From The Inside

From the Inside

Issues relating to mental health are primarily presented "from the outside"-- by doctors, scientists, and other professionals who observe the behavior of others. While such perspectives are indeed valuable, they are limited in their ability to make sense of (and help others make sense of) such issues. To encourage a diversity of perspectives, the following links provide accounts "from the inside"-- by people experiencing and addressing mental health issues in their own lives and/or in the lives of family and friends.

On Serendip
David Hume: A Letter to a Physician "It is a weakness rather than a lowness of spirits which troubles me... a coldness and desertion of the spirit..."

Measure for Measure: An Artistic Exploration of Eating Disorders, Body Image, and the Self by Janna Stern - a gallery of images and on-line forum exploring the Mythology of Eating Disorders.

A Story about Grace by Mariellen Gilpin; "...Basically, grace means gift from God. Examples are better than definitions, so maybe it'll help if I tell you a story about God's grace. It's a story connected with my mental illness..."

A Personal Experience of Learning About Bipolar Disorder by Debbie Plotnick; "... My daughter Ashley, an engaging, highly intelligent, beautiful and artistically talented teenager, suffers from a life threatening genetic illness. It is an illness of extremes with a high, some estimates are as much as 20%, mortality rate. It is sometimes, as with my daughter, difficult to treat. It is always difficult for those so afflicted and their families. The contemporary nomenclature for this disease is Bi-Polar Disorder (1). But I prefer the more descriptive, no longer politically correct name, Manic Depression..."

An autobiographical essay by Ashley Plotnick; "...My strife was not against poverty or hunger, nor family or society; it was against myself..."

From Biblical Times to Today: What Has Changed and What Hasn't Changed about Epilepsy by Patricia Palermo; "... The value of evaluating a person's experience with epilepsy during biblical times, in comparison to a person's experience today, is to recognize two main things. Shame and secrecy are not exclusive to either time period's approach to handling this disease..."

Getting to the Same Place Along Different Paths: The Scale of Humanness; "... Sam has PDD, a developmental disorder on the autism spectrum. As a result, he often sees things quite differently than other children, and sometimes his perception can be breathtakingly clear..."

Breaking the Silence: Mental Health Issues at Bryn Mawr College - a conversation from the Making Sense of Diversity series.

Elsewhere on the web
The Body Image Project - "The Body Image Project is an online project searching for women and girls of all ages to share their individual experiences and feelings about their own body image perceptions. The goal of the project is to have women and girls take the brave step of sharing their story, break the hold these perceptions have and ultimately reveal to those who share and those who read the thoughts of others – you are not alone."

Patient Voices: A.D.H.D. (NY Times article)

'Mad Pride' Fights a Stigma (NY Times article)

Pain an Art Form (NY Times article) and related Pain Exhibit

Prosopagnosia (Face-Blindness)

Reflections on Depression

Borderline Dilemma: The Way It Was For Me

The Trouble With Spikol: A blog about mental health by Liz Spikol, managing editor of Philadelphia Weekly; "This blog is about mental illness policy, news, personal journeys and more."

Living With Love, Chaos and Haley - a series of New York Times articles and videos about a young girl with "multiple, complex diagnoses" and her family.

Institute for the Neurologically Typical

New York City Voices - a consumer journal for mental health advocacy

"Eleven Personal Stories" on McMan's Depression and Bipolar Web

Medication: A Foundation for Recovery - a paper by Ed Francell, a member of the Board of Directors of the Treatment Advocacy Center who has himself been diagnosed with manic-depression

Living Manic Depressive: A Biopolar and Depression Website

MadNOTBad- "...This site is the realm of the mental health 'Service User' and those close to them - the carer, family or friend. By collating examples of their experiences, opinions and creativity I am hoping to help illuminate the darkness that surrounds mental ill health. To foster the idea that being 'mad' doesn't make you 'bad' and that it's ok to talk about it. Let's challenge the stigma..."

Our Bipolar Stories from Bipolar World.net

What Does Depression Feel Like?: A forum on Wings Of Madness

Understanding OCD - personal accounts of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

The Pathway to Recovery - In Their Own Words - personal accounts of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

The Experience of Schizophrenia - a personal account of schizophrenia along with articles about medication, therapy, etc. written by the same author

People Say I'm Crazy - website of artist and film maker John Cadigan

Caring Online - personal stories about eating disorders

The Icarus Project - "We are a network of people living with experiences that are commonly labeled as bipolar or related madness. We believe we have a dangerous gift to be cultivated and taken care of, rather than a disease or disorder to be suppressed or eliminated."

Related reading

• Unholy Ghost: Writers on Depression edited by Nell Casey
• An Unquiet Mind: A Memori of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison; see Serendip's Bookshelves for reviews.
• Night Falls Fast, a compilation of both scientific information about suicide as well as personal accounts.
• Darnkess Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron
• Win the Battle by Bob Olson
• Quiet Room: A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness
• Tormenting Thoughts and Secret Rituals: The Hidden Epidemic of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder a collection of individual stories as well as personal accounts by the author/editor Ian Osborn

Contributing
In the spirit of Serendip, thoughts, contributions, and ideas for additions/changes are both invited and encouraged. Visitors are welcomed to post comments and thoughts using the form below or may also submit comments directly to Serendip.