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A Guided Mental Illness Journal & Workbook: Build Confidence and Coping Skills

23 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by A Journey With You in articles I wrote, bipolar, caregivers, heroes, hope, mental illness, relationships, schizophrenia, stigma, travel, Uncategorized, writing

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anxiety, Art, artists, author, exercises, healing, heath, hope, mental health, mentally ill, recovery, schizophrenia], self care, self-confidence, wellness, workbook, writing, writing prompts

Here is the cover of my new guided journal/workbook. It contains writing prompts, tasks, and exercises to think more creatively, increase motivation, learn new skills and basically help you think past the symptoms of mental illness. I will be donating 10% of my royalties to Third Avenue Charitable Organization (TACO) to help with the work they do with the homeless and low income in my community. Many of the people they serve have a mental illness. The workbook is available on Amazon.

20180921_104418

Being Fair To Writers

02 Wednesday Dec 2015

Posted by A Journey With You in mental illness, schizophrenia, Uncategorized, writing

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Art, author, bloggers, Blogging, books, hope, inspiration, mental illness, mentally ill, schizophrenia, suicide, writer, writing

I know I have encouraged all of you whose blogs I follow to keep writing, because you never know who you will reach, or who you will touch. Well, I had one of those experiences today. The author, Carmiel Banasky, contacted me today about the blog post I wrote a week or so ago about her book, The Suicide of Claire Bishop. You can find my post here.  

I did not go easy on this author who created a fictional character with schizophrenia. I questioned much of her work even before reading the book. Well, I will spend the rest of my day reading her book, because I just downloaded it onto my Kindle. Why the urgency? I feel like I owe it to the author to actually read the book and see how she actually creates the world of a character with schizophrenia.

So, as a writer who wants people to be fair to me, I am going to spend the day reading Carmiel’s book in order to be fair to her. I have to say upfront that she wrote me a very nice letter, and she was very concerned about the use of the word, “schizophrenic.”  I can honestly say she comes off as a caring and kind person – one who would not intentionally contribute to a negative view of schizophrenia. She won points with me.

And to all of you who blog, keep up the good work, you are making a difference!

 

 

If You Were To Make Me A Character In Your Writing, What Would You Say?

28 Wednesday Oct 2015

Posted by A Journey With You in mental illness, schizophrenia, writing

≈ 22 Comments

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author, college, creative nonfiction, delusions, disability, mental illness, mentally ill, paranoia, psychiatry, psychology, reality, schizophrenia, symptoms, writer, writing

I am taking a creative nonfiction class online from UCLA. One of the students in the class wrote an essay about himself and a relative or friend of his, whose name is, Richard. I loved the way the author of the story described Richard – wearing a helmet, slapping his hands to his head, wringing his hands, excited hoots and hollers. By the way that the author described Richard it was obvious to the reader that Richard had a disability of some kind, but the author never labels Richard, and he never discloses the disability. Richard is just a person with unique characteristics.

This made me think about my illness. How would another writer describe me, letting the reader know that I have a disability, but never naming the disability? What would be written? What could a writer say about my behavior that might help a reader guess that I have schizophrenia without spelling it out?

Of course, the writer could make it easy, and say that I was talking to voices that no one else could see, but that wouldn’t be an accurate portrayal of my everyday life.

The writer could also tell the readers that I believe some elaborate conspiracy theory about aliens, or a secret government agency, but again, that wouldn’t be an accurate portrayal of my everyday life.

In order to be true to my real experience. The author would have to know me very well, or be a very keen observer, in order to detect my symptoms and describe them accurately to a reader.

This imaginary writer, who is writing about me, without labeling me, but wanting the reader to know I have a disability, would probably start out by having me eating a meal. S/he could say that I thought my food tasted funny and have me end up either pushing my food around my plate pretending to eat a little bit of it, or changing my plate of food for whatever my husband may have ordered.

The writer could have my husband and I traveling on an airplane. I might be visibly agitated. My husband trying to do everything to distract and comfort me. I may end up taking a pill and later calming down enough to play hangman with my husband or read an article.

The writer might have me at a conference, or with a group of people and then follow me home, where I can’t get comfortable. I walk between my bedroom and my living room. I curl up on my bed for a few minutes and then get up and go to the computer to check my e-mail. Nothing I do seems to make me happy. I am agitated. I may end up taking a pill and going to sleep for half of an hour. I wake up and I no longer need to move from room to room.

No matter how the writer described me, if s/he was true to my daily experiences, then it is doubtful that the reader would guess that my  disability is schizophrenia.

I find both joy and sorrow in this reality. I find joy knowing that my illness isn’t easily identifiable, I find sorrow knowing that the stereotypes are so ingrained in our culture that few if any could recognize a severe mental illness if they had a description of symptoms described to them.

Like Richard, I am just a unique character, that needs no label. I hope a writer would handle me with so much affection, compassion, and care.

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