Nov. 12, 2024

Faith and Bipolar Disorder: Sarah's Story

Faith and Bipolar Disorder: Sarah's Story

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After grappling with the realities of bipolar disorder, Sarah I Fox invites us into her world, sharing her transformative journey through mental health challenges. Growing up in Brooklyn and identifying as a woman of color, Sarah discusses the intersectionality between mental health, being a person of color, and the role of her faith. 

Even though bipolar disorder turned an ugly head towards Sarah, Sarah never in turn chose to turn an ugly head back. Instead, Sarah used having bipolar disorder as a way to dig deeper into her faith, become more connected with her faith and others whom she considers near and dear, and use bipolar disorder as the driving force behind her fierce passion to help others. 

Sarah is the host of Rough Edges Podcast where her passion to reach others who are struggling, especially those struggling in silence, just radiates. After speaking with Sarah, she will leave you filled with hope, empowerment, and inspiration to carry forth on your own journey; whatever it may be. 

Chapters

00:02 - Overcoming Bipolar Disorder

16:57 - Navigating Mental Health Stigma and Diagnosis

25:54 - Navigating Mental Health Stigma and Treatment

36:25 - Sharing Stories of Mental Health

41:07 - Finding Faith in Mental Health

Transcript
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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.

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Our goal here is to help people feel more connected in a world that continuously tries to disconnect us from one another.

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Today we have a very special guest who I am super excited about to have on here.

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Her name is Sarah Ibox.

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She is the host of Rough Edges podcast, which I recommend everybody listen to.

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I think her messages the people she gets on her show have been super inspirational.

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Just, I remember when I was having a really, really tough day and a bad moment, I turned on her podcast and her podcast.

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Even though I was crying my tears away.

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It helped me feel better to just even listen to it.

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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.

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So, without further ado, let's please welcome Sarah.

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Thank you so much for being on here.

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I can bring in breaking the song and dance.

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I'm so excited.

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Yes, I am also super excited.

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Thank you, sonia, and you are also on my podcast an amazing episode you also check that out about autism spectrum disorder.

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Sonia killed it, so you also give it a listen to, but I'm happy to be here.

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Well, thank you, sarah.

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So, Sarah, tell us a little bit about who you are and like about where you grew up.

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Yeah, so I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, born and raised and growing up in New York.

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It's always like a huge flex.

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When other people come to New York they're like, oh my God, you grew up there.

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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.

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We went to church every Sunday.

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Sunday school was a part of like my early childhood development and everything like that.

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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.

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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.

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But I love growing up in Brooklyn.

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I adore like the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and like just going and visiting different aspects of it.

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New York City is so magical, it's so amazing, and it always, never fails to amaze me every single time I go.

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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.

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But I will say, though, the crowds always never fail to deliver.

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Just everything about the city is just always, you know, puts me in so much awe.

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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.

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I was one of those people too at one point in my life.

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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.

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I'm like, okay, tri-state area, super cool.

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But yeah, so tell us a little bit now.

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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.

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So I want to know a little bit how.

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How did that first start coming into your life?

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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?

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Yeah.

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So I started like feeling very differently in December of 2020.

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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.

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And by that point I was, you know, very excited because I had found a job and like things seem to be looking up.

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But then I got really just like overly excited where it wasn't like normal.

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Excited Like I was, just had an elevated sense of mood.

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I felt invincible.

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I started planning my life 50 years into the future.

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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.

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Nobody could stop me.

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I can do this.

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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.

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They noticed that I was talking really fast.

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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.

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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.

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So that is another telltale sign of mania that you're experiencing.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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And so the way that I got diagnosed I will never forget.

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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.

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And she said, if you have any questions, like, let us know.

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So she hands me this packet and at the top, in big bold letters, it said bipolar disorder.

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And I was like, oh no, I I don't have this.

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Like I was, I just went straight into the denial of it.

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I was like I don't have this, this is wrong.

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Could we get a second opinion?

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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?

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Like the circumstances that led you to be in the hospital were so severe that this is the diagnosis that actually corroborates with that.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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So when you experienced the manic episode and you were seeing and hearing things, what were you seeing?

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What were you hearing?

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Yeah.

