Mental Illness-Personal Narrative Analysis

I went to the appointment on that Monday, and being a bigger hospital, I was even more terrified. We checked in, and luckily found a spot to sit in one of the waiting room. The room wasn’t filled with sadness or negativity, it was somehow filled with laughter. There were many children, therefore some of the parents had brought coloring book for them. I just wanted to know what these children were at the hospital for. They seemed to be the most charming children ever, and I just couldn’t understand why whatever they're going through was happening to them. My parents had left to buy coffee,

My mind, my leg and body are now a battle zone, a battle of emotions, cancer and pain.

Anxiety disorders, which include panic disorder, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, disorder, and specific phobias, are rather prevalent in our society, with at least 1/3 of people in the United States meeting the diagnosis for an anxiety disorder during their lifetime. Fear, worry, and panic attacks are among the common key characteristics of these disorders and these as well as other symptoms can have a debilitating effect on an individual’s ability to function.

Stigma has been said to be “a feeling of being negatively differentiated owing to a particular condition, group membership or state in life”(Arboleda-Florez & Stuart, 2012, p. 458). There are typically two types of mental illness stigma that are discussed. Public stigma, also known as societal stigma, is the stigma associated with the prejudicial attitudes the public holds towards those people who suffer from mental illness (Arboleda-Florez & Stuart, 2012; Corrigan, Markowitz, Watson, Rowan & Kubiak, 2003). Self-stigma, also known as internalized stigma, is the loss of self-esteem, withdrawal, and personal shame that some with mental illness will experience. Self-stigma is usually developed when those who suffer from mental illness associate the negative stereotypes the public holds with themselves (Chronister, Chou, & Lieo, 2013; Corrigan et al., 2003).

I’m sorry Ms. Wiles for causing your door to creak late into first period my sophomore year. I’m sorry the last three months of second semester I was only ever on time or actually there four times. I wanted to go to your class but I got anxiety thinking about walking in and everyone staring, then you having to redirect everyone's attention. I also didn’t want you to be upset with me. So I just thought showing up the next day wouldn’t be as stressful. At the time I was careless and had this mindset of oh well, I’m late, might as well not show up. Or I’m late might as well be extra late. This is actually my second time writing this apology letter. I never gave you the first one because I just felt awkward giving it to you, but I’ve had more

Roemer & Orsillo (2002) indicate a general anxiety disorder is unlikely to remit on its own, remains more chronic than panic disorder, and leads to increased functional impairment and increased health care cost. Generalized anxiety disorder creates excessive worry in numerous fields such as schoolwork, social interactions and family wellness and safety topics. (Connelly & Bernstein, 2007) The challenges faced by clinicians are in finding out whether the fears and anxiety represent

Before beginning this personal narrative, I read and re-read the instructions. They clearly stated that one must be able to describe a health, illness or healing experience in detail. I guess I must consider myself fortunate that I haven’t had much to associate with illness. The people dearest to my heart have been mostly healthy. As a family we had not had much experience with hospitals. Besides an occasional visit to the doctor for a cold or a general checkup, our encounters with doctors had been minimal. Personally, I don’t like doctors or medication; the less medical attention I seek the better. However, I am grateful to live in a country that offers a free health care.

His eyes were kind and concerned, as I suspect all doctors to be, and he repeated the nurse's question “what's going on?” the question bounced around my mind for a few seconds, but as I went to give my answer my mother was already speaking for me, after all I was only a teenager, I couldn’t really decipher how I was feeling (or at least that’s what they told me.) Then he turned to me and pulled his stethoscope out to listen to my slow nervous breaths, “it sounds clear” he stated, “It’s not asthma” my mother looked relieved as if that was what made the room uneasy. He once again faced my mother and sighed “ I think the episodes are minor anxiety attacks.” They both looked at me with somber eyes. After our conversations became redundant, he gave me the option of therapy or medication, “medication,” I stated as if the answer was obvious, because for me it was, therapy was not something I would consider. We agreed on starting with the medication Zoloft on low dosage. The days following my diagnosis were uncomfortable, my family spoke to me in low easy tones as if I was breakable, and I spent long periods of time in solitude. However, with this solace I was able to uncover my true self. I realized my love for my academics, and my desire to advance our world. Nevertheless, I was seen as a fragile piece of glass, something to be handled with grace and comfort, but I had not changed, the label had only made me

