Columns

ON MENTAL ILLNESS: Aging With

Jack Bragen
Friday January 02, 2015 - 11:53:00 AM

It is important to realize as persons with a chronic mental illness who, all of us, are not getting younger, that we are not alone. The facts of life are applicable to all known forms of life. Life is temporary.  

As persons with mental illness, it may be difficult to face getting older when many of us have lived at times with despair and deprivation, and we have been denied some of the finer things that non impaired people enjoy.  

As we get older, we might feel "ripped off" in our lives because we see so many people who appear more successful in life, with their careers, their houses and their vacations. However, we can instead be grateful for the fact that most of the people reading this probably have their basic needs met.  

Also, in note of the fact that we are in the Christmas/Hanukkah/other holidays, we should remember not to postpone enjoying life while we await something better that we may think we must have. Furthermore, it doesn’t help anyone to worry about things we cannot control.  

In living with a severe mental illness, perhaps the best we can do in our lives is to make the best of a bad situation. Lifespan can be increased if calories, refined sugar and animal fat are kept to a minimum, and if we can avoid tobacco and street drugs. Admittedly, these are tall orders when you are required to take one or more medications that largely block physical activity, that increase appetite, and that cause physical and mental miseries that beg relief.  

The best thing that I believe persons with mental illness can do to save ourselves and salvage lives that are already compromised, is to comply with treatment, to take care of our health as best we can, and to do something that gratifies us in our lives--that makes it worthwhile for us to live longer. This could include anything from doing artwork with pencils, pastels or paint, could include taking classes in a college, junior college or adult education, and could include something as simple as reading articles on the internet. Anything that you do that's legal, that doesn't harm anyone and that interests you qualifies.  

By complying with treatment, we have a chance to retain our liberties, to maintain our condition, and to make our lives better from a standpoint of sanity. If one's mind isn't working, then one has nothing.  

Although many employees of the mental health treatment system may not believe our lives to be valuable--since their job is primarily to manage us and to prevent us from being a nuisance to the general public--I believe our lives are valuable. Thus, while the outcome of life could seem disappointing, there are still numerous reasons to go on. 

Merely taking an interest in the things that life does have to offer, even the simplest of activities and occurrences, could make life more meaningful and thus worth living. To enjoy life, we needn't look at the big picture, and we can instead focus on what is happening in the moment.