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So I was like experiencing a lot of hallucinatory things.

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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.

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So I didn't really know what was happening.

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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.

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And so there were like periods of the time where I was blacking out, Like I didn't actually like see anything.

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And then, in terms of like voices, they were always like negative.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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I didn't know.

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It's like I couldn't really see anybody, Like there were just moments of just complete blackout.

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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?

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Did you like, were you aware that something was like completely off?

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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.

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So I was just like what is going on and why am I like experiencing these things?

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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.

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I didn't know what actually was taking place.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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This isn't just a Like, this isn't just a regular thing Like this is just like okay, she to them.

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they definitely, and rightfully so, thought it was a very threatening experience.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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But like there were moments where my roommates would fall asleep.

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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.

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And then there were also moments where I experienced like severe depression, especially in, like, my sophomore year of college.

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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.

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My body would be like really heavy and I wouldn't get out of bed.

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Um, so there were those moments and also I it got to a point where I had to, I wanted to go to therapy.

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So I went to therapy in my sophomore year of college.

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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.

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And she's like I can't really tell you which one it is, because you know I'm not a psychiatrist.

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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.

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A psychiatrist because I was like I don't need one and also I don't want to take medication.

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Like that was my outlook.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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How did that make you feel to hear something like that?

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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.

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Because, like I said, mental health wasn't something that I prioritized.

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I wanted to just be able to have my achievements, go to school, know, graduate and do all those other things.

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But I wasn't really thinking about how does my emotional and mental wellness factor into that.

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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.

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I don't think I was ready to hear that.

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I don't think I was ready to be like, hey, there's another layer behind the stuff that you are feeling.

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And so to me I'm like I don't have time for this.

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I just wanted to get treated for this one thing, I don't need to explore this other thing.

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And I also was fearful about being on medication.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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?

00:34:04.541 --> 00:34:15.992
Yes, okay, and people who have bipolar really will not take light of that joke.

00:34:15.992 --> 00:34:31.735
Bipolar weather, just because it is very impactful on a person's life, yeah, and I think that you know, and a lot of the, the blowback that people have, you know, going to your point about you know, when you say you have bipolar, people are like whoa right.

00:34:31.735 --> 00:34:34.469
I think a lot of this goes into ignorance.

00:34:34.469 --> 00:34:37.541
There's so much ignorance.

00:34:37.541 --> 00:34:38.625
Same thing with autism.

00:34:38.625 --> 00:34:39.927
You know.

00:34:39.927 --> 00:34:47.365
I'll tell you this interesting fact autism is in the dsm-5 and so is narcissistic personality disorder.

00:34:47.365 --> 00:34:59.606
They're both in the dsm-5, but everybody is okay using that word narcissism for absolutely anything right, it's thrown around like candy, Okay.

00:35:00.608 --> 00:35:07.309
Whereas when autism started becoming more out, you know, and people, you know, more people started getting diagnosed.

00:35:07.309 --> 00:35:13.306
Almost everybody went up in arms and and and was like oh, no, no, no, no, no.

00:35:13.306 --> 00:35:15.490
There has to be a reason why autism exists.

00:35:15.490 --> 00:35:19.099
Let's blame vaccinations, let's blame this, let's blame that.

00:35:19.099 --> 00:35:22.432
Nobody was okay with that, you know.

00:35:22.432 --> 00:35:32.253
And it goes to show you just how what people will think is okay, it's like people put a hierarchy on different mental disorders.

00:35:32.253 --> 00:35:32.554
Now.

00:35:33.076 --> 00:35:36.266
Yeah, yeah, that's.

00:35:36.266 --> 00:35:42.992
And, to your point, I think it's goes to show like the lack of understanding comes from a lack of knowledge.

00:35:42.992 --> 00:35:52.610
Because, let's be real, like people, when they hear depression, they generally know what it looks like, they know what the symptoms are, they know you know how to treat it.

00:35:52.610 --> 00:35:54.713
They know with anxiety even.

00:35:54.713 --> 00:35:57.365
They know what the symptoms are, they know how to treat it.

00:35:57.365 --> 00:36:12.309
But if you come with bipolar or even schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder or autism spectrum disorder, people don't generally know what the symptoms are or what to look for or what it is about.

