Transcript
WEBVTT
00:00:02.466 --> 00:00:22.893
Hello everyone and welcome to this episode of On the Spectrum with Sonia podcast, where we discuss autism spectrum disorder, mental health and anybody who's overcome any adversity in their life and can provide a message of inspiration, hope, connection, love and empowerment.
00:00:22.893 --> 00:00:30.887
Our goal here is to help people feel more connected in a world that continuously tries to disconnect us from one another.
00:00:30.887 --> 00:00:37.332
Today we have a very special guest who I am super excited about to have on here.
00:00:37.332 --> 00:00:39.847
Her name is Sarah Ibox.
00:00:39.847 --> 00:00:48.935
She is the host of Rough Edges podcast, which I recommend everybody listen to.
00:00:48.935 --> 00:00:55.194
I think her messages the people she gets on her show have been super inspirational.
00:00:56.902 --> 00:01:04.531
Just, I remember when I was having a really, really tough day and a bad moment, I turned on her podcast and her podcast.
00:01:04.531 --> 00:01:07.001
Even though I was crying my tears away.
00:01:07.001 --> 00:01:10.134
It helped me feel better to just even listen to it.
00:01:10.134 --> 00:01:20.424
It was like having free therapy without having to go to a therapist in some ways, even though that's not their intention to provide therapy, but you feel like you're actually getting free therapy.
00:01:20.424 --> 00:01:25.912
So, without further ado, let's please welcome Sarah.
00:01:25.912 --> 00:01:29.040
Thank you so much for being on here.
00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:31.947
I can bring in breaking the song and dance.
00:01:31.947 --> 00:01:32.668
I'm so excited.
00:01:33.849 --> 00:01:35.933
Yes, I am also super excited.
00:01:35.933 --> 00:01:44.024
Thank you, sonia, and you are also on my podcast an amazing episode you also check that out about autism spectrum disorder.
00:01:44.024 --> 00:01:47.893
Sonia killed it, so you also give it a listen to, but I'm happy to be here.
00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:50.521
Well, thank you, sarah.
00:01:50.521 --> 00:01:58.444
So, Sarah, tell us a little bit about who you are and like about where you grew up.
00:02:00.305 --> 00:02:06.588
Yeah, so I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, born and raised and growing up in New York.
00:02:06.588 --> 00:02:08.430
It's always like a huge flex.
00:02:08.430 --> 00:02:11.610
When other people come to New York they're like, oh my God, you grew up there.
00:02:11.610 --> 00:02:34.963
I'm like, yes, I did, but growing up in New York and in like a West Indian household because both of my parents my mom's from Grenada and my dad's from Aruba, so I had like a huge like Caribbean background in my household and I also grew up in a faith-based household, so I grew up in a Christian home.
00:02:34.963 --> 00:02:35.665
We went to church every Sunday.
00:02:35.665 --> 00:02:39.219
Sunday school was a part of like my early childhood development and everything like that.
00:02:39.661 --> 00:02:59.853
But growing up in New York is like really cool because you get to meet a diverse background of different people and going to school especially high school with like so many different like people and different cultures that come over Like it's just a blessing to be able to have that diverse aspect of growing up.
00:02:59.853 --> 00:03:13.473
And also in the city it's just like a lot of hustle and bustle, Like you're very busy a lot of the times and so you don't really get time to like slow down and self-reflect unless you intentionally make the time.
00:03:13.473 --> 00:03:15.707
But I love growing up in Brooklyn.
00:03:15.707 --> 00:03:22.653
I adore like the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and like just going and visiting different aspects of it.
00:03:24.562 --> 00:03:30.991
New York City is so magical, it's so amazing, and it always, never fails to amaze me every single time I go.
00:03:30.991 --> 00:03:46.989
I was just there recently, as many of you probably already know that I was attempting my 15th ever marathon in New York City, and I made it to mile 12 before I had to drop out due to injury.
00:03:46.989 --> 00:03:52.145
But I will say, though, the crowds always never fail to deliver.
00:03:52.145 --> 00:03:56.824
Just everything about the city is just always, you know, puts me in so much awe.
