Yeah, it was quite a journey... to say the least. It is the only condition other than a serious crime where they can strip you of your civil liberties and work you in a modern day slave labor camp legally. They called it a 'sheltered workshop' and it is signed by the Secretary of Labor:
Note the term sub-minimum wages...
http:
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheltered_workshop
I worked 80 hours bi-weekly and got a whopping $15 !!!
After they took 70% of my SSI for living expenses.
Happy, Happy, Joy Joy !!
But, heck that was in the dark deep past of 1992.. whatta ya gonna do ?
I'm not looking for sympathy, it's just a serious illness and the part of your brain that tells you you are sick is sick and you think you're fine.
Pretty neat Cosmic Joke huh?!
These days, I have to sit for hours and just work through my psychology, day in -- day out.
Many hours just quiet thinking.
The biggest battle I have now is quite frankly staying in the now.
Part of the illness makes me regurgitate the past with all of the woulda, coulda shouldas -- very unhealthy.
It's interesting to note that you got Dx at 20, most gals usually don't get it kicking in until their 30's.
Got mine at 16.
Man what a cluster-chuck. We all thought it was just teenage BS, but then I went into the hospital at 22, 23, 27, 30, 33... yuck !
I'm just soooo glad it's pretty much over and handled with meds... but so is my youth.
I still feel 17 inside but bod is talkin' 51 .
Yeah, had some pretty freaky moments with the schizophrenic component, but now everyone is saying that it was a legitimate mystical experience... why didn't someone prepare me?
Whatever..
This guy does a good job at explaining what the frig happened and why:
http:
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6mMb83Mp7U&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL51814D4C1329C549