00:36:12.871 --> 00:36:19.070
And I'm going to be honest with you before I got diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I knew virtually nothing about it.

00:36:19.070 --> 00:36:21.315
So it's like having that.

00:36:21.315 --> 00:36:22.237
I got scared.

00:36:22.237 --> 00:36:23.967
I'm like, oh my gosh, what is this Like?

00:36:23.967 --> 00:36:25.271
What's going on?

00:36:25.672 --> 00:36:40.065
But at the same time as I learned about it, as I knew more about it, as I knew more about my triggers and my symptoms and things to look out for, it became less of a scary thing and more of okay.

00:36:40.065 --> 00:36:43.155
This is something I have to manage and I will manage it.

00:36:43.155 --> 00:37:01.516
And I will say that having bipolar disorder also gives you better parameters in terms of understanding how you're navigating the world and what boundaries you need to put up, because before this I wasn't really conscious of, okay, I need to manage my sleep.

00:37:01.516 --> 00:37:18.735
I was always up till like three o'clock in the morning, but now I'm like, hey, I need to cut that off because I need to go to bed, because I need to manage this, or even like certain spaces and how I navigate myself, or even like certain spaces and how I navigate myself, like I need to know, okay, am I okay?

00:37:18.735 --> 00:37:19.835
Is my mood okay?

00:37:20.237 --> 00:37:21.277
I'm feeling sad.

00:37:21.277 --> 00:37:22.679
What is going on?

00:37:22.679 --> 00:37:25.282
Or I'm feeling a little too excited.

00:37:25.282 --> 00:37:33.106
Is this normal excited?

00:37:33.106 --> 00:37:33.467
Is this hypomanic?

00:37:33.467 --> 00:37:33.788
What's going on?

00:37:33.788 --> 00:37:37.998
So I'm more in tune and aware of my mental health and the things that I need to do in order to manage it.

00:37:37.998 --> 00:37:47.751
But if you looked at me three years ago and said, hey, sarah, you're going to deal with this, I wouldn't fathom how I could deal with it.

00:37:47.751 --> 00:37:53.590
But now that I know more about it, I'm able to learn and adjust accordingly.

00:37:53.590 --> 00:37:55.373
So I think to your point.

00:37:55.373 --> 00:38:07.306
The ignorance comes from the lack of knowledge, you know, and it's sad, but we have a long way to go in terms of getting people more knowledgeable about these things.

00:38:09.106 --> 00:38:09.947
Absolutely.

00:38:09.947 --> 00:38:28.302
And how do you feel like people react to you now, as you've been more open with bipolar, as you're more open about getting that message out there to others to help them navigate their journeys?

00:38:30.751 --> 00:38:59.539
Yeah, it's so interesting because and let me tell you, I have been blessed to make some really great connections, including this one that I have with you, and let me tell you, I have been blessed to make some really great connections, including this one that I have with you, and just really seeing that there are other people who also want to raise awareness through their stories, and I am so happy that I wasn't really met with ridicule or met with, like you know, some type of oh, what are you trying to prove?

00:38:59.539 --> 00:39:01.152
Like, what is your message about?

00:39:01.152 --> 00:39:17.860
I've been met with more curiosity than anything else because, especially from the people who knew me, like my family, my friends, like after I told a few of them what was going on and my diagnosis, they didn't really look at me differently.

00:39:17.860 --> 00:39:24.778
They're just like wow, I can't believe you're able to still move on and do all these things.

00:39:24.778 --> 00:39:31.061
And even though you have this, it didn't stop you from doing the things that you're doing with your life.

00:39:31.804 --> 00:39:57.998
And I am so grateful to have had that reaction because a lot of the times, people think you have a mental health condition, you have to look a certain way or you have to act a certain way, and mental health doesn't have a look Like you could be a regular person and dealing with a mental health condition and people wouldn't even know because they expect you to look a certain way.

00:39:58.478 --> 00:40:37.056
So, getting back to your question, I am very grateful to have seen just the outpouring of like, support and positivity, because people not only want to hear my story, but they're just like trying to wrap their minds around like, wow, you're able to do all these things and you have this condition and I think also the aspect of faith as well, where it's like wow, you're able to continue to believe in God and continue to share this message of hope with others after you've been through all of that and are still learning how to manage.

