Getting Government Help (Part Three)

  Now that funds are so tight, government resources for the mentally ill are getting thin on the ground. Just because you qualify doesn't mean you'll get them. Here's the third installment of my 3-part series on struggling with bureaucracies:

Phrases to use when you hit a wall: “What is your name?” (write it down, in front of them. People act differently when they know they will be held responsible.) ”Is there someone else I can talk to?”  “Can I speak with your supervisor?” (If the supervisor/manager/boss is out, ask , “When can I reach him/her, then?”) Or, try calling another day, and speak to someone else. Not everybody has the same information – or the same chip on their shoulders.

If you are completely stuck? Memorize this one: “If you were in my shoes, where would you look next?” And then get the number. Inside numbers are often much more efficient than the general numbers, especially if they give you a specific person or department. Another reason to always write numbers down.

Always follow the rules. Read the fine print. Do not lie. If you play by their rules, they can’t throw you out.

It took me two years to get Disability. On appeal, they were going to say ‘no’ again because I had earned more money than their maximum in only one month out of the entire previous year. I studied the figures and saw that the month in question was a month with five weeks - and thus had one extra paycheck! I was not earning more per hour or more per month. It was just a longer month.

When I pointed that out to the investigator, I won my case.

Use reason. Use their own rules against them. Use the system’s loopholes. Read the fine print. There are such things as public-assistance lawyers to help you with this. Find one if you need one.

 It can be OK sometimes to leave something immaterial out of your answers. I once had my doctor look over a Disability Review form, and he said I should cross out the information that I took long walks every day. He said in their minds, if I could exercise, I wasn’t very sick. Ludicrous, but true. So I left that sentence out. It didn’t change the basic facts of my condition.

Having a doctor or experienced friend look your stuff over, if you can, is a good idea.

But don’t outright lie. If you get caught, the game is over. You have just made things harder for the next person in line, too.

Being in trouble does NOT excuse you from ethics.

Follow through to the bitter end. If they say ‘no,’ but there is an appeal process, then appeal! Some agencies routinely say ‘no’ just to weed people out. They may give you bogus reasons such as, “You can walk and follow instructions. Therefore you are employable.” (True story. Happened to a friend of mine, completely incapable of supporting himself for the last few decades.) Get a doctor on your side, and go for the second round. If there are community-service lawyers in your area, get one.

Do not call or show up while upset or symptomatic. Reschedule. This one is self-explanatory. The only exception is if you are in the throes of trying to prove how sick you are. In that case, a picture is worth a thousand words. But bring someone to interpret you.

Never give up.

I know this sounds like a lot, but think about it this way: How much is a free income and medical care, for life, worth to you? If someone said, “Look, the deal is, you have to work for us for two years, and it will be a really nutty two years, but after that you’ll never have to work again; we’ll just feed you, give you money”…would you do it? Hmmm?

Don’t be ashamed, and don’t have false pride. The American public, as a majority, over numerous decades, has decided that some people need to be helped, and is willing to pay for some of it. You are entitled to these services, if you can prove your case.

And keep your ears open. There are all kinds of services out there which are never advertised. For instance, if you were wondering how to afford the yoga class I recommended, go the YMCA and ask, and you will find that they offer scholarships for low-income people. Or, for instance, some charities help with deposit fees on apartments if all you have is one month’s rent. Some cities have groups that will actually pay for your pet care, or offer you help cleaning your apartment. The gas and electric company once paid my entire several-hundred-dollar heating bill, the worst bill of the winter, on proof of low income and my promise not to re-apply for a year. (This service was called REACH. I don’t know if it still exists.) There are telephone discounts, public-transportation discounts, and free mammograms for low-income patients, in some areas.

The point is, you have to stop being proud and ASK. Say, “I have a disability and a low income. Are there any special programs to help me out?”

 Trade info like this with friends, and listen to any services they know about – make a note even if you don’t need it now. You may someday. I keep a file called Community Resources full of these snippets and leads. They’ve saved me and my friends over the years.

You can do this. I did. Just keep good records and be very, very patient.

If you can’t do it, find someone who cares enough, show them this section, and ask for help.

The above is an excerpt from the book Is There Room For Me, Too? 12 Steps & 12 Strategies for Coping with Mental Illness, copyright 2010 by Deborah Fruchey. Available on Amazon.com, on Kindle, as an Apple iBook, or by request at your bookstore. See the link for a short video about the book, or visit www.lafruche.net.

