NAMI Blog

"I get up every morning to finish my new degree because I hope I can help people who are in crisis with words, not tasers. I help people with mental illness because I hope I can be that voice of educated experience that I never had after my first manic episode."

Family members of someone experiencing psychosis often struggle to communicate with their loved one. However, learning effective communication strategies for this situation can be helpful. Here are the strategies that worked for Kim and her family. 

"How does a 30-year-old mom of two, with no previous history of mental illness get admitted to the psych ward? I’ll tell you how: with the very unexpected onset of postpartum psychosis."

In our communitites, we need to make an effort through education and trainings to learn more about how to help someone who is experiencing psychosis. 

"As the medications began to take effect. I very sadly started to realize that I was not a prophet. I was just a very sick person. I remain convinced to this day that I became psychotic trying make sense of our world."

"I slowly started to understand that I have a very severe mental illness. I could no longer deny it. So instead, I wanted to find a way to cope with it."

"Because of the love, support and compassion of my family, my treatment team and the people at my church, I am able to say I have come a long way."

"Mental illness doesn’t have to be the one definition of who we are. Though mental illness is a devastating diagnosis, I firmly believe we can overcome our limitations to live a life of satisfaction." 

"Ten years and nine hospitalizations later, I found that there is not just one kind of “alone.” There are scary alones, lonely alones, secret alones, alones in solace and alones that are empowering.  As people with mental illness, we often travel through these different alones."

"When my depression hits, my body feels restricted, as though a weight I cannot see has made a home on my chest. The only thing I latch onto is knowing I’ve come out of it before. I think we all need that one thread to help pull us through."