I want to say how sorry I am about some of the things that I say to you when I am so angry with you. I can’t ever justify those things. I wish that I had an explanation for why I am so brutal. I will admit to trying to hurt you. I should never fight like this, but I can’t explain my schizophrenic nature.

It came in waves. It started when I was 14 years old, in my 8th grade year. While I have no idea what triggered this, I do know that it was a six-year long slope of mental health degradation pushing me to my breaking point, depriving me of sleep, energy, and my own identity. Unfortunately for me, my family has always been skeptical and critical of mental health issues. My parents always taught me that mental health is a scam and those who claim to have an issue are simply weak. So, it may not be much of a surprise that when I approached my mother about what I was experiencing, she screamed "No, you do not have a problem! You need to grow up!" Her words still ring in my head, and I still remember thinking, I am alone. I have nowhere to turn

First, we got the phone call that my great aunt Janelle was sent to the hospital in an ambulance at two o’clock in the morning. We got the next phone call a couple hours later telling us the doctors didn't think she was going to make it through the night which she fought through the night. We went up to see her the next day in the hospital, she was sedated, intubated and had a pacemaker keeping her alive. Her kidneys had failed and she had to do dialysis throughout the week. We continued to love on and get closer to family and friends more than we normally do. Throughout the week she kept getting better one day she began to open her eyes acknowledging that we were there, we knew she was a fighter and she was going to fight through this. The

I sat uncomfortably with my knees supporting my chin while staring out into the yard of what seemed like an endless row of brick walls, which included our privy.

There was a time when I had nobody to forgive, nothing to darken my thoughts. The majority of people do not experience things like genuine betrayal, or sheer anger, if they experience it at all, until their later years. Along with this, people usually do not experience these types of traumatic events with somebody in their own family. However, this was my reality at the age of 14 years old. Now, this is not going to consist of me feeling sorry for myself, or asking for sympathy, because it would defeat the purpose of everything that I have already had the opportunity to learn. They say that life is not so much about what happens to you, but more so about the way you react to these things. Now, this situation was not just a friend who gossiped

There are many stigmas, or misconceptions and misperceptions in our society which need to be shattered. I believe that one of the worse possible effects of stigma is that it causes those affected by psychological disorders, or mental illness, to crawl more deeply into themselves because it provokes a sense of shame. Stigma thrusts those suffering with mental illness into a sense of isolation, social exclusion, and discrimination. “Stigma can lead to discrimination … It may be obvious or direct … Or it may be unintentional or subtle…” (Staff). Stigma is often as big as the illness itself and I confess to having been a perpetuator of this dreaded thing, although not consciously aware and without the intent of furthering the harm of someone.

The great array of psychological disorders can be daunting when first cracking open the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fifth edition, also known as the DSM V. Fortunate for me, my predilection for learning more about panic disorder made selecting a psychological disorder a rather simple task. Panic disorder is a specific variation of anxiety disorders recognized by the American Psychiatric Association in the DSM V. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (2011), panic disorders are fairly common and as many as twenty percent of people who receive primary health care experience an anxiety disorder or depression. The DSM V (2013) refers to panic disorders as recurrent panic attacks, which are a sudden onset of intense fear or discomfort that intensifies to its maximum level within minutes. The duration of each panic attack varies from one episode to the next. Four out of thirteen physical and cognitive symptoms recognized by the American Psychiatric Association occur during an episode in order for it to be officially classified as a panic attack. These physical and cognitive symptoms include: palpitations, pounding heart or accelerated heart rate, sweating, trembling or shaking, sensations of shortness of breath or smothering, feelings of choking, chest pain or discomfort, nausea or abdominal