Elyn Saks is a brave, brave lady….
Those of us willing to be open about bipolar disorder or schizophrenia are too rare. It’s really sad that if you have cancer everyone is sympathetic, but if you have a mental disorder people shy away from you or cuts you off. Those of us who have been there know how tough the loss of friends and sometimes even family can be. It’s a hard thing to be open enough to even blog about it, much less write a book. Namaste, Elyn…
A Law Professor on Living with Schizophrenia – Newsweek Health – MSNBC.com
It’s clear from your book you not only had good health care but friends and family who were adept at managing and coping with your psychosis. Many people with schizophrenia aren’t as lucky, right?
I say most of my success has been due to luck—to have supportive family and friends, to respond to medication and to have the resources to get proper care. There are a lot of people who have schizophrenia and bipolar disorder who do not have resources and can’t get help. Mine is a story of someone who did well with good treatment. One of the tragedies of our system is that most people don’t get the kind of help they need and if they got treatment, they could be much happier and higher-functioning
Why did you write the book?To give hope to those who suffer from schizophrenia and understanding to those who don’t. I hope to give a window into the mind of someone who acutely suffered from psychosis. It seems to me if people understand, they’re going to be less likely to be frightened, less likely to be hostile, and hopefully the stigma will decrease. Obviously the stigma is bad for a lot of reasons, including that it discourages people from getting help.
How did your colleagues respond to your memoir?About a month ago the book started circulating around the office and this person said I’m really glad I didn’t know you had a mental illness because I never would have gone out to dinner with you. In a way it’s stunning, but in another way I was glad she felt comfortable enough to tell me. The stigma is so powerful even good, and well-meaning people can’t always get beyond their fears.
3 Responses
I’ve found that *any* illness that won’t get better largely by itself is treated with fear and ostracism – and that most definitely includes cancer. When my mom was diagnosed, a whole lot of people came around with the obligatory expressions of sympathy and then were never seen again. That happens a lot; I saw tons of it when I did home-living assistance work.
That being said, I think mental illness carries the additional stigma of “mental illness=crazy=Jason Voorhees.” I’ve been guilty of it, too. I took on a client who was both bipolar and schizophrenic, and I did it pretty reluctantly. I knew he wasn’t going to chop me up, but I had no real idea what to expect beyond that. What I got was a really nice guy who freely admitted that I didn’t want to see him off his meds. In the end, if no one had told me, I wouldn’t have known. Knowing was better, though; I got a lesson I needed and won’t forget.
Yes, I agree. A very brave lady when she could have “passed.”
I am going through severe anxiety! I have thoughts that there is someone outside my house that is going to kill me and other crazy thoughts I dont beleive my thoughts but I do get severe anxiety cause sometimes I get to the point that with my anxiety that maybe something bad is going to happen. I work as a prison guard and I dont know if that has gotten me so paranoid or maybe I have a serious mental illness?