About Leif Gregersen, Author of ‘Surviving Mental Health Stigma’

Hi, my name is Leif Gregersen and I am excited to be starting a new position as your mental health blogger on the Surviving Mental Health Stigma blog. I was diagnosed with a mental illness at the young age of 14 and was bullied and ashamed of my condition. I remember having a very difficult time returning to school after a hospitalization and convincing my dad that I didn’t need pills. As a result, over the next four years, I became much sicker and my life only got worse. It is my hope that I can help people to have a better understanding of mental illness and overcome stigma. I strongly feel this is an essential step in recovery.

Even After Hospitalization, Severe Psychosis, Mental Health Stigma Kept Me from Treatment

Stigma can be such a difficult thing to manage. After a hospitalization at 18, I was released and had a lot of negative concepts about people with mental health problems that were founded in ignorance. Often, I would judge people who were ill as morally weak and I never felt I was one of them, until things became very serious.

My Health Had to Get Severe to Overcome Mental Health Stigma

At the end of a long period of homelessness and being tormented by roller-coaster moods, injuries from being obsessed with fitness, and delusional and hallucinatory thoughts, I was ready to sit down and admit I needed help. It didn’t come all at once, but on medication my life was stable, I was able to complete some schooling, and, in a short time, grew a lot as a person.

More About My Thoughts on Mental Health Stigma

Finding Hope and Recovery Beyond Mental Health Stigma

It did take many years for me to feel I had conquered my illness. Now, I have written and self-published two books about my life with bipolar disorder, I have been given this wonderful opportunity to write for this blog, and I have a part-time job with my local Schizophrenia Society giving talks to young people about mental health awareness. I hope you will join me in the battle against mental health stigma and the road we are all on, the journey to recover from a mental illness, be it in ourselves or our loved ones.

Find Leif on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and on his blog.