Suffering From Mental Illness

I've been suffering from major depression, hearing voices, and seeing things that were not there since the age of 5 yrs old. No one in my family knew what I was going through, accept my grandma, who truly knew I had a problem. Going to school was rough for me, as I was getting bullied every single day, which led me to almost take my life, but instead of resorting to that, I started doing self affliction to myself which took the pain away. To make myself feel better I'd scratch myself til I bled, which gave me at that time some relief. As I got in my teens, I started hearing and seeing shadows, angels, and demons, which at first, scared the hell out of me. In my teens, the depression got bad, I didn't want to live and the voices were telling me to hurt myself and others, the depression was severe I didn't have any energy, I didn't want to take a bath, comb my hair, etc. When I sought help and meds, I slowly got better and I recovered, I'm not cured, but medication and therapy for my mental illness has been a big help, especially with God's help. Don't be afraid to seek help, your not crazy, your not insane, get help and treatment, don't worry what people think or say, you got to look out for you!!!! Sometimes dealing with the highs and lows of mental illness can be depressing but meds really do make a difference , because it truly has helped me. Now that I'm on meds and getting therapy, my life has totally changed. Once upon a time I had social anxiety, which keep me away from large crowds and stores. I kid you not, walmart was one of the stores I feared the most because of large crowds, it was so bad I couldn't function, but therapy has helped me in this area. So now I can do my own shopping, pay bills, and drive. It has truly been a blessing, because now I got my GED, CNA license, Driver's license, and now I'm in school for psychology. I hope sharing my story help someone and encouraged them to seek help and not be afraid or ashamed to. Getting treatment for mental illness, is the best thing you can do to change your life, because it did me a 360, and hopefully you would apply yourself, change will come, you just have to have patience with yourself and have faith in God. You will get through this, together with spiritual, mental, and physical help. It's going to be alright, help is on the way, you can do this, I believe in you. Also I'd like to say to keep yourself busy at all times, because an idle mind is devil's workshop, because when your bored and not keeping your mind busy, all kind of thoughts will come to mind, and then, that's when the depression sets in, and for people, when it gets to that stage, some be so depressed that they commit suicide. Suicide is a serious issue today, people who not in our shoes will never understand what it's like to even have the thought or a plan. People who commit suicide, show signs before they do it like: depression, withdrawn, and pretending everything is alright when it really isn't, they be crying out for help, please have a listening ear or a shoulder to lean on, in their times of gloom and darkness.