One of the things I truly love to do is to write about my experiences. It isn’t easy to find places that will pay for my lived experience writing, so I have had to expand where I could and write about other topics as well. I have found a lot of similarities between the experiences of those with mental illness and those who have addictions.
As far as addictions are concerned, if anyone wants to truly learn why they see so many people strung out on drugs and homeless, should read the work of Dr. Gabor Mate. Dr. Mate worked in the most impoverished area of Canada, which is Vancouver’s Downtown East Side. I actually lived in this area myself when I first left my parents’ home at 18.
Over the course of years of treating people with addictions as a medical doctor, Dr. Mate discovered the sad truth that people with addictions problems nearly 100% of the time have experienced some past trauma, often from childhood. They get to an age where people often experiment with drugs and alcohol, and they learn that these are simple, quick ways of dealing with the mental pain and anguish that trauma survivors often experience. Then after they abuse their first substance, with time the effects don’t help them as much and they end up moving on to more harmful drugs.
I think the lesson to be learned from this is that we have to understand that people with addictions are not at fault. Substance use disorder is not a situation where a person was too lazy to work or a bad person and started using drugs. These people were hurt by someone, and often at a time in their young lives when they didn’t understand things like sexual assault or harsh beatings or neglect.
One of the reasons I wanted to share this here is because more of us than one suspects lives with things like PTSD and other trauma-related problems. I had a serious lack of self-confidence, which was at its worst when I left the hospital, and I started having a very serious problem with gambling. Gambling is an odd one because though the person’s actions are clearly harmful, the gamblers rarely take substances, though this is not a hard and fast rule.
With gambling, I was addicted to the reaction my brain and body had to risk and danger. I needed my fix of either winning or losing every day just to feel normal. I was restless, pacing, and I would do just about anything just to get a few bucks to gamble. I simply couldn’t be told that gambling was a foolish endeavour that would never pay off. I am reminded of a friend who won 26 million dollars in a lottery who lost his business, ruined his marriage, gave away or blew most of his money ($3 million in a Las Vegas Casino apparently) and when I saw him a year after his big win, he was the unhappiest guy I had ever seen. No amount of money will guarantee happiness, and I am also starting to realize that if you don’t work for your money you won’t respect it.
How all of this relates to mental illness is that when you use substances, or have an addiction, it can do a great deal of harm to your mental health. Even cannabis use is not a safe alternative to other drugs. There are rare cases where trace amounts of THC and Cannabinoid Oil has medicinal purposes, and I don’t want to deny people who are struggling the use of them, but I really feel we are doing the younger generation a huge disservice by not educating young people enough about the effects of cannabis on their mind.
Well, that was pretty long-winded. I wanted to just mention a little about the articles I wrote for TRANSITION. I first have to say that it is an incredible feeling of joy to know that my words are going out to a lot of people who are struggling either with a loved one’s illness, as a caregiver to someone with a mental illness, or those who suffer themselves. What I would really like to say is, first of all, housing is the most important thing you need to do when you live with a mental illness. I don’t know everyone’s location, but there are programs in many many cities where a person on a fixed income can get a cheap or subsidized apartment. I waited a long time to get into the one I am in and I simply love it. I love having my freedom, my ability to work on my writing at any time I choose, and to sleep when I want and shop when I want. I don’t know if it would have been better if I had applied sooner as I possibly wasn’t fully ready to live on my own right after my last hospital stay before moving in, but I would encourage anyone with a mental illness to get their housing situation sorted out.
The next thing that is critical is medication. I don’t want to gloss over this enough, even if you are on a medication that isn’t fully working, in most cases, any antipsychotic medication or anti-depressants, or mood stabilizers are much better than having none of the above. If you feel your medications aren’t working and can be improved, get ahold of your psychiatrist and see them as soon as you can. If they won’t agree to have a look at what is bothering you about your medication and offer alternatives, respectfully and politely request another doctor. It can also be extremely helpful if you can’t get in to see your psychiatrist to at least speak with your MD (family doctor). Every doctor does training in psychiatry and may have a solution for you. I remember a particularly dark time in my life when I went to a family doctor about depression and he gave me medication that has literally saved my life.
So we mentioned housing and medication. The next thing I want to talk about is something that is a progression of tasks that hopefully begins when you first leave the hospital. First, you need to take some courses and training to help you support yourself better. If you have taken many already, consider that this stage could be simply for self-development. Take a cooking class, or a university course on something you like learning about. If that isn’t the case, look at courses like the one I took which taught life skills like better communication and understanding of other people. Take a few of these. Don’t rush. They can make a difference later between being a nervous and lonely person and being a happy person who is able to engage in interesting conversations with people they can call friends. The next step is to have something to do. This is hopefully something to do with working. I often suggest volunteering, find out if there is a group in your community that will place people in volunteer jobs. Take your pick of jobs and treat them like real employment. I went into volunteering at a Veteran’s Hospital and not only did I love it, I came to be friends with the hospital chaplain, who is an amazing human being. Having volunteer work on your resume will help you a great deal further down the road, possibly for jobs, and possibly even for future housing applications.
Well good readers (and listeners) thanks so much for tuning in and for reading this far. I would love to hear your feedback on this blog and my podcast. It really would be great if more of you could step up and subscribe for $8 a month, but I still need to figure out how best to encourage that without limiting my audience. All the best, drop me a line if you want to know more about my books or my public speaking availability.
leif.n.gregersen@gmail.com
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