Category : Articles

Sub Category : Miscellaneous

We all can be vulnerable sometimes. Some people go through severe physical pain where every second of their existence is pure agony. Some people struggle with depression and other mental illnesses. These hidden disabilities hinder people useless when they bare their evil head. I have struggled with mental illness. Sometimes it's so severe that I hallucinate and loose touch with reality. Medication has helped some, but under certain circumstances things still happen. I have been admitted to a psychiatric hospital about 22 times since 1999. I have seen things people have only imagined in their wildest dreams. I have been in restraints. These restraints are about 3×5, made out of hard plastic, closed with a padllock. This occurred because i was in a manic episode, and i was harmful to myself and other people. Seclusion was another instance. This octogonal room held only a bare mattress on the floor. Wire mesh covered the single window. A video camera tracked my every move. 

Psychiatric hospitals are much more civilized now, the lobotomy doesn't really exist anymore. Now there is a such thing as a chemical lobotomy. Shock treatments are still used. But they too are more civilized. The person is put under anesthesia, so they really aren't awake when they get shocked. Shock treatments are used as a last resort, if medication doesn't help a person's depression. And there are side effects like temporarily loosing one's short term memory.

But whatever i go through, there is always a light on at the end of the tunnel. I have learned to stay positive. I need to stay positive.