00:03:56.824 --> 00:04:16.112
I used to live there from 2011 to 2016, in New York City, so I definitely hear you when you talk about the hustle and bustle and, you know, just always being kind of like feeling like everyone's always on the go and having that influx of people, and I myself was like, oh my God, you grew up in New York, that's so cool.
00:04:16.153 --> 00:04:18.482
I was one of those people too at one point in my life.
00:04:18.482 --> 00:04:24.646
I'm like, oh, that's awesome, you grew up in Queens, you grew up in Brooklyn, you grew up in Staten Island, you grew up here, you grew up there.
00:04:24.646 --> 00:04:27.649
I'm like, okay, tri-state area, super cool.
00:04:27.649 --> 00:04:35.016
But yeah, so tell us a little bit now.
00:04:35.016 --> 00:04:57.237
I know like when we listen to your podcast I've listened to your most recent one particularly too, and one of your messages in your podcast is to bring out about how you have bipolar disorder, and part of your sharing your story is to give other people hope and connection and encouragement.
00:04:57.237 --> 00:05:04.466
So I want to know a little bit how.
00:05:04.466 --> 00:05:06.964
How did that first start coming into your life?
00:05:06.964 --> 00:05:16.225
Like, when did you start noticing that perhaps things may have been a little different in how you've been feeling, or that maybe perhaps you were feeling differently from others?
00:05:17.408 --> 00:05:17.850
Yeah.
00:05:17.850 --> 00:05:23.505
So I started like feeling very differently in December of 2020.
00:05:23.505 --> 00:05:38.552
And that year was tumultuous for a number of reasons outside of the pandemic and even just like me graduating college during the pandemic, that was something I also had to learn how to navigate and finding a job.
00:05:38.552 --> 00:05:46.620
And by that point I was, you know, very excited because I had found a job and like things seem to be looking up.
00:05:46.620 --> 00:05:54.713
But then I got really just like overly excited where it wasn't like normal.
00:05:54.713 --> 00:05:58.084
Excited Like I was, just had an elevated sense of mood.
00:05:58.084 --> 00:05:59.869
I felt invincible.
00:05:59.869 --> 00:06:03.622
I started planning my life 50 years into the future.
00:06:03.622 --> 00:06:13.233
I thought I was going to write five volumes of books about my life and there was just like this odd air of I could do anything that I wanted.
00:06:13.233 --> 00:06:14.504
Nobody could stop me.
00:06:14.504 --> 00:06:15.824
I can do this.
00:06:16.339 --> 00:06:43.466
And my family actually noticed a lot more symptoms of mania, because when you're experiencing a manic episode, you are talking really fast, you have that elevated sense of self and you also kind of cross over into psychosis, which means like you're seeing things, you are hearing like different voices, and so that's what I was experiencing and my family.
00:06:43.466 --> 00:06:46.072
They noticed that I was talking really fast.
00:06:46.072 --> 00:06:54.286
A lot of the things that I was saying was very incoherent and I just wouldn't stop talking, like that was the biggest red flag.
00:06:54.286 --> 00:07:19.733
Another thing that happened was that I wasn't sleeping at all, really, like I was just like going on like maybe two, one or two hours of sleep and then the next day I would feel very refreshed, like I had slept eight to nine hours and it was just something where I was running on a lot of energy but I didn't actually get any sleep.
00:07:19.733 --> 00:07:25.112
So that is another telltale sign of mania that you're experiencing.
00:07:25.112 --> 00:07:30.927
It's the lack of sleep or the lack of a need for sleep, like your body doesn't feel like it needs to sleep.
00:07:30.927 --> 00:07:49.966
So I was going through that as well and then, because I was like going through this for so long, it bled over into January and in January I experienced a really bad mental breakdown where I was getting very aggressive.
00:07:49.966 --> 00:07:59.192
I was, you know, just saying a lot of things that were very vulgar, doing a lot of vulgar things, trying to hurt like my family that was around me.
00:07:59.192 --> 00:08:24.795
So they had to eventually call the police and with that I got sent to the nearest hospital that was in my area and I got admitted into a psychiatric hospital and in the hospital I got diagnosed with bipolar disorder because they said the symptoms of what I was experiencing was a severe manic episode.
