[NYAPRS Enews] Syracuse Teen: MI Makes Me Different Not Crazy

[Matt Canuteson]

Mental Illness Doesn't Make Me Crazy, Just Different, Henninger Junior
Writes


Heather Pauls / Contributing Writer
<http://blog.syracuse.com/voices/about.html>   Syracuse Post- Standard
May 21, 2009 


 


  <http://blog.syracuse.com/voices/2009/05/DSC_0933.JPG> Heather Pauls

Heather Pauls
<http://comment-blog.advance.net/cgi-bin/mte/mt-search.cgi?tag=Heather%2
0Pauls&blog_id=2703> , a junior at Henninger High School in Syracuse,
wrote the following for Voices <http://blog.syracuse.com/voices/> . 

I'm blonde, kind of short and I wear glasses. I play tennis. I work. I
do everything that every other teenager does.

By looking at me, you would never guess that I suffer from mental
illness. But I do.

I have not one but three mental illnesses. I suffer from bipolar (manic
depressive) disorder, ADHD (attention deficient hyperactive disorder)
and anorexia.

I was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder and ADHD when I was in the
third grade. No one knew why I was so depressed.

When I was in the fifth grade, I stopped eating and felt like I was
dying. I was in a psychiatric hospital for five days and instead of
getting better I got worse. The doctors there diagnosed me with
anorexia. My mom forced them to let me go. When I got home, I did
better.

In 6th grade, I was sent to CPEP (Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency
Program) three times. I was hurting myself -- why I don't know -- and I
lit my bathroom on fire on accident. I was very angry and very
depressed.

I bounce from up to down. I can go from laughing to crying to yelling in
less than three seconds. Many people look at me like I'm some kind of
nut case. But I'm not. This behavior is just part of being bipolar.

I still have my moments, but for the most part I'm good. Not many people
know this about me. Only my close friends and family know. Of those who
do find out, some still see me the way they always have. Others think
I'm completely crazy.

When people first found out and made fun of me, I got really upset. But
now I don't much care. I have heard all the rude, cruel and just plain
mean comments anyone could ever think of. I know that stupid people say
stupid things and what truly matters is how I see me and how the
important people see me.

Some people don't like me. I know it's not because I'm a bad person but
because people don't like what they don't understand. I deal with this
every day and I know that having mental illnesses doesn't make me crazy.
It makes me different. 

http://blog.syracuse.com/voices/2009/05/mental_illness_doesnt_make_me.ht
ml 





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