When it comes to treating an ailing heart, a damaged liver, or some other organ that’s malfunctioning, medication is rarely considered optional. When the brain is ill, however, you can find plenty of people who discourage the use of medications to treat it. There seems to be a widely held, unspoken belief that brains don’t get sick. Many people seem to think that when a person’s thoughts or behaviors show symptoms of mental illness, the individual just needs to change his thinking or behavior. He needs to will himself out of it or, to put it in the common vernacular, “just snap out of it” or “calm down.”
In today’s post on Bipolar Beat, we ask the question, “Do You Feel Stigmatized by Your Bipolar Medications?” We invite you to read the post and share your experiences and insights.
I do feel stigmatised sometimes from all my meds. I have gotten comments from people about changing my thinking just will yourself or pray yourself better. I have wuit taking my meds a few times and always ended up in the psych ward. Now I am on them and glad to be stable. Bottom line you have to do what works and stick to it no matter what.
I earned a Ph.D. in history. I believe a number of faculty members did not feel that because I was on psychiatric meds that my brain could be creative to do the work. It never was said openly, but one instructor put ten copies of a letter in my file from a psychiatrist reqeusting for a reasonable accomodation of two additional weeks to complete a paper due to a flareup of my psychiatric condition. Though I was an A and B student certain members of the faculty including my advisor attempted to advise me to leave the program. This unprofessional behavior by the faculty made it difficult for me to keep a strong self-esteem. After graduating my advisor refused to assist me in finding gainful employment in my field.
I am afraid of telling my management about my disorder. What’s anyone’s experience in taking time off work? What process did you take? Steps? How was life when you chose to go back or not?