This whole Blogging thing is new to me, so I hope you'll bear with me until I find my groove! I'd like to tell you a little bit more about myself before I start doing "proper" blog posts. I describe myself as a Psychiatric Survivor, and I think it's fair to say that I am Anti-Psychiatry. During my years of illness, (my "wilderness years" I call them) I suffered from depression, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, borderline personality disorder (BPD) with some anxiety and a little bit of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) thrown in for good measure. I was treated with dozens of psychiatric drugs, none of which had much effect. Then Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) was suggested. Nearly 200 shocks later I am left with low levels of mental and cognitive functioning, and a memory that refuses to remember things-even now, five years after my last treatment. It took a long time for me to realise what was lost, and it is hard to describe the emotional and psychological devastation that the "therapy" caused. It's not all bad news though! I have been free from the eating disorders for 5 years (something I never thought I'd see) and despite having the odd depression and being burdened with the awful diagnosis of "Borderline Personality Disorder", life is good. I'm not living out the rest of my days incarcerated in a mental institution, having maintenance ECT and on psychiatric drugs for all eternity as originally thought by my doctors. And I have no lasting food or weight issues. I used to think that my life was ruined because of my psychiatric past. Now I use it to my advantage. I'm a lot stronger than I thought I was. I understand people better now, and I am involved in the mental health field using my own journey to help others. A lot of funny things (as well as tragic) happened during those years, and I love shocking people (pardon the pun) with hilarious stories from that time. Blogs to come will feature topics such as depression, anorexia, bulimia, self-harm, suicide, psychiatric drugs, recovery, ECT and more. I'm hoping that these blog posts will trigger my own memory and will be of some therapeutic gain to finally put the past to rest. See you soon!
Kerry.