Getting Government Help (Part II)

Now that funds are so tight, government resources for the mentally ill are getting scarce on the ground. Just because you qualify doesn't mean you'll get them. Here's the second installment of my 3-part series on struggling with bureaucracies:

Be concise and polite. Losing your temper will get you thrown out the door, hung up on, or given the worst possible service. If you do lose it, take a deep breath, then smile and say sincerely, “I’m sorry. This is a stressful process and sometimes I get angry.” Even though these people are dealing with the mentally ill all the time, they have few people skills and no psychological skills or patience  (my apologies to the few shining exceptions!). DO NOT TAKE IT PERSONALLY. Paranoia will end the conversation every time, and get you marked down as a troublemaker. Their attitude is NOT about you.

Do not tell a long, detailed sob story. Do not try to make them feel sorry for you or give them every last detail. They’ve heard it all. They don’t care.

Have plenty of proof of your claims. Back up your diagnosis, your work history, your hospitalizations, and anything else they’ll question. Get paperwork from doctors and employers, or their agreement to back you up if someone calls them. Have a lease to prove your residence, or a friend who will verify that you are staying with them.

In bureaucracies, paperwork is God. You cannot afford to be disorganized about this.

Getting Organized: What if you are disorganized by nature? Here’s a simple system.

  

1) Get a box. Not a huge box, just one about the size of a milk crate or a standard box of books.

2) Get some folders – one for each agency you’re trying to get help from. Write the name of each agency on a folder – Medicare, SSI, Disability, Housing, Medicare Part D, Therapist, Psychiatrist….whatever the issues are you’re working on.

3) Every time you get a piece of paper about that issue, put it in the right folder on top of whatever’s there.

4) Every time you send out something to that agency, put a copy of it on top of whatever’s there.

5) Every time you have a phone call or make notes or memos, or do ANYTHING about that issue or agency, you write it down and put it in the right folder on top.

6) DO NOT THROW AWAY ANY OF THE PAPERS.

This system keeps it simple. Whatever is most recent is right on top. Whatever is going on will be right there when you reach for it. Even if it’s old and somebody starts making a fuss about it, you know it’s just further down in the stack.

So all you have to do is develop a habit of putting each paper in the folder the second you put it down. Don’t put them anywhere else. Don’t leave them somewhere ‘temporarily’ or ‘till I can get to it.’ If you use this system your papers will always be in the same place every time, and nothing will be missing.

It doesn’t matter if the notes are crumpled or scribbled or have phone numbers scrawled on them in 3 colors of ink, or coffee spilled on them. It doesn’t have to be neat. It just has to be COMPLETE and FINDABLE. Just keep the box in the same old corner of the closet, or whatever.

The rest of your life can be as messy as you want.

The above is an excerpt from the book Is There Room For Me, Too? 12 Steps & 12 Strategies to Coping with Mental Illness, copyright 2010 by Deborah Fruchey. Available on Amazon.com, Kindle, as a Apple iBook, or by request at your bookstore. See the posted link for a short video about the book, or visit www.lafruche.net

Getting Government Help (Part I)

  Now that funds are so tight, government resources for the mentally ill are getting scarce on the ground. Just because you qualify doesn't mean you'll get them. So here's the beginning of my 3-part series on struggling with bureaucracies:

I have a reputation among my friends for getting the most out of the bureaucracy. Here are some tips gleaned from 20+ years in the mental health system.

First of all, don’t expect fast results. If you need housing next week, start counting up friends’ sofa-beds right now. Approaching the red-tape establishment in desperation puts you at a nasty disadvantage. Public employees often don’t listen well to the urgent or the stressed. They get very huffy about the pace at which they will move.

Expect that big benefits, like Disability, will take up to two years to achieve. Small ones, like assistance paying for your pet’s vaccinations, about six weeks. Government-sponsored benefits are always harder to get. There are more hoops to jump through. Volunteer groups have been formed strictly to help you. Government employees have been trained to safeguard the taxpayers’ money and keep out frauds – so, sadly, you are considered a fraud till proven otherwise.

So that’s the first rule: give it time.

The second is: never miss deadlines or appointments. Even if you are sick, or need an attendant, manage it or reschedule it. If you miss, you can mess up the whole works and they can deny your application on the grounds that you ‘didn’t do your part.’

The other tips follow in no particular order.

