‘I struggled in silence over mental health for 20 years’
A woman who struggled in silence with bipolar disorder for more than 20 years is urging people to ask for mental health help.
Angela McCrimmon Livingston, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 19. She struggled in silence for more than 20 years with medication, but no other support.
After years battling with selfharm and suicidal thoughts, she hit rock-bottom a few years ago and a friend stepped in and got her professional help.
The 43-year-old activist and community champion for mental health charity See Me is getting ready to start a new role as a volunteer with the NHS, helping staff talk about their mental health.
She says she has faced discrimination from health professionals as well as misdiagnosis, but after finally getting the right support she says it has saved her life. Now she is urging people to reach out before things get to crisispoint.
Her call comes as mental health charity See Me has warned increasing self- stigma is stopping people getting much-needed support, because they feel guilt y and don’t want to be a burden on services during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ms Mccrimmon said. “I kept quiet so long, things just got worse and worse. It took me until I was 40 to get real help. I got medication, but no therapy or other treatment. For a while I was self-harming.
” At my worst I was in a state, withering away at home. A friend stepped in and got me help. But when a health pro - fessional came in I was convinced they couldn’t help me. I had spiralled out of control and was angry.
”I didn’t want to talk to them at that point. I was suicidal and they were getting in the way of that.”
She became so ill without the support she needed that she was sectioned.
“For the five weeks I was sectioned I got the medical help I needed and I became more like myself again,” she said. “All I needed to hear was ‘I can help you’. In the end, it was worth speaking up.”
Experts have warned of a mental health em ergency across the country. See Me says the work their champions like Ms Mccrimmon do to tackle stigma is more important than ever, as people feel put off asking for help because of an alarming rise in self-stigma.
The charity recently asked supporters who have experience of mental health prob - lems what their experiences of stigma and discrimination has been during lock down and social distancing.
More than half – 54 per cent – said the self-stigma they felt around their mental health had shot up.
Ms Mccrimmon, author of ‘Can you hear me now? Finding my voice in a system that stole it’, says writing and sharing her poetry through social media live events for See Me has helped her cope with anxiety and low mood in lockdown.
“People didn’ t speak up before because they were scared they might be the only one,” she said.
“Now that’s changed, p eo - plea re reluctant to speak up because they fear it’s not bad enough, they are thinking someone must be struggling more than they are .”