Successful People with Mental Illness

Dear Friends,

It is vitally important, for people with a given mental illness diagnosis to have successful role models, people who have come before, who did well despite barriers, so that we can build in our minds a model for accomplishing the most with our diagnosis. As you may know, I have been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, which we earlier thought was bipolar disorder, most of my adult life. I would like to suggest that schizoaffective role models could include many more people than are generally listed. It isn’t a correct assessment to assume that mentally ill people will not be successful, and with stigma surrounding all of these illnesses, there is a growing need for hope. My goal is to write about the most successful achievements of people with mental ill diagnoses, or with previous diagnoses they might have ignored.

If you can respond with any of the following answers, I would be delighted. If you chose to have your name not published, I assure you I will keep your identity entirely confidential.

What is/was your diagnosis?
What are some of your greatest accomplishments?
Can you name any role models you look to with your same diagnosis?
(Feel free to pass this on.)

Sincerely,
Maggie Hess
[email protected]