Kate K.

Health Interests

mental illness,  schizophrenia,  depression

Drugs I am Taking

abilify,  risperidone,  generic prozac

About Me

I began hearing voices in my mid twenties, sometime after I graduated from college. During that time I was living at home, not working and I had practically no friends. I spent my time going to several art schools in Manhattan. Then my father retired and my parents sold their Brooklyn house and moved down to Florida. I moved 6 hours away to Western New York to be near my brother. I soon became involved with a young abusive alcoholic and lived with him for 5 years. I heard voices on and off during that time and suffered from the trauma of domestic violence. After I left him I began taking some local art classes and applied to an art school and was accepted. By the end of my first year I became paranoid and delusional. I took a leave of absence and had three breakdowns in three years because I wouldn't commit to taking the anti-psychotic medications, though I did take Prozac. Then I returned to school and began taking the medications after my last serious break with reality. For a while I suffered from severe depression and had trouble doing my work, but within three years I graduated with a BFA in painting and photography. For most of the past 10 years I have seen a therapist which has been very helpful. I've been taking my medications since 2002 and have been fairly stable though I still hear voices and sometimes struggle with depression. I began a blog about my life and experiences towards the end of 2006. It's called Yin And Yang and it's on Blogger. The address is: http://wanderer62.blogspot.com/ It's taken me a while, but I now consider myself an artist, thanks in part to a few good online friends. I still live quite a reclusive life due to the fact that there are, so far, no support groups for mental illness in my area. I still struggle sometimes with the schizophrenia, but I've found that having creative outlets has helped me so much and has given me more of a positive identity.