00:40:37.056 --> 00:40:50.577
So it's been really great so far and I just hope that people will continue to have that curiosity, because that's the first step to gaining more knowledge about these types of topics.

00:40:52.481 --> 00:41:06.791
And I'm so proud of you for just you know, being so brave and sharing your story and sharing your truth with everyone, because we need more people to come and share their stories and we need more people to see that.

00:41:06.791 --> 00:41:18.123
And I and you hit the nail right on the head and you said mental health does not have a look, you know, and there is no set way that people are supposed to behave for your comfort.

00:41:18.123 --> 00:41:21.472
I mean all these people that have these expectations.

00:41:21.472 --> 00:41:53.425
I feel like a lot of people got brainwashed somehow into thinking that OK, if you have bipolar, you have to act, just really out there, when truth of the matter is you could be a fully functioning individual, you could go to work every day, you could be a successful person in a career, you could be creative, you could be anything you want, because a mental illness, at the end of the day, doesn't define who you are, it doesn't limit you.

00:41:53.425 --> 00:42:03.565
The only limitation you will place on it is if you yourself decide you're going to be limited and then you're going to say, okay, I'm limited because of right, right.

00:42:03.565 --> 00:42:07.920
The truth of the matter is a mental illness only is a part of you.

00:42:07.920 --> 00:42:19.175
It doesn't define you and you know, it's good to you know and it's, I think, so amazing that you are you know, just breaking the status quo, breaking the stigma.

00:42:19.175 --> 00:42:20.634
You know, because it's, I think, so amazing that you are you know just breaking the status quo, breaking the stigma.

00:42:20.634 --> 00:42:23.425
You know, because this is what we need more of.

00:42:23.425 --> 00:42:31.563
We need more acceptance, we need more empathy, we need more understanding, compassion, curiosity, education.

00:42:31.563 --> 00:42:33.170
That's what we all need.

00:42:34.271 --> 00:42:35.612
Yes, I agree.

00:42:35.612 --> 00:42:41.697
So you know, and I know a big part of also your message you know.

00:42:41.697 --> 00:42:51.927
Part of it is, yes, you are sharing your journey with bipolar and getting diagnosed and having you know, sharing those experiences that you've overcome.

00:42:51.927 --> 00:42:57.778
But another part of it is also your faith.

00:42:57.778 --> 00:43:04.115
Now, you'd mentioned it before that you had prayed before and I know faith is huge for you.

00:43:04.115 --> 00:43:21.452
I know that you are a Christian and Christianity plays a big role in your life and I want to know how do you feel like your relationship with your faith has changed or morphed pre and post diagnosis?

00:43:23.376 --> 00:43:25.619
That is an amazing question.

00:43:25.619 --> 00:43:36.322
So pre-diagnosis, I was very strong in my faith and it was more of like what can I do to serve my community?

00:43:36.322 --> 00:43:46.842
What can I do to really like be in the church and and cultivate that relationship with God through prayer, reading the Bible and also just having that time with him?

00:43:46.842 --> 00:43:57.233
Post-diagnosis, I had to contend with a lot of questions, because my first question was God, what is happening?

00:43:57.233 --> 00:43:58.358
What is this?

00:43:58.358 --> 00:44:02.681
And another question that I had to deal with is what did I do wrong?

00:44:02.681 --> 00:44:24.231
Because initially I thought, due to the devastation of receiving a diagnosis like that, in the moment I thought I must have done something wrong for God to allow this to happen, for God to allow this to happen.

00:44:24.231 --> 00:44:30.190
And to that I would say having a diagnosis does not indicate a lack of faith and it does not indicate that something is going wrong in your relationship with God.

00:44:30.190 --> 00:44:35.539
It just means that you have a condition that you need to manage.

00:44:35.539 --> 00:44:37.302
That's all that it means.

00:44:37.923 --> 00:44:48.543
And for me, my faith, it has, like taken a different turn in terms of like just having the just like, the pleasure of like.