Get everything in writing – and keep the paperwork. If it’s an interview or a phone call, be sure to write down any instructions or promises made, along with the date and who told you.

Keep names and phone numbers you find helpful. If you find an employee with a surprisingly good attitude or good information, ask for that person by name next time you call that office. You may even want to call them again about more general info, or a referral. “Hi, Michael. It’s Deborah again. I just wanted to ask you: what department do I call for X situation? Do you have any numbers there?” Contacts are priceless, and might even become friends over the years. But don’t wear out your welcome.

Keep copies of everything YOU send. It is a savvy trick to send things by certified and/or registered mail, so you can prove an office got something on such-and-such a date. If the office completely loses the information you spent six weeks gathering, and you have no copies, you are S.O.L. It does happen. Horrifying but true. So be persnickety about this.

Get friendly with your phone book. When you need something and don’t know where to start, look in the city, county, and federal pages at the front. Think of other names for it if you can’t find it at once. It may be under ‘Human Resources’ instead of ‘Social Services.’ The Internet is great, but not all of us have it, or are good with it. The phone book is free.

Go in person if you can. If you want a service and you can get to the office, get presentable and go there. A friend of mine needed housing. We went together to the county office and received a 25-page handout of places to look and agencies to contact! Nobody’s going to give you that over the phone. You have to be there. And the human touch works wonders.

The above is an excerpt from the book Is There Room For Me, Too? 12 Steps & 12 Strategies to Coping with Mental Illness, copyright 2010 by Deborah Fruchey. Available on Amazon.com, Kindle, as a Apple iBook, or by request at your bookstore. See the posted link for a short video about the book, or visit www.lafruche.net

Pills

 

About the best thing you can do for yourself, if you have a major mental disorder, is take your medicine. And the best thing to do with your medicine is to take it regularly, and never run out. Here are a few tips on how.

Let your pill counting be an every-night or every-morning ritual. Never go to bed without taking the last pills of the evening, and setting out what you will need the next day. You may be fuzzy in the morning, especially before coffee; it would be easy to skip one (or double up on the wrong one) and suffer for it later. I take quite a few, so I do need to specifically count how many of each item I need for morning, lunchtime and bedtime doses. While I’m counting, I glance in each bottle to make sure I have enough to last at least 3 more days. If one of the bottles looks low, I turn it upside down on my dresser so the next morning I will notice it. When I see an upside down bottle, that’s my short-hand for “Call the pharmacy, today!”

Your morning pills belong just an arms-length away from your pillow, maybe on a little saucer by a glass of water. When you get up, you can grab them and swallow them down without even looking or thinking about it. That’s what you want: an instant, automatic action. The pills for the rest of the day should have a tiny container of their own that lives in your purse or wallet or back pocket. ALWAYS. Never be caught anywhere without your pills.  If you are on public transportation and start to hear voices, you need your antipsychotics with you, to take right now, not in some drawer at home.

In fact, I recommend you have an emergency supply of one extra days’ worth that you keep on your person at all times. This doesn’t have to take a lot of space. Mine goes in the cellphone pocket of my wallet. In even the best-ordered life, the unexpected can happen and you can be stuck somewhere overnight or caught in a disaster with no access to the pills that will keep you sane and functioning until you get to safety. How are you going to handle it without your meds? If this sounds like too much to bother with, let me put it another way: would you rather carry a few extra pills, or explain things to the police?

‘Nuff said.

About pharmacies: pick a national chain if you can, one that will hold your computer records even if you are traveling to another state. It’s a good idea to check, before a vacation, that you have enough of each medication to see you through, including a couple of days’ worth for after  you get home. Try to give your pharmacy two days’ notice at least for refills. Things go wrong with distressing regularity. What if you have no more refills, and they need special authorization? What if they have to call your doctor or your insurance and don’t get an answer right away? Lots of things can go wrong with your order. For instance, maybe you’ve needed a little more medicine than usual – so now you’ve used up your prescription early, and the insurance company says it won’t pay for replacements till some time next week. Twice I was held up because the pharmacy was faxing the old office number of a doctor I hadn't seen for years! Naturally, he didn’t bother answering them. Or what if they’ve simply run out of supplies? Give your pharmacy a little lead time to sort things out. They will appreciate that you don’t breathe down their necks and rush them – and when there really is a special hurry, the people behind the counter will be more likely to be helpful and understanding if you’re usually not a pain.

