Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

guest column:

Mental health columns have led to an informative project

In January I made the difficult decision to go public with my bipolar disorder. Like many people with that illness, I had spent most of my life harboring a not-so-secret secret. Only my close friends and family members knew that I was, as my grandmother used to say, missing some of my marbles. For years I lived in a world of stigma, always hiding, always pretending I was out sick from work because I had the flu or a stomachache so painful I’d wonder aloud if I had a burst appendix. I’d say anything to avoid talking about my bipolar disorder.

Then I started writing these columns on mental illness for the Las Vegas Sun, pointing out in the first week that hiding things can get old after a while. Really old.

And my insights into being bipolar have spread more quickly than I ever expected. These columns — on topics including my own struggles, the challenges facing soldiers with PTSD and the exploitation by pharmaceutical companies in pushing their branded drugs — are now distributed nationally.

Some days I wonder if I did the right thing being so public about being bipolar. I wonder if those around me and those perusing the internet see me only as a face for bipolar disorder instead of a writer who also indulges in commentaries on modern-day Russia and features about clowns in the circus.

Indeed, some weeks I don’t want to think about illnesses of any kind. But feedback to my columns buoys me because I realize other people are opening up about their experiences with being bipolar, and that’s healthy. Sometimes my columns are sent to more than 65,000 Twitter followers of Mental Health America, an organization in Virginia dedicated to helping those with mental illness.

Now I am an intern for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and it has connected me to many others who share the same plight. Living with an illness is never easy, but at least we can move our mouths and talk about it openly. I’ve met people online who’ve shared their stories about how to manage their illness. They are upbeat and excited to share. I’ve written about prominent Nevadans, such as former Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and Nevada Supreme Court Justice Michael Douglas, who shared their stories about how they’ve stayed positive in the face of adversity. They understand the challenges facing people in a state with a high suicide rate, and have worked hard over the years to improve people’s lives.

This year Nevada Humanities offered me a grant to interview Nevadans struggling with mental illness, with plans to publish their stores in the Sun. It was not an easy grant application to complete; nothing involving government funds ever is. I almost gave up because there were so many questions to answer. I even emailed the agency, saying I had run out of patience and asking to please put my grant request on hold. The next day, my paperwork was returned to me — completed by someone on my behalf.

The project, “Nevada Minds, Nevada Hearts,” has been an extraordinary voyage into understanding issues important to Nevada’s mental health community, including an inspiring interview with a transgender individual and a UNLV in-house attorney who this year, for the first time, spoke about her struggles with mental health to the entire group of newly hired UNLV faculty. These are important efforts. Research on Nevada’s transgender community shows that 67 percent of this demographic has seriously contemplated suicide.

Nevada’s mental health issues aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. But at least we can evolve from being a state that gives mental illness the silent treatment into one that increasingly talks about it.

I have an ongoing project in which people with some sort of mental illness take selfies while holding a sign that proclaims, “No Stigma Nevada.” It’s intended to bring mental health into mainstream conversation. Like me, many others have hidden their disorders. I’m now comfortable in my own skin, and my own head, and have been emboldened by others who join me in the conversation about mental illness. It’s the healthy thing to do.

Kim Palchikoff, a Nevada Humanities grant recipient, writes about mental health. Her Facebook page is NVMindsMatter.

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