00:08:24.795 --> 00:08:28.783
And so the way that I got diagnosed I will never forget.
00:08:28.822 --> 00:08:38.172
That day the nurse came up to me with a packet and she was like here's what the doctors and everybody you know concur that this is your diagnosis.
00:08:38.172 --> 00:08:41.506
And she said, if you have any questions, like, let us know.
00:08:41.506 --> 00:08:48.283
So she hands me this packet and at the top, in big bold letters, it said bipolar disorder.
00:08:48.283 --> 00:08:52.673
And I was like, oh no, I I don't have this.
00:08:52.673 --> 00:08:55.922
Like I was, I just went straight into the denial of it.
00:08:56.062 --> 00:08:58.267
I was like I don't have this, this is wrong.
00:08:58.567 --> 00:09:00.030
Could we get a second opinion?
00:09:00.451 --> 00:09:07.472
And I'm like, now that I think back on it, I'm like, like Sarah, you were in the hospital, like where are you going to get a second opinion?
00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:16.938
Like the circumstances that led you to be in the hospital were so severe that this is the diagnosis that actually corroborates with that.
00:09:16.938 --> 00:09:31.753
So it took me a minute to actually realize and understand what bipolar disorder was, because up until that point I only knew it as like a negative thing, like people would describe the weather if it changes.
00:09:31.753 --> 00:09:42.511
Oh, the weather is so bipolar or somebody goes from like angry to sad or whatever they would be like, oh, they're so bipolar, they, you know it was a negative connotation.
00:09:42.511 --> 00:10:22.043
So me having this packet and looking at it and seeing it right in front of my face bipolar disorder it made me feel so dejected because my life knowing that I have something like this and it's so interesting to me because I never really put my mental health at the forefront, like it was always in the back burner, like I didn't really think about it as much, but having that diagnosis, it just it was like a huge whirlwind.
00:10:23.323 --> 00:10:33.214
So when you experienced the manic episode and you were seeing and hearing things, what were you seeing?
00:10:33.214 --> 00:10:34.254
What were you hearing?
00:10:35.897 --> 00:10:36.197
Yeah.
00:10:36.197 --> 00:10:40.611
So I was like experiencing a lot of hallucinatory things.
00:10:40.611 --> 00:10:50.745
So the things that I was seeing, it was kind of of like it was almost like monsters in a way, like everything was like really scary.
00:10:50.745 --> 00:10:54.471
So I didn't really know what was happening.
00:10:54.471 --> 00:11:08.144
It's just like things would come into like the foreground of my mind and I would just be like seeing like these, like creatures, and then sometimes I would also like black out completely, so I wasn't really seeing anything.
00:11:08.144 --> 00:11:14.306
And so there were like periods of the time where I was blacking out, Like I didn't actually like see anything.
00:11:14.947 --> 00:11:18.041
And then, in terms of like voices, they were always like negative.
00:11:18.041 --> 00:11:29.547
It was always like oh, like you're never going to be anything, you're not good enough, or oh, it's great that this is happening to you like just very harmful voices.
00:11:29.547 --> 00:11:39.301
And the thing about that is is that when you're dealing with psychosis, you don't really in the moment, you don't really know what's happening.
00:11:39.301 --> 00:11:58.822
Like you're like I said, you have periods of blackout and you have periods of you don't know what's going on around you and just knowing that this took place, and also even hearing it from my family of what they saw and experienced they said that I looked like very terrified, Like I didn't know what was happening.
00:11:58.822 --> 00:11:59.543
I didn't know.
00:11:59.543 --> 00:12:05.408
It's like I couldn't really see anybody, Like there were just moments of just complete blackout.
00:12:08.360 --> 00:12:29.125
And when you were having those moments of seeing things, hearing negative voices that were just really there to just kind of bully you and put you down, and those moments of blackout, how are you feeling at that time, you know, did you have any fears going on?
00:12:29.125 --> 00:12:35.023
Did you like, were you aware that something was like completely off?
