How RI helped me

For the last 10 years, I've used the Recovery, International method of self-help to keep the symptoms associated with my mental problems manageable. When I attended my first RI meeting, I was taking several psych meds -- a mood stabilizer, an antidepressant, a major and minor tranquilizer, and sleeping medication -- each day to help me function. Problem was, none of them helped me much at all. All I seemed to get from them were side effects, including weight gain (about 40 pounds total), restlessness and agitation, dry mouth, nightmares, and dry skin to name just a few. I've spoken to other people who took medication and were helped by it, but I wasn't. I tried different medications and got some relief for maybe a week or month, and then I had panic attacks again and was overwhelmed by a deep depression. I felt completely hopeless and life became a sort of drudgery.

Just a few months before I attended my first RI meeting, I consented to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) because I had been in and out of the hospital for severe depression several times during the year and just wanted the emotional pain to end. After 12 treatments, my doctor released me from the hospital, along with a throbbing headache. A week later, I was depressed again, but I trudged along the best I could, attending an adult day program with other mental patients.

What a great life, huh? I finally heard about RI from a friend in another self-help program and figured it couldn't hurt to try it. That was the best decision I ever made. From the first meeting, I learned that my nervous symptoms (anxiety, suicidal feelings, depression, insomnia) were "distressing but not dangerous." What a concept! After my second meeting, I repeated that mantra over and over again whenever I felt out of control.

I won't say that the last ten years or so have been problem free, but, little by little, I've recovered my mental health. I've gone on to earn a master's degree and work at a job I enjoy. When I do have what we in RI call a "setback," I step-up my meeting attendance. I also lead a meeting, which helps me as much (or more perhaps) as the members who attend.

In RI, we have a saying that once we were nervous patients but now we are nervous people. So in a sense, I've graduated from being a nervous patient to a nervous person. I'll always have symptoms, but they are much less severe than before. In my blog, I hope to document the ways I use RI to cope with everyday life problems and disappointments. I also hope to encourage other people suffering from emotional problems to try RI or another self-help program and see how it can help. Life is too short to suffer in silence. Have a great day.