FIRST PERSON ACCOUNTS OF MENTAL ILLNESS AND RECOVERY -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction More Than a Diagnosis: First Person Accounts of Mental Illness and Recovery -- Motives and Purposes of First Person Accounts -- Emerging Themes -- Definitions and Diagnosis -- Limitations and a Note to Students -- References -- About the Editors -- 1 Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders -- Introduction -- Questions for Reflection -- References -- Schizophrenia -- The Best Medicine -- Recovery as Discovery -- Acknowledgments -- Understanding Health as a Continuum -- Psychiatry and Oppression: A Personal Account of Compulsory Admission and Medical Treatment -- Hearing Voices: A Personal Story -- References -- Powerful Choices: Peer Support and Individualized Medication Self-Determination -- Introduction -- Reclaiming Dreams -- Peer Support as an Evidence-Based Practice -- The Importance of Choices -- The Choice of Medication -- Medication Issues, Peer Support, and Self-Determination -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Schizoaffective Disorder -- Snapshots: The First Symptoms of Psychosis -- June 2002 -- August 2002 -- September 2002 -- October 2002 -- Why Having a Mental Illness Is Not Like Having Diabetes -- Hospital Experience -- Attitude of Family and Friends -- The Disease Course -- Treatment -- References -- 2 Mood Disorders -- IntroductIon -- Questions for Reflection -- References -- Depressive Disorders -- Depression: Disease, Loneliness, Social Isolation, Suicide, Negative Thoughts … -- My Confession: My Life Had Come to a Stop -- Willow Weep for Me-A Black Woman's Journey Through Depression -- I Wish I Had Gotten Help Sooner: My Struggle With Postpartum Depression -- My Journey Through Postpartum Depression -- Bipolar Disorders -- Living With the Dragon: The Long Road to Self-Management of Bipolar II -- My Journey Had Truly Begun.

Before Things Get Better They Sometimes Get Worse -- As My Eyes Meet Those of the Dragon It Realises That I Am Going to Kill It and, for the First Time in My Life, It Is Scared -- References -- On Madness: A Personal Account of Rapid Cycling Bipolar Disorder -- What Is It Like to Live With This Condition on a Day-by-Day Basis? -- Random Scribblings on Bipolar Disorder -- 20:20 Hindsight-Monday, November 19, 2007 -- Becoming the Ups and Downs-Monday, November 19, 2007 -- Dark Winter Days-February 2009 -- Stress: Our Worst Enemy-February 2008 -- Finding Sense in It All-May 2008 -- The Mind's Sense of Freedom-June 2008 -- Consistency is Key-February 2008 -- Being Bipolar: Living on Both Sides of the Coin -- 3 Anxiety Disorders -- Introduction -- Questions for Reflection -- References -- Panic Disorder -- You Have Anxiety? -- Susan's Story -- Phobias -- On the Outside Looking In -- Mysophobia -- Food Anxiety -- Other Germs -- Cleaning -- Family and Friends -- Feelings -- How Others Can Help -- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD ) -- Flux -- Example of the Hand-Washing Dilemma -- Practicing Imperfection -- The Cognitive Maze -- Suspension of Disbelief -- Example of the Rabbit -- Rituals, Routines, and Recovery: Living With OCD -- My Story -- The Big Picture -- "It'll Be Okay." How I Kept Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) From Ruining My Life -- "OCD? So, What, Did You Wash Your Hands a Lot?" -- The Episode That Triggered My Decision to Seek Help-Someone's Bleeding to Death -- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD ) -- Emotional Triangle -- Panic, Anxiety, PTSD, and My Experiences of Healing Through Multiple Avenues of Psychotherapy -- The Beginning -- Background -- My Experience as a Psychotherapy Patient -- PTSD: The Siege of Symptoms That Bombarded My Life -- Expanding the Therapeutic Terrain -- Concluding Comments -- References.

The Demons of War Are Persistent: A Personal Story of Prolonged PTSD -- 4 Personality Disorders -- Introduction -- Questions for Reflection -- Reference -- My Path to Recovery -- A "Classic" Case of Borderline Personality Disorder -- Misconceptions About Borderline Personality Disorder -- How the Disorder Feels -- How Mental Health Professionals Can Help -- Loud in the House of Myself -- 5 Substance-Related Disorders -- Introduction -- Questions for Reflection -- Reference -- Goodbye, Johnnie Walker -- Addendum -- Untitled -- A Nurse's Journey Through Loss, Addiction, and Recovery -- 6 Eating Disorders -- Introduction -- Questions for Reflection -- Reference -- Dying by Inches -- Reference -- Big Little -- Binging and Purging to Stay Alive -- Life With an Eating Disorder -- 7 Impulse Control Disorders -- Introduction -- Questions for Reflection -- The Numbers of My Obsession -- Endnote -- Memoirs of a Compulsive Firesetter -- Firesetting Behaviors on a Continuum -- Dan's Story -- In the Beginning -- In the End -- 8 Delirium, Dementia, and Amnestic and Other Cognitive Disorders -- Introduction -- Questions for Reflection -- References -- Before It's Too Late -- Writing -- Alzheimer's -- Poor Memory: A Case Report -- Past Memory -- Short-Term Memory -- Recommendations for Patients and Therapists -- References -- Parkinson's: A Patient's View -- References -- 9 Somatoform Disorders -- Introduction -- Questions for Reflection -- Reference -- A Psychosomatic Study of Myself -- Bigorexia: Bodybuilding and Muscle Dysmorphia -- Hypochondria -- 10 Dissociative Disorders -- Introduction -- Questions for Reflection -- Coping Strategies -- The Mental Health Physiotherapist -- The Mental Health Occupational Therapist -- My Care Coordinator -- The Psychotherapist -- Conclusion -- Family Talk -- Fractured Mind, One Heart? -- 11 Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders.

Introduction -- Questions for Reflection -- References -- Sexual Pain Disorders -- Vaginismus: The Blessing of Botox -- Paraphilias -- The Armed Robbery Orgasm: A Lovemap Autobiography of Masochism -- Gender Identity Disorders -- A Rose in Bloom -- Dancing With Madness -- An Epiphany -- Dante's Inferno -- Sword of Damocles -- On the Road -- The Power of Love -- Time for a Good Transgender Story -- The Conformist -- Perceptions of Gender -- Have the Chinese Never Learned to Enjoy? -- Active Negotiations -- Reconnecting Body and Spirit -- Is There a Chinese Way? -- A New Condition -- Now -- 12 Sleep Disorders -- Introduction -- Questions for Reflection -- References -- An Insomniac's Slant on Sleep -- My Story of Narcolepsy -- 13 Disorders Usually First Diagnosed in Infancy, Childhood, or Adolescence -- Introduction -- Questions for Reflection -- References -- Pervasive Developmental Disorders -- Communication Impairment -- Alien: A Story of Asperger's Syndrome -- Communication and Social Interaction -- Rules and Routines -- Sensory Defensiveness -- The Loop -- Patterns and Analysis -- The God I Know -- My Job -- Marriage -- What Asperger's Means to My Life -- The Experience of Infantile Autism -- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) -- The Only Me That We Have Ever Known -- Tic Disorders -- A Tourette Story -- An Interruption of Regular Programming -- Searching for Answers -- Crisis -- Index.