Lived Experience Forum

[MrTee]

Hey,

My story is as follows, as a young child I was bullied at school and ended up with a social phobia and chronic anxiety which later morphed into chronic depression.  I managed to educate myself in computing and get a job in my early twenties where I experienced bullying at a law firm from day one.  They were really manipulative and it ended up with me having a break down.  Since then I started to drink heavily as I could not accept that I had been bullied again.  I ended up taking breaks from drinking and did some self help courses.  Later on in my twenties I had a psychosis and was detained into a mental health facility for a few weeks.  I left the hospital due to staff bullying me, calling me names and being disrespectful which only made my condition worse.  After leaving, the police picked me up on the street without incident and took me back to the hospital where I was detained for a further 2-3 weeks which wasn't such a bad thing as I think being in hospital for around 3-4 weeks total was a good environment for me for recovering from my psychosis with appropriate medication.  8-9 years on, I have stayed on the same medication and never had another episode or hospitalisation.  I am a bit irritated at the level of respect given throughout the mental health system within South Australia particularly.  I went to uniting communities to get one on one counselling for alcohol abuse and they just stuffed me around with cancellations for every appointment and never returning my calls to be rebooked in for my next session.  I think I will attend relapse prevention group training as I know that will always be on each week and won't be let down by the counsellors cancelling on me again.  The closest diagnoses I have is schizo-affective, but really it was just a once off psychosis, possibly from being depressed according to my gp and or other reasons unknown.  I am appalled at the level of support given, particularly in South Australia for mental health, drug and alcohol etc.  I can't get the NDIS, apparently psychosis isn't a permanent condition (thats crap), if I go off my meds the symptoms come back, I tried it once and lasted 7-8 days before my symptoms wound up again and went straight back onto my medication and I was fine.  I am studying to work as a counsellor, however my emotional states such as loneliness often get the better of me and I use alcohol too much to block out the bad feelings.  I know its an unhealthy strategy and I wish there was more support and help available for drug and alcohol conditions, uniting communities is the only place I know that offers one on one counselling through the Government, I am considering finding a counsellor that I can pay for help as the system continually lets me down which leads me to feel like I don't really matter or I'm not important, this then leads into drinking again.  I've had enough of the stuffing around, all I can think of doing is being more pro active and avoiding blaming the system for my drinking / mental health issues.

[Margot]

Hi @MrTee

I'm Margot, one of the Community Managers. Nice to meet you 🌻

There's a real sense of feeling let down by the system in your words. And at the same time, I can hear a whole lot of perserverence and determination for recovery too. It's hard to keep putting one foot in front of the others and I'm really glad you've reached out to our community for support. I'm sure there are lots of members who can relate to the challenges of recovery from mental illness and alcohol use. 

I can see that you're new to the forums too, so welcome. If you feel comfortable to do so, you can introduce yourself to our lived experience forum here. You can also find threads relevant to you by typing a subject of interest into our search bar and jumping in on existing discussions happening in the community.

Look forward to seeing you around @MrTee and I wish you all the best with your counselling studies😊

[MrTee]

Hey Margot, thanks for your response, yeah I do feel let down, however if we compare ourselves to America with no Medicare and no system then we are way ahead, a GP recently enlightened me with this.  I'd like to hear about others who have co-morbidity (meaning multiple conditions such as alcohol and anxiety/depression.)  Very much looking forward to the chat online tomorrow for handling difficult emotions, I can't wait to gain more effective strategies for coping with emotions and states such as loneliness and disconnection.

[Wedgetail99]

Hi @MrTee,

Thanks for sharing your story.

I have anxiety, with depressive symptoms. History of self-medicating with not only alcohol but prescription medications as well. Currently I'm day 2 without them, but tomorrow I return to work where I'll be surrounded by prescription medications. I'm hoping I can be as strong and motivated as you have been. 

[Margot]

How did you find the discussion on distress tolerance @MrTee? Good on you for making it to day two without alcohol and meds @Wedgetail99. Not at all easy to do. How did you go once you got back to work? Do you have any support people who are helping you with recovery?