00:12:36.445 --> 00:12:48.383
Yeah, I was feeling very confused for one, and then also really scared because, as it was happening, like I mentioned, like I had moments where I couldn't see anything.
00:12:48.383 --> 00:12:55.201
So I was just like what is going on and why am I like experiencing these things?
00:12:55.201 --> 00:13:20.591
And it gave me a rush of like severe anxiety, because at that point I wasn't really myself and I also didn't really have control it felt like of my faculties at the time, because it just felt like a huge nervous breakdown was going on and I was just confused, filled with anxiety and also fear, because I didn't know how long this was going to last.
00:13:20.591 --> 00:13:24.807
I didn't know what actually was taking place.
00:13:24.807 --> 00:13:36.302
So, aside from me just like experiencing that confusion, in general, I was also feeling like fearful because I didn't know what was going on at the time.
00:13:39.725 --> 00:14:00.625
So, so it was like you were having all these things happen to you, but you really didn't even know where to put your finger on it as to what is going on and I can only imagine you know how terrifying that must have been and your family when they were saying that you were saying vulgar things.
00:14:00.625 --> 00:14:05.812
What exactly were you saying that ended you in the hospital?
00:14:08.155 --> 00:14:12.482
well, um, in terms of specifics, I'm not really.
00:14:12.482 --> 00:14:23.164
It was kind of vaguely like threatening, almost, as if like okay, like stay away from me or I'll do xyz or you know.
00:14:23.304 --> 00:14:40.365
So it was more of like me also, like doing a lot of cursing and also like saying a lot of very nasty things, and so it was more of like, ok, she might hurt herself or she might hurt us, so we need to call the police, like.
00:14:40.365 --> 00:15:14.071
This isn't just a Like, this isn't just a regular thing Like this is just like okay, she to them.
00:15:14.091 --> 00:15:16.620
they definitely, and rightfully so, thought it was a very threatening experience.
00:15:16.620 --> 00:15:37.756
When you look back at your life because I know you bit do you think that there were signs maybe back then that you have had bipolar all along or some kind of mood disorder all along?
00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:06.961
Absolutely Like.
00:16:06.961 --> 00:16:15.924
When I look back at it now, especially during my college years, there were definitely moments where I was hypomanic because I would, especially with the lack of sleep I would be able to stay up till 5am, go to class for 10am and feel nothing Like I would be energized, I would just feel like I had just slept.
00:16:15.924 --> 00:16:28.427
So that was the moment yeah, that was the moment where I didn't really think anything of it because I thought, oh, you know, it's college, like of course we get up the next morning and do class and whatever.
00:16:28.427 --> 00:16:32.393
But like there were moments where my roommates would fall asleep.
00:16:32.393 --> 00:16:47.984
I would always be the last one to fall asleep, like in the dorm, like I'm the last one in the room to fall asleep and my roommates, they, would be asleep and I would still be up, and so that was another telltale sign of like me probably experiencing hypomania.
00:16:47.984 --> 00:16:56.767
And then there were also moments where I experienced like severe depression, especially in, like, my sophomore year of college.
00:16:56.767 --> 00:17:15.549
It was a very trying time for me and my family and I was just taking that on in terms of like being not only like deeply saddened by what was going on, but I had moments where I didn't want to get out of bed, or I couldn't get out of bed, like sometimes I would just like lay there.
00:17:15.549 --> 00:17:18.861
My body would be like really heavy and I wouldn't get out of bed.
00:17:18.861 --> 00:17:26.815
Um, so there were those moments and also I it got to a point where I had to, I wanted to go to therapy.
00:17:27.220 --> 00:17:29.446
So I went to therapy in my sophomore year of college.
00:17:29.446 --> 00:17:46.801
I started there and even my therapist at the time was telling me hey, maybe you should consider seeing another professional, like a psychiatrist, to actually give you a diagnosis, because a lot of these symptoms are of a certain mood disorder.
00:17:46.801 --> 00:17:51.182
And she's like I can't really tell you which one it is, because you know I'm not a psychiatrist.
00:17:51.182 --> 00:18:04.728
But at that time, since mental health was so stigmatized, especially in my own community and we'll talk about that more later I didn't want to go see a psychiatrist because I was like I don't need one and also I don't want to take medication.