00:44:48.543 --> 00:44:52.697
Oh, you know, I'm going to read my Bible and pray and everything will be okay in the world.

00:44:52.697 --> 00:44:59.536
It went from that to now I have a deeper understanding of.

00:44:59.536 --> 00:45:04.804
Even though I'm going through difficult things, that doesn't mean that I'm loved any less.

00:45:04.804 --> 00:45:07.719
That doesn't mean that my faith isn't strong enough.

00:45:07.719 --> 00:45:13.163
That doesn't mean that I have to now isolate the two things.

00:45:13.163 --> 00:45:15.458
It meant that I could combine them.

00:45:15.458 --> 00:45:24.054
I could have that hope and that you and that positivity for my faith and intertwine it with the mental health treatment.

00:45:24.233 --> 00:45:30.456
Because, going back to the physical illness, if I had a physical condition I would still have my faith.

00:45:30.456 --> 00:45:32.889
I would just have a condition that I need to deal with.

00:45:32.889 --> 00:45:41.463
So for me, looking at mental health, it means that I can pray and go to therapy.

00:45:41.463 --> 00:45:46.956
It means that I can read my Bible and go take my medication.

00:45:46.956 --> 00:45:58.135
Like those, two things don't have to be mutually exclusive and that's something I hope that the faith community can really contend with, because mental health is still stigmatized.

00:45:58.135 --> 00:46:15.891
But I would say that my faith in God did get stronger after my diagnosis because I not only knew that God was with me in those moments, it actually gave me the motivation and the hope that I needed to stay consistent in my mental health treatment.

00:46:17.655 --> 00:46:21.342
And when did you come to that realization that you can combine it?

00:46:21.342 --> 00:46:35.101
And you came to these realizations that you were not loved any less or, you know, your faith wasn't any weak like any more weaker than you know before pre-diagnosis.

00:46:35.101 --> 00:46:39.081
What led you to these revelations and realizations?

00:46:39.081 --> 00:46:41.211
Were there specific scriptures you turned to?

00:46:41.211 --> 00:46:49.893
Was there a specific Bible chapter, bible verse or book rather, that you've really taken to, that really sung to you?

00:46:51.556 --> 00:46:51.858
Yes.

00:46:51.858 --> 00:47:25.878
So that's where my community comes in, because I didn't do this all on my own, like I had, thank God, I had some really strong friends, mentors, family members who have rallied around me in moments where I thought, oh God, you know he doesn't love me or he abandoned me because I have this, like they were able to pour into me and let me know that no, this is not because of a lack of faith, it's because you're dealing with the condition.

00:47:25.878 --> 00:47:36.876
That it's it's you know, it's normal to deal with the condition and that's the thing that a lot of like, especially Christians, don't understand is that this is normal.

00:47:36.876 --> 00:47:48.021
Like your body is just going through a condition and, with mental health, it's a chemical imbalance in the brain, like it is a physical condition as well.

00:47:48.021 --> 00:47:56.472
So it's normal to be able to experience something like this and the more that we learn about it, the more normalized it will become.

00:47:56.472 --> 00:48:00.097
But because we don't have that knowledge, we don't really know.

00:48:00.097 --> 00:48:09.697
But my community I'm so grateful that they were able to not treat me differently or not look at me a certain way, because I had this.

00:48:09.697 --> 00:48:22.572
It's more of really understanding that God still loves me, my community still loves me and I am still who I am, just with this condition, like I'm still me.

00:48:22.572 --> 00:48:26.760
I just have a condition that I need to learn how to manage.

00:48:27.402 --> 00:48:34.315
And when you say, like different books in the Bible, this is a verse that has really gotten me through.

00:48:34.315 --> 00:48:38.240
It's Isaiah 41, verse 10.

00:48:38.240 --> 00:48:46.639
And it says fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God.

00:48:46.639 --> 00:48:53.219
I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

00:48:53.219 --> 00:49:08.840
And that is the core of how I realized that faith can actually help, because God is not the type of God to just be like, oh well, all you need to do is serve me and that'll be it.

00:49:08.840 --> 00:49:11.130
He is with you in those moments.

00:49:11.552 --> 00:49:19.684
And knowing that gave me the hope that I needed to realize that God is going to be with me through all of this.

