Mental Illness can be caused by a variety of reasons. Some of them are even environmental. Other people get mental illnesses from genes passed down and brain abnormalities. That’s right, mental illness can be passed down through generations all by DNA.

My parents never thought to have me tested as a child for mental illness because they didn’t know the signs. If I notice my child being by themselves too much, I will have them tested for mental illness. My mental illness could all be caused by me getting a bad gene or having abnormal brain chemistry. In the end, I have a mental illness and must accept it.

Many mental illness patients must see their psychiatrist often. Some people like me have to see mine once every two weeks it feels like. Going see your doctor is the easy part. You tell the doctor how the medication makes you feel and say the symptoms of your mental illness if you’re having any. You say as much as you can remember about what the symptoms that happened, so the doctor can add it to his or her notes to your file. Before you realize it, you have told your psychiatrist pages and pages of notes.

All those notes help the doctor decide what medication(s) to put you on. With those medications comes side affects. The side affects are different from person to person. You can feel tired or dizzy, maybe even nauseas. Those are easy side affects. No matter what the side effect is you must tell your doctor over the phone and in person. Psychiatrists have lots of patients; there is nothing wrong with reminding your psychiatrist what you deal with each visit; even if it is the same thing you told him or her last time. One of my medications kept making me nauseas, so my psychiatrist took me off it. It was not doing me any good.

That’s part of having a mental illness. Finding out what medication(s) works for you can seem impossible to you, but it’s possible. All you have to deal with is trial and error. Going from one medication to another can be hard on you and your body. If you don’t tell your psychiatrist what’s going on, he or she can’t help you. Just as much is it the doctor's decision to change your medication, you must tell the doctor all the information he or she needs to be put on the right medication. I wouldn’t be where I am at medically if I didn’t tell my psychiatrist everything, she needs to know to help me.

Don’t forget the therapy appointments. Many people with mental illnesses don’t know how to effectively deal with having a mental illness. Sometimes people go through traumatic experience because of their mental illness. For example, a person may have hurt him or herself or someone else. Therapy is also crucial to accepting the fact that you have a mental illness. People struggle with acceptance all the time.

Dealing with a mental illness is hard, but it makes you a stronger person. There is stigma against mental illness. However, unless a person deals with it, he or she will never understand what you go through on a regular basis.