tonyroberts, Author at Delight in Disorder

Profiles in Advocacy – Janet Hays, Reimagining the Office of Sheriff

Janet Hays is reimagining the office of sheriff and has proven experience putting vision into practice. She is a New Orleans resident and national leader in the advocacy movement for those impacted by serious brain illnesses. In her work with Healing Minds NOLA and Mental Illness Policy Org she is putting broken bones together and breathing life into them. Now she is running for Sheriff in her Orleans parish. Kathy Day, Senior Family Liaison at Treatment Advocacy Center calls Hays, “... a passionate advocate who works harder than anyone I know. Her persistence often pays off in ways that help families dealing with serious and persistent brain illnesses.” Leslie Carpenter, a leading advocate for people with no fault serious brain diseases, cites the Zoomcast series Hays produced in 2020 and into 2021 as, “... one of the best compilations of both what is wrong with the present system and... what [...]

Profiles in Advocacy – Janet Hays, Reimagining the Office of Sherifftonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:26-04:00

What’s So Funny About Mental Illness?

Some time ago I posted a meme that has been going around in various places. It goes like this: Being popular on Facebook is like eating at the cool table in the cafeteria at a mental hospital. I posted it because I identified with the humor. Two of my goals in life have been to be popular on Facebook and sit at the cool table when I’m in the mental hospital. One of the things that keeps me relatively sane is my ability to laugh at myself and I find particular pleasure in making people laugh with me. Certainly, I have a serious mental illness; that's a part of who I am. Not taking myself too seriously diminishes the power of my disordered ego. Thus, more often than not, the things I find funny are self-deprecating jabs. But self-deprecating humor may be misleading when used in non-intimate settings such as [...]

What’s So Funny About Mental Illness?tonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:26-04:00

The Relationship Between Creativity and Mental Illness

I start this post with one basic assumption. Not all persons with mental illness are creative. Some sit around all day playing video solitaire, watching episodes of Judge Judy, counting the cars that pass by. Some persons with mental illness have neither the desire or the capacity (or both) to do anything that resembles creative expression. (Though you never know the depths of creativity lodged in their brains.) At the same time, I find my mental illness plays out in a creative way, primarily in my way with words. I'm not Hemingway. It's not quality, but quantity for me. Most of my waking and sleeping hours are spent plotting how I can use my words to the best effect. When I am under unusual amounts of stress, you will likely find me tucked away in a corner, Pilot G-2 gel pen gliding across a composition journal, describing the world as [...]

The Relationship Between Creativity and Mental Illnesstonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:27-04:00

Hope for Troubled Minds: Compassion Amid the Chaos

These letters are written by Vikki Plessinger. Vikki is Christian data clerk who hopes to retire in 7 months. She enjoys family vacations & get-togethers, gardening, fishing, hiking & puzzles. I am a mother of 2 children with brain illnesses. One is trying so desperately to save his life. The other seems determined to end hers. My son has a very rare, Central Neurocytoma tumor in the 3rd ventricle of his brain with malignancy. And my daughter has a 17-year drug addiction that has led to psychosis. We'll start with my son. My first-born baby. He had a fall and hit his head & his symptoms led to a CT scan which has led to 8 months of appointments, scans, diagnoses, surgeries & gamma knife radiation. He has lost cognitive abilities, memory, and well, a lot of his life. Justin, This current journey of ours is so very difficult. [...]

Hope for Troubled Minds: Compassion Amid the Chaostonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:27-04:00

So you want to marry someone who has bipolar?

I've been putting myself under a lot of stress lately. I say putting myself because really I have many, many good things going on. I am happily married, live in a comfortable home in a nice neighborhood, have plenty of friends and family who care about me, and spend my time pursuing a meaningful vocation with my loyal lab Briley by my side. So why am I stressed? Do I need a reason? It occurred to me some time ago that as one with bipolar disorder, not only am a more vulnerable to stress, but because others are more stressed relating to me. Not because of who I am, but because of what my illness does. If you love someone with a brain illness, what do you think? If you have a brain illness, do you accept this? For today's post, I thought I'd share a humorous piece I wrote [...]