But what if, despite everything, you do run out?

If you always go to the same pharmacy, and they know you, they will probably help you out. Explain that you need X days of emergency supply. Tell them why (in as few words as possible – they don’t need a long sob story). Be sure to show them the bottle you just emptied so they can verify that you really do have this prescription in this exact dosage. They will probably give you the small supply you need – possibly without charge. It really pays to be a regular customer. But even if you are new in town, if you show the bottle, you may be able to get help; especially if you can say “I’m seeing Dr. So-and-so in 5 days.” Give them the doctor’s number so they can verify that, too. Psychotropic drugs are very powerful and can be dangerous to the wrong person, so they’re right to be cautious in giving these things out to strangers.

Don’t put new pills into old bottles, though. I did this by mistake once. The old bottle read “one refill remaining”, so I thought I was alright. But it was actually time for a new prescription, and I didn’t have any refills left! I had to make a rush appointment and get an emergency supply. So when you get your medicines refilled, any leftovers should go into the NEW pill bottle. Throw the old one away.

One last tip: If you give them a list of your usual meds, Walgreen’s is capable of making out a comparison chart of the various Medicare Part D plans in your area, including a cost comparison. It pays to do this each December, during the time when patients are eligible to switch coverage.

Be serious, disciplined and reliable in the way you handle your prescriptions, so they can give you serious and reliable results.

Deborah Fruchey is the author of a general self-help book for psychiatric patients. Entitled  Is There Room For Me, Too?, it is available on Amazon.com and other online bookstores. It is also available as an ebook on Kindle and in Apple's iBookstore. Or you can request a copy from your local book vendor. See the attached link for an explanatory video, or visit Deborah at www.lafruche.net.

Defining Normal

It happens sometimes that people get sidetracked into the swamp of defining what 'sanity' is, what ‘normal’ is. Usually they just leave the question hanging. If we are going to accurately monitor ourselves, however, we need a benchmark for sanity. We need to have some way to know when we have gone off the rails, when it is time to curb our behavior. We can’t decide what to do about psychosis, if we don’t know we are psychotic! The real question is, what does sanity feel like to YOU?

A lot depends on the age at which we became mentally ill. Obviously, if disease struck you at age 26, you have some kind of memory of what ‘sanity’ felt like, however you may define sanity. The world felt different. Perceptions were different. You can remember. You can compare. But what about those of us who started early? Some of us have never experienced adult ‘sanity’. We were kids, and then we were insane. No ‘before’ picture to measure by. Some of us were even insane as kids. What do you do then? How can you tell that things have gone further south than usual?

Well, if you’re lucky, at some point your medications will stabilize you – even if only for a little while – and that can become your measure of what adult normal feels like. I had to wait until I was 34, myself. But once I knew, I had a reliable way of telling when I had got too far from the beaten path. We have to pay attention to our bodies as well as our minds. There are certain sensations I associate with mental illness – a sort of tight, closed-in feeling, as if only my mind exists and my body is locked in a box, and I literally CANNOT notice what is around me, or change the topic my brain is stuck on, no matter how hard I try. I feel overwhelmed, over-stimulated, a little panicked, a little trapped. I cannot listen – the words inside me must be spewed out. I cannot calm down – there is a firestorm in my head that often turns into a very real physical headache. I certainly am not breathing very deeply. The irritation and tightness that accompany this are clues that I am losing it, and should go lie down.

If you observe yourself for a while, you will learn your own cues.

If your meds have never graced you with adult ‘normal’, it is trickier. You have to judge by lesser or greater, with no absolute benchmark. And you have to depend a lot on the reactions of other people. If everybody around you is concerned or hostile or telling you to stop or shut up, chances are real good you’ve crossed the line. You might want to set up a verbal or visual signal with someone you trust, a simple phrase like, “Honey, you don’t seem like your usual self today.” Something simple and inoffensive that will not set you off all by itself. And you will have to surround yourself with people that you trust.

This can be tricky, too. It is to easy for those who are not sick to label anything they do not like or understand as ‘insanity.’  Holding dissenting opinions is not insanity. Having an unusual idea is not insanity. Insanity is operating from a non-standard reality, and not knowing you are doing so. That doesn’t happen every day, for most of us. We need intimates who allow us to be our disparate selves, and this can be a challenge. New Year's Resolution: surround yourself with people you can trust.

