I wanted to start this entry off by apologizing for my unplanned, unannounced extended hiatus. The continued consequences of the past year living on this planet has really taken it's toll on my family, mental health, finances and overall well being. As we continue this journey to get our lives as "back to normal" as possible I have once again decided to turn one of my most difficult journeys into something that we can ALL learn from. I am going to ask you to come with me on a journey...
A deep and insightful journey into the truth behind the various types of mental health disorders. As a woman about to take that leap into her forties it was very difficult to find out I had such a serious diagnosis as Bipolar disorder. Honestly it sent me into a bit of a tailspin because I didn't have a true understanding of what it means to have this diagnosis and the help that was soon to come. My mind started going so many places at once that I started losing my senses. All I could think about was how my marriage is still fairly new, we have two small children, a house, a pandemic and now THIS. My husband is probably gonna leave me and if he doesn't...maybe he should.
I've been told that there is no right or wrong way to react to a mental health diagnosis, but I do think the reactions would be less severe if we could get rid of the stigma behind it. Would I have had all of those thoughts if I didn't somehow feel like I would now be rejected by the world and/or my loved ones because of this diagnosis? The number of African Americans that have preventable mental health crises yearly is astounding. Yes I said preventable. If the African American community didn't have so much distrust in the medical community overall many of these crises would never have happened. Add the stigma behind a mental health diagnosis to the distrust and you now have millions and millions of people needing a medical diagnosis they will never receive.
After realizing this I have tasked myself with deep diving into each and every mental health disorder that exists to help myself and all of you have a true understanding of exactly what that means. There will be an entire blog dedicated to each type of diagnosis, entries from people describing their feelings about and journeys with their own mental health crises, mental health within the various races and so much more.
This project will likely last through the summer, if not the year. I will be continuously taking entries from anyone that would like their voices heard. Please feel free to submit all entry types to the chat, email, text, contact us, Facebook and/or Instagram pages. I thank you ahead of time for coming along on the journey...see you on the other side!