So you want to marry someone who has bipolar?tonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:27-04:00

Kicked to the Curb by Susan Lockwood Roberts Relaunch

In 2018, a wonderful thing happened that almost slid under the radar. Susan's book, Kicked to the Curb was released. But we were in no position for a party. Susan was at St. Vincent's hospital with countless leads going to her brain. She had been having seizures and they were trying to determine a cause. I tried to celebrate this momentous occasion with her and carry out a modest campaign with the help of her publisher Paper Raven Books, but things were more than a little subdued. Fast forward three years, much has happened. We got engaged, married, and bought our first (hopefully) forever home. Professionally, Susan contracted with American Prison Data Systems (APDS) as Director of Education, she is a court appointed expert consultant for a case involving the provision of Special Education services to individuals incarcerated in the New Jersey Department of Correction, she just completed a two-year term [...]

Kicked to the Curb by Susan Lockwood Roberts Relaunchtonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:27-04:00

One Angel Who Did Not Fear to Tread

I want to tell a story I've told many times before. But I can't tell it enough. It's the story of what happens when someone with a mental illness falls into the pit of despair is lifted up by the loving faithfulness of one who cares. December 1, 2016. I am in the Goodman exit lane off I-490 in Rochester, New York. An unusual light shines in my rearview. In seconds, I hear a loud crack and feel a tremendous lurch. Someone traveling too close, going too fast, hit me. Hard. I called 911 and a policeman showed up, followed by an ambulance. I was taken to Strong Memorial hospital where they ran tests and found nothing conclusive. But I became increasingly agitated. I became convinced that I was paralyzed. Three doctors ran tests on me at separate times and concluded that nothing was wrong. Physically. That's when I called [...]

One Angel Who Did Not Fear to Treadtonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:27-04:00

Hope for Troubled Minds: From a Whirlwind Romance to Lasting Love

This is my love letter to my wife Susan. We have been together now for three years and have experienced as much joy and sorrow than many couples together for fifty. We now live in our own home with our devoted lab Briley. We enjoy listening to music, Facetiming grandchildren, taking drives through Brown County state park, and visiting with family. Susan, When we first met we went on a whirlwind romance that was magical. It also had some of the marks of a manic episode, but it was much more than this. I was not psychotic; we were crazy in love. We talked for hours on my trip to New York and back. I stayed up through the night making a playlist filled with your favorite music and selections that would soon become “our songs.” We still listen to it on quiet date nights, look over at [...]

Hope for Troubled Minds: From a Whirlwind Romance to Lasting Lovetonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:27-04:00

10 Reasons to Leave Your Psychiatrist

It's time to leave your psychiatrist when s/he says... 1) Enough about your mother, let's talk about mine. 2) Sure, the blue meds are working, but the pink pills are so much cuter. 3) In my professional opinion, you're crazier than a loon. 4) Suicide, smooicide. 5) If you want a taste of E.C.T. just stick your tongue to this car battery here. 6) What was that you said? I was too busy picturing you in the nude. 7) Before we treat your O.C.D. I'd like you to clean out my garage. 8) You think you've got problems! My Porsche has a flat tire. 9) I can see now why your wife wants to leave you. 10) You think, you're fat because you are fat.

10 Reasons to Leave Your Psychiatristtonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:27-04:00

Mental Illness or Demon Possession?

Let me make this clear. Mental illness is not demon possession. If you are a faith leader and someone asks you to exorcise a friend or family member, don't do it. What can you do instead? A good pastor friend of mine has shared with me a screening process to rule out lesser afflictions before one might consider a chronic diseased soul. Examine the environment. Take a particularly close look at the relationship dynamics of the person presented as the problem. Often families and other intimate groups target one member and poured all their disruptive thoughts and feelings into a scapegoat who responds with peculiar and sometimes even volatile behavior. It can be very difficult to examine the lives of those convinced they are only acting out of love. They may themselves become angry with you, even abusive. Be sure to tread lightly and have back up before you take [...]

Mental Illness or Demon Possession?tonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:27-04:00

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