It is difficult to be mentally ill partly because of the way it messes with our fundamental belief that we are right. A person with a mental disorder has to be ready to concede, at any given moment, that they may be wrong about virtually anything, even the smells wafting into their nostrils! The least we can do for ourselves is make sure those around us can be trusted to have a sense of what is our illness, and what is simple idiosyncrasy on our part.

There are individuals like that out there. Go and find them, and happy hunting.

Deborah Fruchey

Deborah's new book, Is There Room For Me, Too? 12 Steps & 12 Strategies for Coping with Mental Illness, is now available on Amazon.com, Kindle Editions, and Apple's iBookstore. See the above link for an introductory video.

Top Ten Tips for Surviving the Hoidays

Everywhere we go at this time of year, people are insisting that we be happy, have good cheer, and enjoy the holidays. For the mentally ill, this can be a problem. Some of us become more depressed than usual. Some of us come apart due to the stress. Some of us, living poverty-stricken or isolated lives, will feel more alone and broke than ever. It’s not easy to give neat presents on the fixed income of Disability, or the pittance of SSI.

Holiday blues can happen to anybody, but for the mentally ill, who live so close to their emotions and the negative critics inside their heads, it can be enough to bring on a whole slew of symptoms we’d rather do without. So here are some of the tricks I’ve learned to make it through. Apply as needed.

1. You do not have to break the bank buying presents. Try out a flea market or thrift shop for gifts. The chief thing a gift is supposed to do is show someone you thought about them. If you buy thoughtfully, fitting gift to personality, you can come out on top without a lot of bucks. Remind yourself that it is retailers who have made Christmas into a shoppers feeding frenzy; the season, whatever your religion, is actually not about gifts but connecting to loved ones at this dark time of year and showing them we care. (In January, you can start setting aside a small amount every month so you won’t be caught flatfooted by the next ‘season of giving’.)

2. Or you can make things, write things, hand-paint cards – use whatever creativity you have to manufacture your own gifts. I know a woman who buys ugly bead necklaces at flea markets, takes them apart, and then puts together her own stunning necklaces in much better combinations, choosing the best colors for the individual she’s giving to. She has an eye, and people love her personal jewelry gifts. The money investment is tiny. Besides, it is illegal in most parts of the world to criticize a handcrafted gift made with obvious care. ; )

3. Stay out of the malls and stores. Mass crowds at Christmas can get absolutely rabid, growling and elbowing and making for long lines and grouchy sales clerks. If your sanity is fragile at the best of times, you do NOT need to be in places like this. (The parking alone is enough to give me spontaneous attacks of rage).

4. If you do have some money, or an accommodating charge account, a good bet is buying from offbeat catalogs. If you sign up for just one, they will propagate and you will have dozens to choose from next year. Some of the best buys can come from organizations such as SERV, which gathers fair-trade items that are handmade and relatively inexpensive, from needy economies all over the world. The advantages here are staying out of the stores (see above), finding unique items that nobody else in your family has seen, and if you can afford it, even having them gift-wrapped and mailed straight from the merchant to your family members. All of this adds up to a very low-stress holiday season. The downside: these catalogue items tend to be not-so- cheap, and you will get nailed on the shipping. Also, you must order early enough for on-time delivery.

5. Consider buying your tree, if you need one, the night before Christmas. If the local tree lot is trying to get rid of the last stragglers, they might give you a hell of a deal. These won’t be the shapeliest or best trees, but if you’ve collected enough ornaments or have bushy garlands, it may not matter. Or consider a mini-sized, tabletop tree, which will be in a low price range. Lots of people make trimming the tree on Christmas eve part of their yearly ritual, even opening their presents the night before, and wouldn’t have it any other way.

6. Spend time with your friends. If everybody is busy, or far away, spend time with them on the phone. This is especially important if you don’t have family any more. It is supposed to be a season of love, and if you have had some contact with everyone you love, you will not feel so deprived.

7. Be sure you take in plenty of music that makes you feel good. That does not always mean Christmas music – some of us abominate carols – and it doesn’t always even mean cheerful music. Maybe melancholy classical pieces give you a sense of order in the world. Music does not have to cost a lot. You can pick up any number of old vinyl records and cassette tapes for pennies on the dollar. Music is one of the best and easiest mood-altering substances known to mankind.