00:49:19.684 --> 00:49:28.621
So I will hold on to that hope, I will hold on to that truth and I will use it to inform okay, I have to take medication.

00:49:28.621 --> 00:49:30.675
Great God is with me through this.

00:49:30.675 --> 00:49:32.195
I have to go to therapy.

00:49:32.195 --> 00:49:34.713
Great God is with me in this.

00:49:34.713 --> 00:49:49.483
And so having that mindset is what made it click for me that faith is vital to really understanding how to care for your mental wellness, especially if you are a person of faith.

00:49:49.483 --> 00:50:01.769
And the thing I love about my podcast is that, even though it's faith-based, I do open it up to people who are not of, like you know, faith-based communities, just to get that information.

00:50:01.769 --> 00:50:07.382
Because, again, there is this curiosity like why are you using faith in this?

00:50:07.382 --> 00:50:08.489
Like what is that about?

00:50:08.489 --> 00:50:20.958
And so that has opened the doors to be able to connect with more people who are genuinely interested in hearing about my story and my experiences, so I'm grateful for that.

00:50:22.670 --> 00:50:29.771
I'm so thankful that you came on here today and shared your story, shared your experiences, shared your journey.

00:50:29.771 --> 00:50:35.217
Sarah, how can people find you if they wanted to reach out to you?

00:50:35.237 --> 00:50:37.599
to reach out to you.

00:50:37.599 --> 00:50:40.302
Yes, I am on social media Instagram.

00:50:40.342 --> 00:51:18.525
Mostly it's at roughedgespodcast, and I also have a website, roughedgespodcastcom, where you can connect with me there and also see the different aspects of the podcast that I have, and if you have one piece of advice or a piece of inspiration, rather one inspiration, whether it's a motivational quote, just inspirational, saying whatever is your favorite what is something you'd like to share with the audience listening today, and particularly those who may be finding themselves in a struggle emotionally, mentally?

00:51:23.929 --> 00:51:25.052
themselves in a struggle emotionally, mentally, yeah.

00:51:25.052 --> 00:51:26.134
So the first thing I would say is that there is hope.

00:51:26.134 --> 00:51:37.579
I know we are living in a world right now where everything is very chaotic and it seems like there's a lot going on, but there is hope, and I also want to encourage you.

00:51:37.579 --> 00:52:00.420
If you're living with a mental health condition, your diagnosis does not define who you are, and that is something that I really want you to know, because you are a person that deserves love, wellness and prosperity, and you shouldn't allow your diagnosis to be an inhibitor for those things.

00:52:00.420 --> 00:52:15.860
And so I am sitting before you today because I have been the product of a lot, of just a whole vast mental health journey, and I know that if I can make it, you definitely can make it too.

00:52:15.860 --> 00:52:22.242
So I just want to encourage you that there is hope and that you are worth the time that healing takes.

00:52:23.773 --> 00:52:25.590
Well, thank you so much, Sarah.

00:52:25.590 --> 00:52:33.945
Everybody, please, before we end this, please go on to Rough Edges podcast.

00:52:33.945 --> 00:52:35.414
Please follow it.

00:52:35.414 --> 00:52:37.197
It is amazing.

00:52:37.197 --> 00:52:58.601
Sarah does an amazing job talking about various topics, providing all sorts of hope and encouragement, and this is the podcast definitely you want to listen to, especially if you have a bad day, and because this is a podcast that will lift your spirits up within minutes.

00:52:58.601 --> 00:53:00.155
I know it has for me.

00:53:00.155 --> 00:53:10.385
And so, before we end today, everybody, I want to thank you all for tuning into this episode of On the Spectrum with Sonia.

00:53:10.385 --> 00:53:13.338
Please rate and review.

00:53:13.338 --> 00:53:28.822
Also, subscribe to On the Spectrum with Sonia and get at least five friends to do the same, and I am looking forward to continuing to sharing more episodes with you.

00:53:28.822 --> 00:53:31.057
Stay tuned for further episodes.

00:53:31.057 --> 00:53:33.577
Thank you very much for tuning in today.

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Your support is greatly appreciated and sending you all much love.