00:18:04.748 --> 00:18:06.880
A psychiatrist because I was like I don't need one and also I don't want to take medication.
00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:09.567
Like that was my outlook.
00:18:09.567 --> 00:18:17.829
I was like I don't need medication, I don't want to be on medication, I'm fine, I'll just talk to you and we'll just manage it like this.
00:18:17.829 --> 00:18:28.115
But some part of me is like maybe I should have taken her up on that because I maybe would have gotten ahead of it earlier and it wouldn't have to go to this point.
00:18:28.115 --> 00:18:44.132
But you can, only I really can't blame myself for that, really because I didn't have enough information and I was beholden to the stigma of what would other people think of me if I started taking medication or what would you know?
00:18:44.132 --> 00:18:47.182
Like maybe I'm weak because I have to go to a psychiatrist now.
00:18:47.301 --> 00:19:01.769
So all of that was running through my mind and so that must have been um very difficult, though, for you to hear from that therapist at the time to go see another professional.
00:19:01.769 --> 00:19:15.153
How did that make you feel when she said you were presenting symptoms of a another mood disorder that I can't diagnose you with because I'm not a psychiatrist, but I think you really need to go and get evaluated.
00:19:15.153 --> 00:19:17.499
How did that make you feel to hear something like that?
00:19:18.786 --> 00:19:42.738
That actually made me feel pretty devastated because I thought I was going to therapy, because I was depressed and in that mindset I was like you know, I'm just going to go see this person, we're going to be able to talk through and manage the depression or the sad feelings that I was having, and then I could just leave once I feel better and not have to deal with this again.
00:19:42.738 --> 00:19:47.915
Because, like I said, mental health wasn't something that I prioritized.
00:19:47.915 --> 00:19:58.058
I wanted to just be able to have my achievements, go to school, know, graduate and do all those other things.
00:19:58.058 --> 00:20:03.277
But I wasn't really thinking about how does my emotional and mental wellness factor into that.
00:20:03.277 --> 00:20:12.693
So hearing her saying that, hey, maybe you should look into this a little bit more because it might be something bigger than just depression, I don't think I was ready to hear that.
00:20:12.693 --> 00:20:14.739
I don't think I was ready to hear that.
00:20:14.739 --> 00:20:20.893
I don't think I was ready to be like, hey, there's another layer behind the stuff that you are feeling.
00:20:20.893 --> 00:20:24.847
And so to me I'm like I don't have time for this.
00:20:24.847 --> 00:20:30.066
I just wanted to get treated for this one thing, I don't need to explore this other thing.
00:20:30.266 --> 00:20:33.352
And I also was fearful about being on medication.
00:20:33.352 --> 00:20:58.089
Like that was like my biggest hesitation, because I also didn't really I wasn't really knowledgeable of like the like the, the whole sphere of like medication for mental health, and so I didn't really know how to navigate that either and I was scared to go into those types of things because I didn't know what that would entail, what the side effects would be.
00:20:58.089 --> 00:21:09.256
So there was just a lot of things going through my mind when she did present that to me as an option and I don't think I was ready at the time to actually pursue that.
00:21:09.256 --> 00:21:22.471
You know, and like looking at me now, of course, if someone said, hey, maybe you should look into this, I'll be like absolutely, because I know now what my symptoms are, what my triggers are, what medication can do.
00:21:22.471 --> 00:21:33.259
Back then, up until that point, I didn't really have like a roadmap or an idea of what mental health was all about, let alone psychotropic medication.
00:21:33.259 --> 00:21:39.498
So, yeah, I think it was a lot of that let alone psychotropic medication.
00:21:39.557 --> 00:22:06.958
So, yeah, I think it was a lot of that and I'm pretty sure, like you know, to have all of this be so new to you, especially when you're, like, in a college setting where you already are going through so much adjustment, you know, having moved out of your house, living with roommates, getting used to being completely, kind of well, completely independent, because, in the sense, like, you're not going to have someone there to be like, hey, you're going to be late, get up, like you know, or you don't have that.
