You can use your smart phone to browse stories in the comfort of your hand. Simply browse this site on your smart phone.

    Using an RSS Reader you can access most recent stories and other feeds posted on this network.

    SNetwork Recent Stories

Recovery is possible when people seek help

by ahnationtalk on July 19, 2018444 Views

Recovery is possible when people seek help

A few short years ago, some people may have said I “had it all.” I was a partner in an investment firm. A family man who spent weekends at the cottage. An avid cyclist and skier.

But I was also secretly struggling, sick with a depression so severe that it eventually grew into psychosis. The mental pain of this depression was unbearable. This is such a dangerous illness that can be life threatening – and I knew where it could lead. I thought my life was over.

And still I tried to keep my illness hidden and hoped no one would notice. I was terrified that if people found I was getting sick that I would lose my job and my family, and everything that went with them. I got sicker and sicker until it was almost too late.

If this had been a physical illness I would have gotten treatment quicker because I wouldn’t have feared people finding out. With physical ailments we don’t tend to blame ourselves

Charlie Cummings, who has recovered from depression and psychosis

Everything changed when I visited CAMH’s Gerald Sheff and Shanitha Kachan Emergency Department. There, my illness was diagnosed for the first time and I started treatment immediately, as an inpatient for just over two months. Finally, after a full year in remission, I took part in a relapse prevention course at CAMH once a week for eight weeks to help me remember everything I was supposed to do to keep from slipping back into “the big deep.”

I worked so hard to get better. As I recovered, I learned to watch for signs so my illness didn’t return.

Today, I have my life back. I’ve returned to work and have fallen in love again with being active. I cycle and ski again, and have joined a tennis club with my wife. The experience has taught me so much – about myself, about stigma and about recovery.

We often don’t know how supportive our friends are going to be; it’s one of the ironies of the disease. My work was amazing, encouraging me to take as long as I needed. “This is way more important than anything else,” they told me.

NT5

Send To Friend Email Print Story

Comments are closed.

NationTalk Partners & Sponsors Learn More