8. Establish special rituals for the season, so you can feel festive even if you are alone and sick. Drinking hot chocolate, for instance; decorating the house if you like that; taping up any Christmas cards you receive into a tree-shape on the back of a door. Or have a festival of old holiday movies that you borrow for free from the library. Read The Night Before Christmas out loud to yourself (by a fire if possible).  These are things that will help you feel connected to the mood, or just make you feel it is a special time. (Conversely, if you do not celebrate Christmas, some special non-Christmas rituals will help buttress you against skepticism, disgust, or too much of a left-out feeling).

9. Make sure you have plenty of all your medicines. This is not the time to run out and start spiraling down. Don’t wind up spending Christmas or New Year’s in the hospital. Add extra therapy visits if things are tough. If you can stay connected to even one person who listens to and accepts your icky, non-festive feelings, you will probably be able to squeak through. 

10. Remember that Christmas is ultimately a man-made made holiday, one that the Catholic Church frankly appropriated and reframed to help increase conversion rates. Even if you believe in the story of Christ's birth, historians are pretty sure he was not born on Christmas day proper. This holiday is not ordained by God - there is nothing you have to accomplish and no reason to feel you have not "measured up" if you do things differently from the mainstream. You can choose to celebrate, or you can choose to retreat into your own quiet space. There is nothing wrong with that.

And if you get tired of all that insistence that you should be having a joyous time, remember that at least 50% of the people who are telling you that are faking it, even to themselves. You have plenty of company.

Compared to What?

Self-esteem is a perennial problem for the mentally ill. We have to live our lives at a different pace from the mainstream, with generally scaled-down goals, and sometimes it is impossible not to feel “less than.”  In addition, it’s my sneaking suspicion that we just have to spend more time than most people with the critical voice in our heads, and it’s a louder, more insistent voice. Especially if we are surrounded by “normies”, we can wind up feeling inadequate, to say the least.

It is a truism to say, “you shouldn’t  compare  yourself to others,” and it’s silly. People are going to compare. They are supposed to compare! This is how the human mind works! The brain takes any image or concept, scans through the memory banks to find something similar, and says, “Ah, this is like such-and-such, only bigger or smaller or more colorful.” It lists the differences. That’s how it operates. That is why a good teacher will go at a new concept from several angles and maybe with a couple of stories or similes, looking for the ‘hook’ to previous ideas which will allow students to process something new.

The thing we need to understand is that we are no longer measurable by the old rules.  By definition, we are not part of the mainstream.

We are dealing with tremendous extra pressures and challenges they could not conceive. We are carrying a heavier load, every day. We are going to perform differently. So we will do a lot better if we compare ourselves to our peers, or just to our own levels of functioning. (And anyway, let’s be real – is that mainstream, with its frenzied ideas of materialism and power trips, so totally sane and admirable that we want to copy it?)

Here’s an example. I sometimes pick at myself for taking so much medicine every night. It’s uncool. It’s like being an elderly woman, or an invalid. Then I remind myself that over the years I have cut down on my meds by about half.  I am actually getting better. Another self-critical issue for me is work and earnings. I used to feel bad that I could only work 15 hours a week. Then my doctor told me that at my level of severity, 90% of people could not hold a job – any job – for more than 6 months. I had been working at the library about 5 years by then. Instantly, that 15 hours looked better. And as for money, it takes a lot of skill to live on the miniature amounts you get from the government. It takes a lot of skill even to get them. Can you congratulate yourself on making that work? I’ll bet most of your salaried friends could not do it.

Never mind how the up-and-comers are doing. How are your colleagues doing? Go to a support group and see what is realistically going on for the people there. Maybe you are well off because you are the only one who sleeps through the whole night. Maybe you are on top of your paperwork, or have a more reasonable social life or romantic relationship than half the people in the circle. But you won’t know that until you look at others like you. At least read about them, if there are no groups nearby. You don’t need to reach the upper limits of human achievement! You just have to do okay on one or two items that matter today.

Take time out from your self-flagellation to tot up your small achievements. Anything can count, from taking your medicine more regularly to getting out of bed during a depression. Little things are important. I do not have to be Tolstoy. You do not have to be Steve Jobs. Just pat your bruised self on the back for the things you did right today. You deserve the appreciation.

Deborah Fruchey

You can get her book, Is There Room for Me, Too? 12 Steps &12 Strategies to Coping with Mentally Illness, at Amazon.com, Createspace.com, Kindle Editions, Apple's iBookstore, and Lulu.com. Those last three sources will download a free chapter or two to you!