There were times when I did everything right and my symptoms still returned. Psychiatry for the most part is a lot of trial and error. So sometimes you have to keep trying different medications until you find one that works. So there were periods where I took my medication as directed and still experienced symptoms. That is a really disheartening experience.
I have had to come out several times in my life. The first time was admitting I was gay. The second time I came out as atheist. And now, well, now I'm coming out as someone who lives with a serious mental illness.
Thankfully I'm surrounded by wonderful human beings who were nothing but accepting when I told them. The understanding took awhile sometimes but I have never been treated differently by anyone I consider close to me.
I do still see and experience stigma in my day to day life just like homophobia. Its casual stigma. The things people say to total strangers, to me, about their friends and family battling mental illness are horrid. I've even had family members make comments that anger me. And sometimes I want to self disclose to take these people down a notch but I'm not there yet.
Those instances stick with me and are a constant reminder to me that we still have work to do as a society. We talk about racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, etc. But I never hear anyone stand up for those living with and suffering from mental illness.
People with mental illness have a tendency to withdraw from society often because society withdraws from them. People face discrimination in all areas of their lives because of something they cannot control. We need to have a frank discussion about mental illness. We need to move to a society that, instead of gossiping about the "crazy" person, we recognize they need our help and compassion. Replace derision with action.
Today, I'm still living life and I am coping ok. I have a great support system and treatment team. Schizoaffective has tried to take my life from me but it hasn't won. I battle it every waking moment and I probably will have to for the rest of my life.