RealMental is all about telling the truth. It can get kinda crazy and complicated when you stay all up in your head, so we like to take our thoughts out of the cranium and stick them on the page. We would love your story submission. If you’d like to join us, you can send your story/memory to us here. If you want to get more personal, you can email Leah.

Founders:

Leah is better known for her Leahpeah blog and website where she mentors and talks about mental and physical health recovery. She was a consultant for the Showtime series United States of Tara, written by Oscar winner Diablo Cody and created by Steven Spielberg. She does interviews for print, text and video. The Ask Leahpeah series on her blog could be called the early version of RealMental and you can find some of the original questions from readers over there. Her book, Not Otherwise Specified can be found on Lulu.com. You can read her bio here. Leah’s team Health & Wellness website is YoureDoingSoGreat! (Because you are! You really, really are!)

Jess is awesome. She writes about her life, her children and mostly battles with depression, anxiety and property tax at her blog drowninginkids. She works as a freelance ghost writer for lazy doctors. She has a book of poetry and self-portraits that will be available again soon from Lulu. She enjoys long walks on the beach and a sense of humour.

Contributors:

Catherine is a talker, often expounding at length her general theories on craziness (both her own and others), society, feminism, queer theory and just about anything and everything political or politics adjacent. Catherine is notorious for repressing her feelings with cheese and is famous for her ability to retreat to her well constructed bed fort.

Moonflower Moonflower is writing incognito because it is sexy and mysterious. She communicates with animals telepathically and likes coloring. Writing about the crazy is the best thing she’s ever done for herself.

Sparkling Red has frequently been accused of being too sensitive. Dark Moods have haunted her family for generations. She sometimes psychically feels the unexpressed emotions of others, a complication which is both a gift and a curse. She used to spend a lot of time lurking in the shadows of depression, until she had an unexpected encounter with J.C. She became a Christian two years ago, but not a typical one, whatever you think that is. She sees her mission as evolving spiritually, both in faith, and her intuitive abilities. She writes a regular blog at No More Casual Nonchalance.

AnotherChanceTo is quite possibly the world’s only bipolar bionic MD/PhD student, a title she wears with the appropriate amount of pride, pain and glitz. She lives in the Deep South with her boyfriend, the amazing Joey, who boosts her sanity by making her laugh until she can’t breathe. Bipolar disorder almost cost her that relationship. It still hurts. Diagnosed in March of 2007 and treated steadily with Lamictal, she now spends her days running PCR, being absurd, and pondering the statue of limitations on being a Bright Young Thing. Her favorite quotation is this: “We’d all be so lucky to wind up a punching bag and find our crates still full of Birds of Paradise.” Probably because she has (in the form of a three-years-untreated mental illness) and did (sleepy kisses on the nape of the neck, a new set of friends who did more than replace the ones that bipolar disorder cost her). She blogs Another Chance to Get it Right.

Schmutzie writes the weblog Milkmoney Or Not, Here I Come and Schmoetry and will challenge you to an armwrestle at a moment’s notice. Or argue the logic of pacifism. Or spit in your eye. Or give you a hug. At any rate, she’s all over it.

Amy proves that she really is crazy by choosing to teach middle school English and voluntarily trapping herself in a room with adolescents every single day. When she’s not reading, baking, making art, or spending time with those she holds dear, Amy writes at Just A Titch. Amy struggles with anxiety and depression, but owes her very organized classroom to her raging OCD.

Miriam is a word loving, part-time misanthropic, suburban subversive, super crafty mommy who is quite confident someone should give her a GED for psychiatry and pharmacology. Miriam is so accustomed to riding the roller coaster of mental illness that she sometimes forgets to scream. She is currently investing in an attempt to become the person she always wished she wanted to be. Miriam swears way too much and wishes her husband would let her compost. She writes with much less disclosure at PlainPaperBox.

MamaKaren has three off center children, two of whom have been diagnosed with various mental and educational disorders and the third child will most likely join them. After a lifetime of hovering on the edge of depression and anxiety and eating disorders, MamaKaren got kicked in the butt to get herself better, and did so just in time. Currently, MamaKaren spends most of her free time communicating with her children’s support teams and learning everything she can about ADHD, ODD, OCD, Developmental Coordination Disorder, pediatric bipolar disorder, and every other “capital D” disorder that might apply to her angel babies. Karen has an unnatural affection for 70’s and 80’s one hit wonders, knitting, dark chocolate, and the short lived Aaron Sorkin dramedy “Sports Night.” She sporadically blogs her regular life at If Mama Ain’t Happy, Nobody’s Happy.

Previous Contributors

Bipolarlawyer blogs about being bipolar, being a lawyer (it’s a toss up which is worse), and cooking at BipolarLawyerCook. She also writes about whatever else strikes her fancy, gets her goat, or looks real pretty. If you’re nice, she’ll cook you dinner and maybe even bake dessert. Bipolarlawyer (or BLC as she sometimes calls herself) maintains an alias and tries to avoid writing too specifically about work, ‘cuz she’s worried about being dooced. She still posts stupid jokes and admits to slightly gross personal habits, though. Go figure.

Marrit writes about and occasionally experiences various forms of insanity. Her blog, Baldo, chronicles life with her family. She is a regular contributor to The Austin Chronicle and AustinMama.com. Her first book, Inconsolable: How I Threw My Mental Health out with the Diapers, was published by Seal Press in 2005.

Jen is also fantastic, like everyone else here. It is commonly known that really mental people are of exceptional talent and intelligence. She is not writing a book, but a blog: www.jenandtonic.ca. She writes things here and there, but nothing has made her famous yet. Her biggest fear right now is taking so many different medications and being accurately diagnosed. Jen experienced her first panic attack at 13. She worries about how being “mental” affects her husband and child. Good thing she is so fantastic.

Belinda finds it very awkward to write about herself in the third-person. She is married to Alex, who is Bipolar (Bipolar 1), and she’s had her own struggles with anxiety and depression in the last few years, particularly after her father’s death in 2005, and complicated further by hysterectomy in 2006. Alex is dedicated to maintaining his wellness, and together they do their best at just having a “normal” life with their amazing daughter, and dealing with the storms that Bipolar Disorder dishes out. Much of what Belinda writes will by necessity be Alex’s story…but she’s the “talky” one in the marriage. Belinda blogs at www.ninjapoodles.com, and is a contributor to the Arkansas Times blog.

Amanda is the former author of the blog VeryZen and has struggled with major depression and anxiety for most of her life. She and her husband are awaiting the arrival of their first child who is scheduled to make an appearance in late September. You can see the belly in all it’s glory here. Amanda feels like a non-blogging 3rd wheel but is thrilled to be writing for Real Mental with such an amazing group of people.

Savia is one of few people in the world who can wear green eyeshadow with panache. She has been known to burst into song and/or dance at opportune times and can get away with swearing like a trucker ’cause she’s cute. She writes over at Saviabella about whatever strikes her fancy, which, these days, is incestuous Italian cousins and ninja fucking (not necessarily at the same time.) Who knows what topic she’ll tackle next? Tomorrow, it may be needlepoint (No, it won’t).

Mr. C. has been working in the mental health arena for over 20 years, and has experience working with adults, youth, and children. He has worked in settings that include inpatient hospitals, outpatient mental health centers, and outpatient private practice. He is sometimes spotted in the garden or running on a mountain trail. Or doing the dishes. Or spending time with the fam. He allows readers to ask questions through this link as long as they realize that he’s just another amazing guy with an opinion–an opinion that each amazing reader should take with a grain of salt.