Mental Illness/How to Eat an Elephant

I'm Eriq Madsen and I have a mental illness. Bipolar, to be exact.

As you know, we're experiencing a major crisis in our country. People are killing themselves in large part because of a communication problem.

Often times, those with mental illnesses find it very challenging to work with their doctors and other Healthcare Providers to get the care that they need.

Healthcare Providers are falling dramatically short of the marks they should be hitting in order to serve the population of those suffering from mental illness.

That's both my experience and a fact we have to acknowledge.

It's not comfortable to look at our failures but we need to talk about what's not working. It's necessary to start a discussion about how we could improve the situation for both those giving and receiving care. In this way, we might create a positive change.

I can't unravel all of the difficulties involved with having and treating mental illnesses, but I can certainly speak from my own perspective. My own journey has been marked by far more pain and suffering than healing or progress. It's hard not to sound like a victim or be in self pity when illustrating my troubles but it's important to agree that the pain caused by mental illness is crippling. Therefore, I feel because of my personal journey, I'm empowered to advocate for those who don't have a voice. I have compassion for myself and those with no one in their corner.

I have spent an inordinate amount of time in mental health facilities and even undergone almost 40 electric shock treatments to address my depression, related to bipolar. It's fair to say we have a long journey ahead towards improving our current system. The treatment I've received did little to nothing for my symptoms and wiped out years of precious memories. I was suicidal and felt alone within the system designed to restore me and create a safe space for healing.

A system very broken and misguided.

I'm lucky enough now to be in a position where I'm able to receive the best possible care. I'm also fortunate in having had a past which has informed my perspective and allows me to be eloquent about both my feelings and experiences, in order to illustrate the pain around trying to get well, as well as how mental health medicine isn't working in America as it needs to be.

We must stop making those with mental illnesses second-class citizens. They have all the same rights that those without mental illnesses have and until we recognize that, they will not only fail to get the care they deserve, they won't get better within that framework of being marginalized.

In fact, those with mental illness are not able to, encouraged to, or even allowed to play a role in their care. The flip side of that coin is that those giving and managing care are not trained or sufficiently informed in a way that makes them effective.

It's a crisis and until we begin to address the difficult topics about how things need to change, as well as about what works and what doesn't, it will continue to implode. What we think is difficult or unmanageable today will surely get a hundred times worse.

Therefore it's my responsibility, as someone with a voice, to address something that is part of my very being.

I needed help to heal from bipolar and ultimately I was my own saviour because I learned to ask for help in effective ways. To that end, I'm asking for that same help for others who may be unable to.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.