Autumn Rose
Answer to Reader Question 3:
Sherry- my mother’s doesn’t think I am sick. She wants me to get a job and DO SOMETHING WITH MY LIFE! I tell her that I’m trying my best and that I’m taking my meds and that I need more help. What can I do?
My answer:
Do you have a counselor to talk to? Someone who you can talk to you about your mother’s and your situation? Maybe he or she could shed some light on why your mother wants you to get a job and help you with therapy and medication through the help of a doctor. Reaching out to another person who has a different perspective is good and helpful. NAMI (National Alliance of Mental Illness) has a Family to Family class where people with a loved one or family member can go to get information about mental illness, learn about treatments and evaluations for their family member, and get a reality check and feedback. Maybe you could talk to a good friend about this class, and she in turn could mention it to your mother. You could read and keep NAMI literature around your house to communicate about how you feel about your mental health to your mother. Give the organization a call. NAMI’s main number is 703-524-7600. NAMI also has a class for people who have a mental illness called Peer to Peer. When they go to this class, they talk to their peers about their experiences with mental illness and they develop coping skills and learn how to improve their social, emotional, and psychological events of their lives. There are vocational rehabilitation centers like North Star Clubhouse which was a program of NAMI Multnomah, but now a program of Luke-Dorf, that helps people develop their skills for working and for socializing. I recommend reading my book, Sherry Goes Sane: Living A Life With Schizo-Affective Disorder, to see how I created a plan called Sherry’s Master Plan to face the tough times and evaluate when I was going illogically off with my disorder. Julie A. Fast has written a book called Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder that will also be of help to you. Sherry
Arts and Writing by Sherry 