I'm pleased to have interviewed Kate Kiernan, one of the top five "Best of 2007" award winners whose blog is titled "Yin and Yang". As I'm sure you'll see from our talk, she is a blessed person who has a lot to offer others with her hard-won insight and wisdom.

CB: First, I'd like to ask what your diagnosis is and when it was given?

KK: My diagnosis was and is schizophrenia. I was diagnosed when I checked myself into a hospital in 1998.

CB: You were aware that something was wrong?

KK: For months I was caught up in my delusions and acting crazy. I lived alone and it was the voices that told me to check myself into the hospital. Before that they said to call my parents and tell them what was happening, so I did. The next day my father showed up from Florida and stayed with me for about a month, and then my mother came.

CB: You were hospitalized for three weeks?

KK: No. My father had come the next day and took me home.

CB: Did they give you medication?

KK: When I was there, they put me on Zyprexa. It was strong even though I was on a low dose, so I flushed it down the toilet after I got out. From then on I only took the Prozac, and the Zyprexa every so often. I had three psychotic breaks so I finally started taking the meds. That's when I came out of the delusions and paranoia. Now I'm on Abilify and Risperdal.

CB: You've talked about hearing voices. I wonder if you could give others hope and talk about your techniques for dealing with the voices.

KK: Right now, because I'm taking the meds, the voices aren't anywhere near as aggressive or in my face; they're more removed and I can handle it. Just in the first three years it was hard to deal with.

CB: How long have you been in recovery and what helped the most?

KK: In 2002, I started taking the meds regularly, so I've been in recovery five years. I recommend anyone who gets ill with this thing go into therapy. I talked to a therapist pretty much from the beginning and the therapy got me through the hardest spots, even when I wasn't taking the meds. Also support groups of any type are really good for helping with psychotic symptoms.

CB: Tell us about that.

KK: I didn't have a group for mental illness but I did go to Al-Anon - a group for family and friends of alcoholics - because I'd been in a relationship with an abusive alcoholic. I also went into a group for women in domestic violence and I found a lot of good people there. I started to get involved in helping them with their problems, and I was able to stop focusing on my illness so much.

CB: What are your top three techniques for managing the schizophrenia?

KK: Definitely the meds, therapy and support groups are basic tools in helping you recover. I also believe in a higher power and that has helped me get through. I do a lot of praying, and working on "gratitude lists" - I think of things that make me feel good in my day. It could be a cup of hot tea, my cat or anything I can find to motivate me to keep going and not give up.