The day a local homeless schizophrenic asked me loudly to give him a ride to Saskatchewan in a rowboat made everyone within earshot smile ruefully. Had I not had my own issue with mental health I might have found it amusing also; although as a trained healthcare professional I don't believe anyone asks to be afflicted with disease. Not even hypochondriacs; which in itself is still a form of suffering!

Joke: what is the difference between a drunk and an alcoholic? (Drunks don't have to go to all those meetings).

Society has made it okay to be an alcoholic or a drug addict; in Alberta there is such provision for those addicted. Another disease. I have said it before and I will say it again; "Alcohol and drugs seem to get all the glory." So why then, I wonder, does mental illness still have such a stigma to this day?! Especially when so many addictions have their roots in mental disease and the sufferer is in fact, self-medicating.

It has taken me a lifetime to realize I am an addict and have a mental illness. Dr. Phil says: "You cannot change what you do not acknowledge." And while mental illness may never be curable, it is certainly treatable.

Moodscope has helped me tremendously and I thank you all for being part of my journey. So often someone else says what I am experiencing so well it lends me strength for one more day. No one is alone unless they really want to be.

Bailey

A Moodscope member.