Irregardless of your musical tastes, I find this inspiring. She’s not the first artist of whom I’ve thought – if they had turned up in the mental health system at 16, we would have lost them. They found art instead, where it’s okay to be mad! It’s not just okay – it’s perfectly acceptable to not only suffer from madness, but also to use it to every advantage you possibly can. These are the stories I think of as a peer worker when I feel that the script I’ve been given is “Don’t be afraid, reach out for help, get a diagnosis, learn about your condition, you can recover” – and what I actually want to say is “RUN. Never walk into a room you are not sure you’ll be able to walk out of. Learn, but do it secretly, in libraries, online. Don’t let anyone tell you what’s wrong with you, and don’t let anyone save you. Find your tribe.”
Lady Gaga talking on The Graham Norton Show about how she harnesses her voices to inspire her creativity…
Short Clip [45sec]
Full episode [37min]
Sarah K Reece 
lol I feel you on “Never walk into a room you are not sure you’ll be able to walk out of.” It’s been my strategy for years. And frankly, having found myself in situations where I couldn’t has only increased that impulse.
The assumption that those who will hold you against your will can help (or even that they intend to) is not a safe one to make. My first little stay in the psych ER resulted in massive retraumatization. Which was great, because I came in with my mental illnesses managed. In fact, I didn’t even go into the psych ER, I got redirected against my will, possibly through gross misunderstanding if not outright malignant ignorance.
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I’m angry on your behalf! I’m oddly fortunate that they don’t take people with DID seriously so I’ve never been admitted to hospital. I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time there visiting mates and family though, and what I’ve seen makes me angry. (which isn’t to say that everyone’s experience is bad – but there’s a lot of trauma and I’m not happy about it) I’ve helped get a couple of people in crisis committed, which I wrestled about then and really wrestle about now. I still believe that unless there’s no other option at all – you’re better off running.
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Actually, there was a running joke we made that if we had only told them about the DID Dx, then we’d have gotten booted for malingering or something. As it stood, they were very interested in our depression. So much so that they refused to
give us our antidepressants, instead opting to give us benzos to calm us down.
I’ve been meaning to do a full write-up of the experience, as a counter to the continued insistence that the best option in a psych emergency is to go to the psych ER. It should be — that is, in theory, why it’s there. It’s not, however, because the help sought is not even close to guaranteed.
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I think write-ups like that are extremely important! It’s helpful for people to hear that there are alternatives they can choose between. I managed (with help!) my recent psychotic episode from home without meds or hospital and I’m really glad I was able to do so. It was a whole lot less traumatic than the sometimes-great/sometimes-awful experiences of hospital care.
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