
In today’s world Mental health is not talked about a lot. We need to end the stigma of this and talk about it and how it affects our life each day. There is many types of Mental health illnesses. I will list just a few of them but i am sure there are more as well.
- Anxiety disorders
- Behavioral and emotional disorders ( Such as ADHD, ADD, )
- Bipolar ( also known as manic depression’ )
- Depression
- Treatment-Resistant Depression ( nothing works to help treat this one )
- Dissociation and dissociative disorders
- Paranoia
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Psychosis
- Schizophrenia
This is just the top 10 Mental health illness people deal with daily. As of 2020 it is said that there was 52.9 million people in the USA alone who has mental health illness’s every 1 out of 4 adults 18 and up will have been diagnosed with a mental illness. and people can suffer with more than one type of mental illness. 800,000 people die by suicide in the world each year. with 1.20M suicide attempts. Each year. And yet no one talks about any of this we need better training for the doctors for the police and nurses on how to help those who are battling mental health illness each day. Many will lose their fight and end their life’s. Suicide is a leading cause of death, especially in young people today.
Many turn to self-harm. they harm their body’s they also have suicide thoughts about ending their own life. there are different types of self-harm let’s take a look at just some of those
- Scratching, biting, or burning the skin
- Hitting or punching themselves or the walls
- Piercing their skin with sharp objects
- Pulling out hair
- Picking at scabs and wounds
- Inserting objects into the body
- Overdosing on drugs or drinking to excess
- Exercising to the point of collapse or injury
- Getting into fights in which they are likely to be hurt
- Banging head or body against walls and hard objects
- Self-cutting in to ones body most common is the wrist
After words the person as guilt and feels very shameful about this. thoughts of suicide become even more deeper at this point.
I myself have a story one i have told many times before in the hopes it will help others. So let me tell you a little about my own story.
April Marie Davis- Lorey’s story of Mental health illness
I seem to be a happy child for the most part very shy around others. I was born with the cord around me cutting my air way off. Later down the line i would fine out i had asperges Syndrome This is a form of Autism. I also have ADD. As a child I would get made fun of for my disability. I was bullied a lot throughout school. even to a point i got pushed down 2 flights of stairs at school and hit my head very hard.
I first started to notice i had depression at a young age around 7 years old however at that age i did not understand what depression was. but i felt all alone and wanted to cry a lot. By the time i was 10 years old I was raped by an older boy who lived just down the road from us he was 12 years old. I run home crying I took a bath as i felt all dirty I never told no one for years what Happen to me. I not only was depressed at age 10 but this would be my 1st time i attempted suicide by taking a bottle of vitamin’s praying it would kill me of course i ended up throwing them up and i was still alive. But from that very Pont at age 10 is when i wanted to take my life No child should ever feel the way i did.
Over the years growing up i would attempt so many times. I felt like others would be better off without me i felt so empty inside I did not want to live in this pain. Then something happens at age 14 God gave me a niece and few years later a nephew being an aunt changed my life. i was happy and came out of the bad state i was in. I had a reason to go on and to live for.
For many years i seem to be happy my depression was under control. It did come and go but was never strong enough the suicide thoughts stopped and i wanted to live. I got married in 2004 and lost both my dad and 1st unborn baby in NOV of 2004. The depression hit me once again real hard I did go on to lose 3 more than i would find out i had cancer of the womb They had to remove all to get the cancer. This caused a great depression as it meant i would have no children on this earth my babies are in heaven. I went into depression over knowing my Dream would never happen.
Then on March 26th, 2011, i got the phone call that no one wants to here. My big brother Christopher had lost his battle to Mental illness and took his life just 1 day before his 33rd Birthday and 2 months before his daughter’s 4th birthday. Chris was just 2 years older than me we had become very close in the months before he took his life, he would call 2 to 3 times a week around 1 or 2 am we would talk for a few hours at times he told me a lot of stuff
When my big brother left us it sent me in to a very dark place a place where i wanted my life to end So i made a few attempts to take my life My husband had to call my doctor because it got so bad i even turn to self-harm by cutting. I felt so lost so alone so empty inside i felt hurt and pain i wanted it to end. The doctor put me on 100 MG of Zoloft, and it did start to help me slowly get out of the dark place i found myself in.
in 2018 just 7 years after my big brother took his life Our nephew Joel Nathan age 19 took his life, I told myself i can’t allow myself to go back to the dark place i was in after my brother Chris has taken his life. Mental health illness does run in families I always say my big brother and nephew did not die by Suicide. Mental health illness is what they died from, and Suicide was the act that took their life. Many do not even understand it and yet many fully do understand it.
As of today, I battle it daily it comes in waves I have day’s That i am ok and happy full of joy then i have my days where the Depression takes over. Most my family is busy with their own Life so it’s just my husband and myself from time to time my mom. We used to get together for family holidays or just gril out as a family and be together but all that changed when my brother took his life.
There are times I feel so empty inside. I feel like no one wants me around the pain eats me up inside i feel like maybe i am better off dead at times. I feel i am worthless i feel at times my family would be better off without me in their life (this is the lie inside of me telling me i am worthless) but when you’re that low all you want is the pain to stop you cannot think of anything other than it and in order to stop the pain you have to take your life. this of course is a lie that many believe.
I fight this battle daily having Mental health illness can be hard it’s a up and down and all around like a Roller costar ride with many bumps along the way.
this is only a little of my story there is so much more. For now, my story has not ended.
Many of you have your own story your own journey and your own path to walk down. By telling your story as i just did you not only help yourself to heal but you help others to know they are not alone, and it is ok to not be ok. It is ok to cry, and it is ok to ask for help when you need it. It is hard to make the choice to stay to live to hope the rainbow comes out after the storm. It is hard to see beyond all of the hurt we are feeling.
I promise you there is HOPE and there is a Rainbow the storm wont last forever. You are strong and can get through this do not ever give up your life is worth something. Your not alone in this fight.
I will be doing a few more post on Mental health illness and have loads more facts and InfoMation to give to you But at this time I felt the need to share a little of my own story.
Lets end the Stigma on Mental health and lets talk about it and bring awareness please share your own stories with others and check on those you love in your life. Be kind and loving to everyone you come a cross. We never know if they are battling a mental illness.
I will leave you with this last message
YOU are loved. YOU are worth it. You are strong and brave YOU are amazing , Their is just one you
And why you may not see it now God has a plan for your Life/ Never ever give up
There is always HOPE.
Thanks for reading my blog post please feel free to leave me a commit either on here or on my facebook page.
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April Marie Davis-Lorey
Wife, Mother of 4 angels in heaven and 2 fur babiess.
Child of God
