Community Profile

MOD - margots_coat, formerly known as ada_byron If there's a problem email me and I'll do what I need to.

Co-mod/maintainer - gwennierocks

This community is for people serious about treating their disorder. If you choose not to take meds and feel you can deal with your disease without them, that's fine - but NO anti-psychiatry posts. They will be deleted ASAP. However, I won't ban people just for not taking meds - some people can genuinely deal with their disorders and illnesses without meds. Some people just can't afford meds, pure and simple - and I'm not going to exclude people for that. However, DO NOT encourage others to go off meds! This is THE most important rule of this community. What works for you may not work for others, so don't do it. Period.

This community is for anyone in need of support, ranting, or general advice on meds, dealing with your illness, disability rights/accomadations, laws affecting the disabled, or just whining if you feel the need. Sometimes it's hard to tell friends, family, employers, professors, etc. about side effects of medications and symptoms of different mental illnesses, so we're here to listen to you and support you. If you need to cry about it, that's ok: We all need to cry about our illnesses sometimes.

Though we're not professionals, we can give advice based on our own experiences that you can take to your pdoc when you see him/her, and ask about certain meds you may not have been aware of.

This community is also here for fun, so if you have something funny to say, say it! I don't want it to all be negative. If all you can think of is something horrible that happened, RANT! But there is a sense of humor in it - we all have to laugh at ourselves every once in awhile - otherwise the disease wins.

Intro posts: I'm not that picky, really. I'd like to know your diagnosis - if you are a friend or family member of someone suffering from a mental illness, I'd like to know their diagnosis. I'd also like age, gender, what you are doing to treat your illness (not just drugs, but if you are using alternative medicine, meditation, talk therapy, etc.) I do ask that all new members introduce themselves (not necessarily with your real name if you're uncomfortable with that), so I'm not left scratching my head wondering who you are. If you don't introduce yourself, I'll just comment on your personal journal asking you to do so.

I got the idea from another community for students with mental illnesses, but I realize so many people aren't in academia and have a mental illness and have to deal with jobs, families, and other responsibilities - so I created this community for ALL of us. The community is crazy_academics, and is another good source for support.
Another good support group is schizofriends. For those involved with the mentally ill, a good support group for you would be wellpartners.

So have fun, rant, or do whatever you need to do to deal with your disease or your relationships with friends, family, etc. Just try to be considerate.

This community is not only for people living with mental illness, but for people who are care-givers of the mentally ill and need advice on how to handle and/or help them deal with their illness. Mental illness affects the entire family and social circle of the mentally ill, so anyone is welcome here. Friends or family of the mentally ill are welcome to join.

The only rules are:
1. Don't flame or troll. You will be banned. I want things to be nice here. This is a support group.
2. No anti-psychiatry talk - I don't want any encouragement towards members to go off meds!
3. If you try to convince members to go off meds - you WILL be banned. Again, this is a serious problem in mental health now, and I won't have it here. It's hard enough to get one's life together and keep it together without being encouraged to go off of medications. I guess I've stressed that rule enough. ;p
4. Make an intro post as a courtesy to other members.
5. Please f-lock all entries. This is not only for your protection, but for the protection of other members who may respond (some comments and threads can get extremely personal).
5. Those are the rules - and that's it! Have fun, get support, exchange ideas. :)


New Rule As Of April '06:

If you would like to join this community to do research for a paper, book, etc., that is fine by me. HOWEVER, BE HONEST ABOUT IT. I have no problems with people joining to ask questions - even if you aren't writing a paper or something and you just want to know what mental illness is or is like and want somewhere to ask questions, that is fine (unless I get messages from members telling me that it bothers them, in which case the rule will change - I look after members with mental illnesses or caretakers of the mentally ill first and foremost).


Famous people who have, had or are suspected to have had mental illnesses:
Clara Bow, Vivien Leigh, Winston Churchill, John Nash, Kay Redfield Jamison, Patty Duke, Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, Robert Downey Jr., Mike Wallace, Vincent Van Gogh, Lord Byron, Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Marilyn Monroe, Nancy Spungeon, Syd Barrett, Eduard Einstien (son of Albert), Peter Green, Jim Gordon, Adam Ant, Beethoven, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Baudelaire, Kurt Cobain, Charles Dickens, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ernest Hemingway, Margot Kidder, Jane Pauley, Isaac Newton, Florence Nightingale, Ben Stiller, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, Tennessee Williams, Rose Williams (sister of Tennessee), Buzz Aldrin, Mark Twain, Jim Carrey, Lisa Marie Presley, Ozzy Osbourne, Martin Luther, Billy Corgan, Princess Diana, Stephen Hawking, Trent Reznor, Anne Rice, Henry Rollins, Robert Smith, Amy Tan, James Taylor, Ed Wood Jr., Frederick Douglass, Franz Kafka, Bela Lugosi.
We're not alone.

Recommended Reading:
Kay Redfield Jamison:
1.Exuberance
2.An Unquiet Mind: Memoirs of Moods and Madness
3.Touched With Fire: A Study of Manic Depression and the Artistic Temperament

Sylvia Nassar:
A Beautiful Mind

E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.:
1.Surviving Schizophrenia
2.Surviving Manic Depression

Rebecca Woolis:
When Someone You Love Has A Mental Illness

Kim T. Meuser:
Coping With Schizophrenia: A Guide For Families

Laura Paxton:
Borderline and Beyond
(You can also get the companion workbook, which I highly recommend if you're going to order the book itself. It has helpful exercises in it designed to aid in Borderline recovery.)



I'm doing research into more reading materials to add to this list, bear with me. I'll probably add more as the days go by.

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