any sense of the word.

their words are just that - words, that i can listen to
without endangering myself, keeping what seems
reasonable or that resonates with me and
disregarding what doesn't.

i reject most of their attitudes and especially their
judgements about mental people out of hand.
in 99% of the occasions i encounter them,
they are out-dated, ill-informed, demi-literate
and self-serving. when most people who think
they are "normal" talk about mental illness,
their first priority is to distance the term,
the possibility from themselves...

above - stools/normal & not

we the diagnosed don't have that option.
we HAVE to face those "possibilities" and we have
to internalize them, incorporate them into our
sense of self and carry on. every day.
every night.

i think it accounts for the openness and honesty
that draws me back to this site so often. and if
today i am more upset about it than i usually allow myself to be, it's because i keep encountering people
who have been and are being effectively tormented
by "normal" people, including those like friends
and family from whom they have reason
to expect something better...

or at least that they would not make it worse.

whatever.

i'm not normal. i never was normal and i've never
wanted to be normal. and if that's why i'm the one
on medication, fine.

the beat goes on...

"Normal"? ...whatever part 2

LEARN MORE ABOUT BEING NORMAL

http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/gaussdist/gaussdist.htm

http://www.trojancondoms.org/index.php/average-penis-size-with-survey-charts-pics-and-graphs/

http://tonsilspictures.com/normal-tonsils-pictures/

http://tomographyblog.com/2008/03/17/the-whole-brain-atlas/

http://www.scienceclarified.com/Ro-Sp/Schizophrenia.html

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Bipolar Disorder and Creativity

what, again?
yes, again. ...because i read a recent study
about Bipolar Disorder and Creativity today.

"Thinking outside the box
might be facilitated by having
a somewhat less intact box"

says Dr Ullén about his new findings.

if you find this intriguing, you can read all about here*:

Creativity linked to mental health

* yes, it will be on the final.

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Stigma? What Stigma?

another fascinating question came up recently,
and with it some fascinating responses...

How do you deal with the stigma you face with your illness? You are looked at from friends, family and society like your illness is either fathomed up in your brain somewhere
or you're less of a person because you have bi-polar.

some of the responses...

Stigma is a huge issue... sadly. I would like to think it's getting a bit better since I was first diagnosed in 2001...
I think it has a little- at least people talk about it now.

When I was first diagnosed and told my eventual husband... he literally said to me "bipolar people shoot people"...

sometimes the media will still shine a negative light on bipolar disorder- but I always remember I am a person
living with bipolar disorder... not bipolar- it doesn't
define me that way anymore.

______________

I try not to think about how people perceive me.
Of course I can't help it and it starts racing through
my mind and get obsessed about it. Some people ask questions, some don't. That's how I look at it.

________

In my opinion, the stigma is hit or miss depending
on how receptive the person we are discussing it with is.
I think our perception of the stigma depends on whether
WE have accepted our illness or not also.

___________

I have told people of my illness and they stare oddly
at me and that hurts especially when my ex husband divorced me when i was newly diagnosed ... I deal
with it by knowing i am ok with me me now
and that's all that matters.

________

most people do not want to be around out of sorts
people, they do strange things and talk about things
that are not normal...

Well i wouldn't tell my boss (when i had one) ...
i'd say i've got the flu.

mental illnesses i feel the need to hide from people
who may judge me although it doesn't take long in my company to realize i'm fucked up

________

People think that those with bp are crazy.
That's why you just cant tell anybody. They treat us
like we are second class citizens or something.

_________

bp may have a stigma, but when i think of my illness,
i think about the chemical imbalance not the stigma.
i worked as a health care professional before my illness changed my life and and was a stay at home dad
as well as care giver for my in-laws till their deaths.

i saw how mental illness worked when I was nursing
and so many did not embrace their illness. that i believe
is the first step in moving forward.

_________

yes, there is absolutely a stigma...at least once a week
i feel i overhear "oh he/she is nuts, he/she must be bipolar". once i heard at a sub shop "they are playing different kinds
of music back to back, i guess it's bipolar day". wtf ?

altho i am really glad i finally got a diagnosis, i am sad
to have an illness that so many people are still afraid of.
i could not even get individual insurance when i was
living in california because i was bipolar.
that is just wrong.

my response...

I never really asked myself this question,
so I'm glad you have raised it!

One way is I get angry, and then I write about what
life is like with BP, I make art and create comics
about it. It seems to help...

I study - to learn more about BP, and about mental
health in general. I've learned about the huge contributions
that people with BP have made to the world in the arts
and other fields, and how many people I admire
have carried on with it.

There are times when I also go into denial about
the existence of that stigma. I know denial is usually
seen as a bad thing to do, but I think it can have its uses.
I put it in people's faces. I don't usually bring it up,
but if someone else does, I'll go there and try to
educate them - informed by that learning mentioned
above and my own experience.

I also don't define myself by it. I am who I am, I have
my good points and bad points but I am no more defined
by my health issue than my brother was
when he had lymphoma.

- to be continued -

learn more at Stop Stigma

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That's Just Crazy Talk

Since being diagnosed as bipolar, there are words
i don't use as easily or that no longer mean the same
thing to me as they once did.

neither am i as confident as i used to be that my understanding of them is the same as anyone else's.

one of those words is "reality".

"I became insane with long intervals
of horrible sanity."

Edgar Allen Poe

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living,
It's a way of looking at life through the
wrong end of a telescope.

Which is what I do, and that enables you
to laugh at life's realities.

Dr. Seuss

Sometimes the appropriate response
to reality is to go insane.

Philip K. Dick

"Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment
to an insane world."
RD Laing

Bipolar Good Days

Intelligence Linked to Bipolar Disorder

“It is plausible to assume that subjects having the ability to rapidly process information may share the same neurobiological characteristics as subjects who develop mania, a state characterized by high alertness and psychomotor activity. It is tempting to speculate that good arithmetic or psychomotor performance may have contributed in human evolution to the persistence of bipolar disorder, which is strongly genetically transmitted and associated with a high mortality rate.”

... a very interesting article about
some recent research in Sweden.

You Know You're Depressed when... 2

sometimes, "inspiration" is
the last thing i want.

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