My Story: Writing about Mental Illness Heals Me
I find it hard to contain my story in just one thousand-odd words. It seems that there could be a whole tome the size of the DSM to chronicle all the mental illness-tinged happenings in the life of Mary L. Sukala. Out of 19 years of existence, I had a few short years at the beginning that weren’t touched by some extent of personal issues. But there is one sunny side to the unpleasantness: the thousands of pieces of writing that have butterflied out of my mind through the hurt. My freshman year of high school was not an easy one. The bipolar disorder and anxiety that had been lurking in the background up to that point snaked out of the woodwork. Every morning at gym, my heart rate would skyrocket …show more content…
I composed a research paper on psychiatric meds, a short essay on the effect of literature on eating disorders on the Pro-Anorexia movement. A solid 80% of the work that I did was centered on mental illness. Even when I had a blog on my religious journey as a project, mental health still elbowed its way into the work with anecdotes on my brief romantic fling in the psych ward two years prior connected to my then-current plans to become a nun. That same year I also started up a new blog, The Deep End Diaries. It reached a wider scope of readers than my first blog. Over the year and a half that I have had it in the works, I have gotten a plethora of notes from people saying that it gave them hope or inspiration or even just a laugh when they needed it the …show more content…
I have adopted the role of “mental health advocate,” and it’s one of the most fulfilling things I’ve done in my short life. It takes all of the psychological grime and makes it into art, and there’s nothing more exciting nor rewarding than that for me. I’m going to start taking online classes towards an English degree this fall, and I intend to continue with my writing career and doing my best to connect to people who have no one who understands the crushing pain wrought by their psychological
I find it hard to contain my story in just one thousand-odd words. It seems that there could be a whole tome the size of the DSM to chronicle all the mental illness-tinged happenings in the life of Mary L. Sukala. Out of 19 years of existence, I had a few short years at the beginning that weren’t touched by some extent of personal issues. But there is one sunny side to the unpleasantness: the thousands of pieces of writing that have butterflied out of my mind through the hurt. My freshman year of high school was not an easy one. The bipolar disorder and anxiety that had been lurking in the background up to that point snaked out of the woodwork. Every morning at gym, my heart rate would skyrocket …show more content…
I composed a research paper on psychiatric meds, a short essay on the effect of literature on eating disorders on the Pro-Anorexia movement. A solid 80% of the work that I did was centered on mental illness. Even when I had a blog on my religious journey as a project, mental health still elbowed its way into the work with anecdotes on my brief romantic fling in the psych ward two years prior connected to my then-current plans to become a nun. That same year I also started up a new blog, The Deep End Diaries. It reached a wider scope of readers than my first blog. Over the year and a half that I have had it in the works, I have gotten a plethora of notes from people saying that it gave them hope or inspiration or even just a laugh when they needed it the …show more content…
I have adopted the role of “mental health advocate,” and it’s one of the most fulfilling things I’ve done in my short life. It takes all of the psychological grime and makes it into art, and there’s nothing more exciting nor rewarding than that for me. I’m going to start taking online classes towards an English degree this fall, and I intend to continue with my writing career and doing my best to connect to people who have no one who understands the crushing pain wrought by their psychological