This autobiography details what it’s like to spend a lifetime with a mental illness. The author speaks frankly about how early symptoms started and the difficulty it presented in school and college. “Life is a hike up a steep hill, rather than a walk on level ground.”
E. Kirsten Peters dealt with severe weight loss, alcohol abuse and nicotine addiction as she waited 35 years for a diagnosis. “Young people tormented by mental illness often cannot articulate what’s wrong,” she states in the book.
Finally having a diagnosis still meant she was suffering just as much as ever, but she was starting to have a clearer understanding that it was indeed a mental illness.
You will learn what the journey was like trying to find that diagnosis and a medication that would work for her.
A key point in the book is the realization that the mental illness disability is not the result of a poor up-bringing, and you can’t “fend it off by reading the right self-help book or eating more vegetables.” The disability is simply a part of her, just as having brown hair and hazel eyes are.
She recounts when she finally received an accurate diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder. She gives clear and frank descriptions of what she went through living with mental illness. And that’s the key point here – LIVING with a mental illness diagnosis. For even with an overwhelming and conflicting flood of emotions and physical symptoms, she carries on and has a successful life to show for it. For anyone dealing with mental illness or with a friend or loved one dealing with it, this is a chance to glimpse inside and see what it’s like.
And you can use what you learn to start that difficult conversation with someone you love who may be experiencing symptoms. By learning more about mental health we can help remove the stigma that comes with mental illness.
The book is available on Amazon. For more information check out the website ekirstenpeters.com