Seeing Strength: What City Voices Taught Me About Serious Mental Illness

Having worked in primary care as a physician assistant for 15 years, I have treated patients for anxiety, depression, and managed a few with bipolar disorder and PTSD. As part of my training, I did a month-long clinical rotation in psychiatry working with patients hospitalized for serious mental illness. I have diagnosed and started treatment for patients experiencing anxiety, suffering from depression, and going through bereavement, referring them as necessary. I even had one patient who told me he was going through so much in his life, he did not want to continue living. Fortunately, for the most part, the patients I worked with improved and were able to resume functioning in daily life. Even with the clinical training and experience I had, though, I don’t believe I fully appreciated the challenges that persons living with serious mental illness have to overcome.

While attending an online session for City Voices, I had the opportunity to hear some experiences of City Voices members who were hospitalized and how spirituality helped them through it. One person related how he had been in a severe car accident and talked about his fear of not knowing whether his injuries would result in him having to live as a paralytic or in a vegetative state. Another City Voices member, after a series of strokes, did not know whether she would have another one and end up paralyzed. She spoke about not wanting to live for the rest of her life as a paralytic, and her struggle to find the will to live.

Thankfully, through good medical care, prayer, and family support, they were able to find the strength to recover and enjoy life again. One of them was even able to visit a friend who was dying of a brain tumor and brought comfort to him before he passed away. I felt moved hearing these experiences because, in spite of having to live with a serious mental illness, these persons were able to weather serious personal and medical crises, possibly some of the most difficult times in their lives. They emerged not only intact from experiences that may have broken other people, but they were still even able to give of themselves to others. I came away with a sense of the resilience and strength that those living with serious mental illness are capable of demonstrating.

Before interacting with members of City Voices, I had thought of those living with a serious mental illness as possibly fragile and needing extra care. Having heard their stories of enduring incredible trauma and heartbreaking personal tragedy, I feel I now see persons with a serious mental illness as survivors. They are persons not to be judged, but deserving of empathy and support. Professionals and nonprofessionals alike can benefit from City Voices programs and events to gain a better understanding of how to support and care for persons with a serious mental illness.