Mental Health
After graduating with a B.A. summa cum laude—“With Highest Honors”—after a Master’s Degree from Harvard University; after being admitted to the Ph.D. program at the University of Virginia and passing my comprehensive doctoral exam (I wrote 100+ pages in a week, to answer the exam essay questions), having completed the first chapter of my doctoral dissertation, I admitted myself to a locked wing of a psychiatric hospital because I became psychotic. My diagnosis, which I received about two months later, is bipolar disorder. Since, I take my psych meds religiously. I feel it is my duty and responsibility to stay sane. That means medicine.
Taking my psych medicine allows me to function; I’m called “high functioning.” I have given seminar presentations at local, state, national, and international conferences. I was hired on treatment teams in behavioral health science facilities because they wanted “one of us” on the treatment team. I would like patient readers to read through my recreation of my mind as I slipped into delusions and psychosis:
What do you know about mental health issues? Probably more than I did while I was writing my doctoral dissertation at The University of Virginia. I had completed the first chapter. It dawned on me that clothing patterns and the colors on food packaging were coded messages about sexual orientation and other personal things. Language, too: a man meant one thing, a god, another, etc. The trouble was, every time I figured out the code, a counter-example presented itself. And when I tried my best to speak in the language, according to the coded meanings, people looked puzzled. I had unbounded energy, would burst into tears in an instant, then start laughing hilariously. Like you, I had no reason to question my mind. It got me honors in my B.A. program; it got me into Harvard and I graduated with a Master’s Degree; now I was in the University of Virginia Ph.D. program. My mind worked fine—it worked exceptionally. I couldn’t figure out how the world had changed so much, or had t always been this way, and I didn’t know it—all this time? I’m letting you inside my consciousness during my first psychotic break. Finally, it was language that got me to admit myself to the locked psychiatric wing of Blue Ridge Hospital. My friend in Boston, over the phone, said, “Listen to me very carefully. In our history, you have not used this language, before. My friends in the mental health field say you need to be hospitalized and to receive medication.” I trusted him, and I went to the hospital. They interviewed me and I said the one giveaway, speaking in the new language code as I understood it. “I’m a god.” “Do you have any special powers?” the intake doctor asked me. “Of course not!” I replied. “Some people think that God has special powers.” That was enough for them to admit me. To think you are god is quite typical in mental illness. Except they really think they are God. For me, it had to do with being single, in the coded language I was trying to figure out. After receiving psych medicine, I finished my dissertation, successfully defended it, and received my Ph.D. That makes me Dr. Dave.
50% of persons with mental illnesses have substance abuse issues, and I am no exception. I am an alcoholic. With the help of my Higher Power, and a good 12-Step Program, I have been clean and sober since October 30, 1994. As I write, it is 30 years.
Publications.
“Bipolar stories need to be told right.” Edmonton Journal. Thursday, November 29, 2012. C9.
“How I Quit Being a ‘Mental Patient’ and became a Whole Person with a Neuro-Chemical Imbalance: Conceptual and Functional Recovery from a Psychotic Episode.” Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal. Vol. 28, No. 2, Fall, 2004. pp. 189-194.
Reprinted in: Voices of Recovery. Sue McNamara, Ed. Boston: Boston University Centre for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 2009.
“Radical Reformation.” The AA Grapevine. November 1997. 26-31.
Manic Depression: Eclipses of Mood. Printed by NAMI of Collier County, Naples, FL, 1996.
Work Experience.
2005-2006 Life Coach: Florida Self-Directed Care, NAMI of Collier County, Naples, FL.
May 2000-December Peer Specialist: Florida Assertive Community Treatment 2005 Team. Fort Myers, Naples, FL.
Seminar Presentations.
April 8, 9, 2015: “Personal Journey with Bipolar Disorder.” MHCC Headstrong Youth Summit, Edmonton, Alberta.
January 20, 2013: “Living with Bipolar Disorder–Treated and Untreated.” Talk given at Mental Awareness and Health Initiative Seminar. University of Alberta.
May19, 2005: “Hard Facts for Functioning Consumers.” Twenty-First Annual Assertive Community Treatment Conference. Tampa, FL.
June 4, 2004: “The People Speak: Peer Specialists and Service Recipients Talk about What Has Been Helpful, What is not.” Panel Discussion, A Conference for FACT and Community Mental Health Providers, Individuals Receiving Services & Family Members. Orlando, FL.
September 4, 2003: “Contributions of a Peer Specialist to a FACT Team: A Unique Perspective.” Florida Council for Community Mental Health Annual Statewide Convention. Clearwater Beach, FL.
June 26, 2003 “Common and Unique Qualities of the Peer Specialist Role in PACT.” Panel Presentation, Nineteenth Annual Assertive Community Treatment Conference, San Antonio, Texas.
June 3, 2003: “Peer Specialists—Maintaining Focus and a Consumer Perspective: Comparing Roles and Strategies.” Panel Presentation, Second Annual FACT Conference, Orlando, Florida.
April 14, 2004, October 8, 2003, April 16, 2003, October 23, 2002, and April 23, 2002: “A Consumer’s Perspective.” Case Management Inservice Sponsored by Department of Children and Families, District Eight. FL.
November 10, 2001: “‘Mental Illness’ Is Physical.” Florida NAMI State Convention. Orlando, Florida.
June 22, 2001: “How I Quit Being a ‘Mental Patient’ and Became a Whole Person With a Neuro-Chemical Imbalance: Cognitive and Functional Recovery From a Psychotic Episode.” Seventeenth Annual International Assertive Community Treatment Conference. Grand Rapids, MI.
September 21, 1999: “The Impact of Bipolar Disorder on My Life.” Occupational Therapy Class. Florida Gulf Coast University.
October 22, 1998: “Manic Depression: Eclipses of Mood.” Florida NAMI State Convention. Cocoa Beach, Fl.
October 3, 1996: “Beyond Stereotypes of Neuro-Chemical Imbalances.”1995 Proclamation Before the Collier County Board of County Commissioners. Collier County, FL.
March 15, 1995: “Reintegration into Society After a Psychotic Episode.” NAMI of Collier County Seminar, Naples FL.
November 1, 1994: “The Role of Nursing in a Psychiatric Hospital.” Nursing Class. Edison Community College.
David Fekete 