I went into a depression, after I had broken up with someone who ended up stalking me.
His line : "if I can't have her, no one will" made me think I might end up the next day's news !

After summoning outside help - got him gone - but it left me in a strange state. I went to a shrink, who, after a couple visits wanted to put me on an anti-depressant. I didn't like the idea of drugs - so I did the next best thing ... went on Safari in Africa for three weeks !

Best cure ever !

In 1987 I experienced a severe head injury (2-month coma) in a car crash on the way to my job of 10 years as a middle school teacher. Since then my life has been horrific but I have (sort of) survived. I would imagine that living with the effects of severe head injury is very similar to living with mental illness (however I also have a physical disability). The way I cope is that most of my friends are also brain injured (I even have a 70-year-old "boy" friend who also has a brain injury). Is there a community of people with mental illness with whom you could become involved?

I personally have not but i just got out of a relationship with someone who does, also complicated by a brain disease, I also have a cousin who is bipolar. So i have only experienced what it is like to have relationships with those with mental illness and it hasn't been easy. My cousin acted erratically for years and had several suicide attempts before being diagnosed with bipolar. Now she is medicated but still has times she goes off. I wish we all understood mental illness better. My ex didn't make me fully aware of her mental state and so it ended up being psychologically abusive because her reality was very different from mine. What has been your experience?