00:22:06.958 --> 00:22:15.329
You know, it's not like when you were in, like, high school or middle school, where you knew if you got a homework assignment it was due the next day, right In college.
00:22:15.329 --> 00:22:20.056
It's a completely different animal in and of itself, you know.
00:22:20.056 --> 00:22:30.046
So I can only imagine what it must have felt like then to just have everything compounded like that too, that other aspect of it that probably played in all you know, this feeling of devastation.
00:22:32.248 --> 00:22:34.229
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:22:34.229 --> 00:22:41.333
And like not only navigating college but also trying to figure out, like, why am I feeling this way?
00:22:41.333 --> 00:22:43.115
Why am I feeling this depressed?
00:22:43.115 --> 00:22:44.095
Why am I?
00:22:44.095 --> 00:22:54.021
You know, that's why I went to therapy to get some answers, because I'm like, okay, this is like permeating into other aspects of my life and I don't want to feel this way anymore.
00:22:54.021 --> 00:22:58.851
So I'm like people go to therapy when they feel depressed, so let me go to therapy.
00:22:58.931 --> 00:23:02.787
And I think me making that choice was another thing in my household.
00:23:02.787 --> 00:23:14.083
That was very new, because I was the first one in my immediate family to actually seek out a therapist, and so that got into my parents saying, why do you need a therapist?
00:23:14.083 --> 00:23:19.451
You're doing well, you're getting good grades, what is going on that you need to talk to somebody else?
00:23:19.451 --> 00:23:31.186
And that was just like a whole another layer of like hey, I want to get help for this problem, but you guys seem to think that I don't need that much.
00:23:31.186 --> 00:23:50.529
So I think that was another aspect of like why I didn't want to go further in pursuing the psychiatric help, because I didn't want to have to come home to my parents and be like hey, I got a diagnosis and this is it, and you know that whole thing too, so that's another layer.
00:23:52.945 --> 00:23:54.189
I can only imagine that.
00:23:54.189 --> 00:23:58.959
How scary in some ways it must have felt also to deal with family dynamics.
00:23:58.959 --> 00:24:23.436
Symptoms of like feeling depressed or any kind of mood, any symptoms of like any kind of mood disorder that you can think of in those years?
00:24:23.457 --> 00:24:24.759
That's a great question.
00:24:25.040 --> 00:24:38.104
I in high school there was a lot of like mood fluctuation there, especially between like being depressed and also being really, really happy, almost hypomanic.
00:24:38.565 --> 00:24:59.266
Because the first half of my high school years I was like pretty depressed because it was the whole environment of you know, the cliques and like wanting to see where I'm actually fitting in, and I was often, like you know, a loner and I always like prioritize my academics over anything else.
00:24:59.686 --> 00:25:13.287
So that social aspect of high school was kind of lost on me in the beginning and so that kind of contributed to oh, I feel alone, like nobody really cares and you know, just navigating life in that setting.
00:25:13.287 --> 00:25:35.597
But then the last two years of high school, that's when things were kind of on the uptick, like I was getting a lot of good grades, I was on the prospects of graduating, I had a lot more friends because I involved myself in different activities like mock trial, moot court debate team, like you know, just other like things that I put myself into.
00:25:35.597 --> 00:25:43.086
I got friends through that and so there were moments where I was like really excited and had big hopes and dreams for college and everything.
00:25:43.086 --> 00:25:54.119
So I would say that big pendulum swing between being really depressed and then being like really excited, like just super optimistic.
00:25:54.119 --> 00:26:05.731
Going out of high school I would say that whole experience was kind of like a pendulum swing between one or the other so I can.
00:26:05.892 --> 00:26:09.376
I can empathize with, uh, the high school loneliness.
00:26:09.376 --> 00:26:11.380
I was a loner myself, I was.
00:26:11.380 --> 00:26:21.227
Well, I was ostracized so I kind of really didn't have any choice and friendship at that point because everyone kind of ripped me off at that time and um.
00:26:21.227 --> 00:26:25.317
But I'll tell you, I mean it's, you know.
00:26:25.317 --> 00:26:28.403
You know a lot of that too goes into.
