Mental Illness in The Ecology of a Cracker Childhood by Janice Ray

How the Patient can see it.
For some, it can be a positive experience. In this excerpt from “The Ecology of a Cracker Childhood”, Ray’s father writes to her when she asked of him to speak about his experience as a person who dealt with his own mental illness. “Mental illness, or nervous breakdown as some call it, is nothing to be afraid of, or to put it in better perspective, nothing to live in fear of. In some ways, it is like death. Natural death comes in stages – stage one gets you ready for stage two and so on until the coma. Most of the time people with a mental dis-order don’t know it. Sometimes their friends can’t detect it. Close family members can, as well as those trained in the field. Thirty years ago I had what people call mental illness. I call it one of the greatest experiences of my life. I would not erase it from my past even if I could. I would sell it for a million dollars. Its value to me cannot be measured. I can only assume that God allowed it to happen and was with me all the way through it – one in the Church said mental illness is of the devil, which I do not agree with. It taught me: 1) greater love for people. 2) greater love for the earth, the trees, the hills, the valley, the streams, the soil, the animals. 3) the future is everything. 4) the wife is me. 5) to love my family. 6) the true value of my sanity, my health, my well-being. 7) to respect our creator. I will not list the minuses because everybody knows what it would be like to be called crazy. I have nothing but praise for the state of Georgia’s mental institution. From what I saw, top to bottom, it was good. In closing, I would like to remind you of what our Creator said many times. Fear not” (Ray 79).
For other Patients, it can be an extrem...

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