Thinking about blowing my brains out this week

Autism I have little experience with, but it isn’t like mental illnesses, it’s more of a condition. In some ways being Autistic improves perception and in other ways it impairs perception. The Autistic people I’ve worked with have been kind, compassionate and highly motivated, they just struggle socially.

Anxiety is treatable, nearly 100%. There might be chemical issues, those can be corrected by various treatment plans and drugs. If it is an issue of the approach you have to the world then CBT and other talk therapies can help develop better strategies. That’s what is working for me, therapy does me more good than drugs but that’s me.

BPD is understudied, but there are treatments for it. Like anxiety there are drug treatments and talk therapy strategies that are pretty dang effective. My best friend has BPD and continues to buck the diagnosis. For one thing we’ve had a close friendship for nearly a decade, which goes against conventional wisdom. She’s also employed full time, and parenting very well.

It’s not a lost cause based on these diagnosis. It’s a common feeling when you’ve been mentally ill for awhile to think that it will stay that way, but change can happen faster than you think.

Three years ago I suffered a total breakdown, my career over in an industry I loved and my mind and body broken. Now I’ve had a year of success, and two years of decent progress. I look back and realize I could have given up, but I was too stubborn to go until I had tried every possible option. There’s something that made me not want to end my story with giving up.

I hope that came across as empathetic and compassionate because I identify with a lot of these feelings you’re talking about. The only reason I’m being firm about there being options is that is how I dealt with it within myself. You are the one in the drivers seat of your life, and the choices remain yours. All any of us can do is give prospectives and information.