00:26:28.403 --> 00:26:31.296
You know even the feelings of being depressed when you're in high school.
00:26:31.296 --> 00:26:39.898
You know it's so easy for people to chalk it up into oh well, this is just part of adolescence, this is just going up, you're, what you're going through is growing pains.
00:26:40.682 --> 00:26:45.152
But truth of the matter is there are some very real issues that people face.
00:26:45.152 --> 00:26:56.053
It's not just about the woes of adolescence, you know, and it goes so much further into you know, people really truly face real mood disorder.
00:26:56.053 --> 00:27:00.612
I mean not to say depression is not a real mood disorder, it is, but it's not just talked up to.
00:27:00.612 --> 00:27:03.989
You know what people think is just your common cause.
00:27:03.989 --> 00:27:11.891
Oh, you're just changing because you're hormonal, or your moods are because you're hormonal, or you're just going through growing pains or adolescence.
00:27:11.891 --> 00:27:17.960
What I'm talking about is like real depression, real, real mood disorders.
00:27:18.644 --> 00:27:41.938
Subtypes I mean real it just or just different types of mood disorders, rather, but it's just like you got real things going on and I feel like it's so important that people really you know, uh, that that change be made in that area and people can recognize you know what this is, not just only because you're an adolescent, this is only this, that or that or the other.
00:27:41.938 --> 00:27:43.423
It's there.
00:27:43.423 --> 00:27:47.314
You know, people can have things that go beyond that.
00:27:47.314 --> 00:27:57.674
Yeah, so now you so talk about like so you got diagnosed with bipolar.
00:27:57.674 --> 00:28:03.519
You felt devastated to have that diagnosis.
00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:12.439
I'm wondering, where did that feeling kind of originate that you felt like you had to be devastated about it?
00:28:12.439 --> 00:28:21.517
How did maybe you're like, how did that family background and your background being a person of color, how do you think that all intersected in this too?
00:28:22.984 --> 00:28:24.970
Ooh, sonia, how much time do you have?
00:28:24.970 --> 00:28:27.636
Because I could go on and on with all of this.
00:28:27.636 --> 00:28:47.970
But, honestly, in the Black community there is a huge stigma surrounding mental health and it comes from the idea that you need to be strong, like no matter what you're going through, you cannot buckle under the pressure, you cannot let other people see you cry.
00:28:47.970 --> 00:28:58.509
You have to go through it because we've been through enough and we don't need to be in a position of weakness and compound that with the faith-based community.
00:28:58.509 --> 00:29:09.875
So I grew up in a Christian home as well, and with the Christian community it's more of like we have prayer, we have church, we have the Bible.
00:29:09.875 --> 00:29:15.106
Why are you, you know, seeking additional help outside of that?
00:29:15.106 --> 00:29:17.669
Like that should be enough to get you through.
00:29:17.669 --> 00:29:52.730
And so I felt like I had to be devastated, like you mentioned, because now that I've come into a place in my life where these things were not enough to be able to help me move through it Like not saying that they're not enough on their own, because all of those things that I mentioned, like the prayer and, you know, being strong, that's fine, but when you're dealing with something as severe as a mental health condition and something as serious as mental wellness.
00:29:52.730 --> 00:29:59.140
You need to combine the mental health treatment with those things.
00:29:59.140 --> 00:30:06.428
And so when I got that diagnosis, I was at a crossroads because now I'm thinking, wait, I did all that stuff.
00:30:06.428 --> 00:30:13.128
I prayed, I went to church, I read my Bible, I was strong, like I thought I was strong, you know.
00:30:13.128 --> 00:30:14.692
So I'm like why?
00:30:14.692 --> 00:30:16.596
Why is this happening to me?
00:30:16.596 --> 00:30:33.436
And so that's when I had to realize that sometimes you need to go the extra mile and seek treatment, because, yes, you can pray, but also you need medical attention as well.
00:30:33.436 --> 00:30:51.386
Like we don't do this and it's so interesting, we don't do this when it comes to physical illnesses, like if I have a flu or if I have a broken leg or if I have something that needs medical attention, I'm going to the doctor, I'm going to the hospital, because this is something that needs immediate attention.
