Mental Illness. You Are Not Alone
I have started this blog for the third time. I have struggled with how to write a blog on mental illness. What information do I share? Will I cover the key points? Will I provide my readers the information they need to know? Then I thought, wow, my anxiety over writing this blog is a form of my own mental illness. So, I am not giving in to my anxiety and I am just going with what is on my mind.
This blog is from the heart.
Mental Illness is THE most misunderstood, undiagnosed, untreated, untrained, unresolved, not cared about sickness in America.
Anxiety, Depression, Eating Disorders, Bipolar, OCD, PTSD, ADHD, Addiction, Disassociation, Schizophrenia, psychosis, hysteria are just a few, a few, of the types of mental illness.
We do not have enough resources available to research the diseases, nor to help people who are mentally sick.
Years of labeling someone as "crazy" because they are different affects the mentally ill. We live in a society that does not want to embrace the differences in people, but instead wants to tear down and destroy those people who do not conform to their ways. "They are different, they act weird, they are crazy" are the ways that they will label you to remove you from their society.
This outlook from society over the years has built a reluctance of mentally ill people to come forward for treatment, and created a lack of support systems, training of professionals, and the necessary care to help the mentally ill.
We also have to deal with the fast paced world that this society has created. Everyone is always busy. Many mentally ill people feel alone and that they can't reach out for help because people are too busy and do not have time for them. While people are busy trying to get to the top of society, the mentally ill are drowning.
The treatment for mentally ill people is difficult. The lack of resources to find the causes of the illness hampers those who are willing to help.
Most mentally ill people are put on prescription medication and sent home hoping "the pill" will do the job to help get the patient to the next day.
If they need safety and need to be put in a hospital to be under guarded care by the doctor, they are usually out in 3 days due to health insurance requirements. This limits the needed care and further endangers the patients well being.
I am speaking from experience.
I love someone who battles mental illness. My soulmate battles a long line of mental illness. She fights depression. She fights anxiety. She is OCD. She has ADHD. She has PTSD from her childhood. The list goes on. She is also a Survivor with the word "Continue" tattooed on her wrist to remind her to not give up, but to continue to fight on.
She has sought help. She has been in the hospital three times for help. Released in three days all three times. The experiences got worse each time and actually made her mental illness worse. She was given medication that made her a zombie and offered a small outpatient program. Having to figure out how to take care of her family and trying to make time to attend this small program created even more anxiety for her.
We have to do more to take care of the mentally ill. We have to do more to train professionals in line of work on how to handle mental illness. We need to teach employers how to handle mental illness in the workplace. We need better programs and procedures. We need to get away from prescription medication and use more natural remedies to help the issues of the mind.
Being a caretaker of a loved one who is mentally ill is tiring and frustrating. All you can do is support them, help them, stand with them and not take their illness purposely. It hurts me to see my loved one sick and not able to receive the care she needs in society.
What did our Ancestor's do about mental illness?
Early civilizations relied on shamans, mystics, priests and other approved healers to treat mental illness. They would use rituals, incantations, and offerings to bring healing to the mentally ill.
Many believed mental illness was due to loss of the soul. Shamans would do a ritual called soul retrieval and travel to the traumatic event that caused the soul to leave. They would reunite the soul with the body and bring about the cure for the mental illness.
Ancient Romans believed that bathing could treat depression. They also believed that psychosis could be treated by drawing blood. Hallucinations were not unusual in Rome. The hallucinations were seen as the voices of a divine figure and considered messages from the God's. Socrates was known to have regular hallucinations. Thoughts and feelings were not considered to be mental illness, the focus was on the behavior.
Ultimately the focus of our Ancestors was for the treatment and cure for the individual. They identified mental illness as a sickness and set out to help those who suffered from it.
It is the opposite today. Today, the cure is not sought. Today's matrix wants people who are mentally ill confined, drugged and removed from the world. It's the mentality of keeping those who are down, down while the rich get richer.
Mental Illness is a major issue in our country. Until we decide to take control and destroy the programming of the matrix, it is not going to get any better.
Until we decide to go back to our culture. To return to our Ancestors, Mental illness will continue to get worse.
Come to the fire with me. Journey to meet the ancestors with me. Let's fight mental illness together.
If you're struggling today, there is support and help available. You can always call @800273TALK, or text TALK to 741741 at the @CrisisTextLine – both available 24/7, 365 days a year. You are not alone. ❤️
By Michael Walters
The Ancestor's Fire
Writing the voices of the unheard
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