00:30:51.386 --> 00:30:55.848
So we need to give our mental health the same type of attention.
00:30:55.848 --> 00:31:00.231
If something is going wrong, seek professional help.
00:31:00.231 --> 00:31:08.857
Like, yes, you can have, like, your remedies, you can have things that do work, but at the same time, you need a doctor.
00:31:08.857 --> 00:31:10.578
You need a doctor.
00:31:10.578 --> 00:31:20.173
And it's like that's something I needed to realize, that I needed more help than me just going it alone could have done.
00:31:20.173 --> 00:31:24.536
So that's the thing where I think the devastation came from.
00:31:24.536 --> 00:31:29.037
It's like, oh, now I have this condition that I have to learn how to manage.
00:31:29.546 --> 00:31:36.212
And bipolar disorder is also heavily stigmatized, like, I know, depression and anxiety.
00:31:36.212 --> 00:31:40.569
Those things are becoming, you know, more generalized and more in the forefront.
00:31:40.569 --> 00:31:51.385
But like bipolar disorder like if I came out of the hospital saying, hey, I had depression, I had generalized anxiety people be like, oh, okay, you know, that's fine.
00:31:51.385 --> 00:32:00.551
But if I say, hey, I have bipolar disorder now people are like, whoa, okay, you're on the deep end or you're a little crazy.
00:32:00.551 --> 00:32:06.256
So it's like even having that label and those things to think about.
00:32:06.256 --> 00:32:12.059
That's how I felt like, wow, this is such a huge weight on my shoulders that I now have to manage.
00:32:12.059 --> 00:32:14.300
And I also thought about who am I going to tell?
00:32:14.300 --> 00:32:16.522
Like it's so funny now.
00:32:16.522 --> 00:32:19.252
But like, who am I going to tell about this?
00:32:19.252 --> 00:32:21.079
Like, how do I navigate this?
00:32:21.079 --> 00:32:24.309
So there are a lot of different things that came into that.
00:32:26.915 --> 00:32:34.814
And that must have been also very challenging to navigate with all these internalized messages that you were brought up with.
00:32:34.814 --> 00:32:36.458
That you know you had to be strong.
00:32:36.458 --> 00:32:37.990
You can't buckle under pressure.
00:32:37.990 --> 00:32:43.012
You always had to put on a tough face, make it till you make it kind of mentality.
00:32:43.012 --> 00:32:46.746
You know it seems right and I can empathize, being Indian.
00:32:46.746 --> 00:32:50.876
Right, we were also taught the same things like we don't talk about, we don't think.
00:32:50.924 --> 00:33:05.295
A lot thing with Indian people a lot of times is the mentality is, if you don't think about it it doesn't exist, right, even if you're feeling depressed or upset about something, if you don't think about it it goes away, kind of mentality.
00:33:05.295 --> 00:33:08.497
And that's simply not true.
00:33:08.497 --> 00:33:11.598
Things, problems, just don't go away because you ignore them.
00:33:11.598 --> 00:33:12.579
You ignore them.
00:33:12.579 --> 00:33:34.188
Just imagine like they did this, you know, with physical health, if you have, let's say, a really bad stomach ache and you think, okay, if I don't think about my stomach hurting, the pain will just dissipate, lo and behold, really your appendix is in trouble, really going, and is about to burst, right, I mean, point, case in point, ignoring it could cost you.
00:33:34.188 --> 00:33:37.009
So I mean, and point case in point, ignoring it could cost you.
00:33:37.009 --> 00:33:38.349
So I mean, that's kind of like.
00:33:38.349 --> 00:33:40.471
The way I look at it is you know, mental health.
00:33:40.471 --> 00:33:42.412
You know, it's just so.
00:33:43.811 --> 00:33:50.175
People still have a lot to go in terms of learning really about truly what is everything?
00:33:50.175 --> 00:33:52.636
What are terms that are being thrown around?
00:33:52.636 --> 00:33:57.219
You know, like people say, okay, bipolar weather.
00:33:57.219 --> 00:34:04.541
Well, truth of the matter is, you know what Bipolar is a real illness?