Mental Health Humor and Cartoons

Hey everyone! I just want to THANK everyone for your support (both morale and financial) with the Cartoon-A-Thon.  It has been so much fun drawing the cartoons.

The fundraiser site has 25 new cartoons and has had 22,080 Unique Visits in the last 30 days!  With 54,661 Page Views!

We hit our goal for the the site’s exposure.  I had no doubt about that…I just knew it would be another story with the funds.  Right now, we have been able to raise $239.00 which is a great effort in these hard economic times.   As I said, all proceeds from our Cartoon-A-Thon go to support the development and implementation of the Mental Health Humor Project and funding free public presentations.

And we have already put the funds to good use.  On May 16, I was able to be part of a NAMI Walk-A-Thon and was able to meet a lot of great people on the providers side of mental health.  On the 20th, I did my first mental health presentation at a local Drop-in center.

Here is what the director of the drop-in center sent to us:

“Chato’s presentation today at the Haven was very effective and well received. He is a wonderful presenter and teacher and mentor. He knew how to reach even the least recovered. He was especially effective with those of us who have relapsed and gone on to re-recover if that’s a word. I recommend him highly to do more of these. I’ve signed him up for July 1rst. He is a gem!”  Sincerely, AW

This week, I’ll be talking to the director of the local  Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU)
to bring the program to help with the adjustment to life after receiving Mental Health Services.

And we will be establishing a local DBSA group, too.   A lot of things going on so, you can see why we are looking for some private funding.  I wish we could get a grant but the Florida Non-profit budget has been cut so much and so many hands for so many different services.  I feel bad for the people who have to split it up.

We have always been a grass roots project and myself and the person I’m volunteering with want to keep it like that for as long as possible…It helps cut the red tape, I guess.

Anyway, I just wanted to bring you all up-to-date and ask you to keep up the “awesome” support you all are giving me and the silly cartoons!

Chato

Oh, I also am working on losing weight.   The meds have helped to do what they do best… I am now at 380LBS and that is it!  I stopped drinking soda 3 weeks ago. 2 weeks ago, I switched the coffee to White Tea and last week, I started using digestive enzymes to help my meds from killing my metabolic rate.

Well, I have seen a big differance but it’s only a drop in the bucket…My goal is to drop 10 or more lbs a month.  In a few weeks, I’ll start adding long walks… I’m just going at my own pace right now.

MentalHealthhumor.today.com By: Chato B Stewart

Mental Health Humor:

My Blog changed From The Depression Category to It’s Rightful Mental Health Category.  It feels like I just changed meds!

Winter, Spring, summer and fall no matter where you are things change.  Some times we are the architect and other times it’s like we are on auto pilot.   Well there have been some big changes over the last few months with this blog.  We have gone from a daily cartoon post to posting just a few a week.  Some with new cartoons.  Mostly the post about the other art I’m doing and learning.  I just wanted make sure that every one understands the mission of this blog has not changed!  It is to help other towards recovery.  We just try to use humor as our venue.

For the last seven months our blog was listed under the category “Depression”.  At the time that was the best one to list us under.  Even though we focus on all different disorders.  Well, I’m happy to announce that as of now we are listed in the category “Mental Health”.

This is where we truly belong and it has also opened the door to many new people coming to the blog.  So I just want to welcome every one.

You will find that I’m not going to be getting too much into defining every disorder and don’t expect to hear the latest new pill or theory on dealing with every mental illness.  I’m not qualified to even presume I know enough to teach you a think or two…  No, my goal is to look at the humor that makes up our disorders.  I do this with cartoons that I draw about different things that effect us as “consumers”.  Some times I will draw from my own life and add some commentary about the subject with links that will make the point.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to go set up a schedule  and try to post at least 3 new cartoons each week.

We are coming up on my first year anniversary since my “hospital vacation”.  I think it’s time for me to ink, draw and scan the actual cartoons that got the Mental Health Humor blog all started.

So I want to thank every one who has stuck with me and I want to welcome all the new readers.

Chato

Dr. Bob Bob, Meds, Suicide, Bipolar, Chato, Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia, Mixed Bag

Thanks for dropping by:

Chato B. Stewart
Mental Health Advocate - Cartoonist - and a few other things!
http://www.mentalhealthhumor.com

“Using Humor to Heal and Educate with badly drawn cartoons.”

If you liked this, please subscribe to my RSS feed and/or email feed .

Finding my way back to balance… Too Bipolar.

Hi all! I’m sorry I’ve been away these last few weeks.  I am still working here at home and drawing and designing.  I’m looking into a few different options for work.  Well the truth is I’m just flat out lost.  The last three weeks or more I’ve not been able to do much of what I have to do.  I have been putting my own advice to work with dealing with these feelings…  It did not help that last week, I reconnected with many of my old school mates.  At first I felt great about it, but the more I dug into the people I knew the more I felt vulnerable and exposed.  See growing up, many of them knew me in three very different stages in my life and quite frankly, I was worried about something that I never really cared about before… Acceptance.  None of them really every new about many inner demons and battles.  I was always a loner and went along to a beat of my own drum.  I was called crazy, psyco, nut job, weirdo and a lot of other choice names.  I never really cared… but now, well, now the fact is that with me admitting publicly that I live with Bipolar Disorder and that I do “have” a mental illness…  Well, it now makes me wonder if just maybe, they were right!

The good thing for this seemingly huge obstacle I’ve come out from is that many of my old school mates have been dealing with mental health within their family or friends.  I have had the pleasure to have a few heartfelt conversations about the subject.  So much so that the anxiety and vulnerability has all but subsided.

Now only if i could find that balance tonight as I write…

With that I’ll leave you with a thought I had after reading someone’s favorite quotations: “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger” but always thought it went “what doesn’t kill you, gives you time to get the bat.”

MentalHealthhumor.today.com By: Chato B Stewart

Mental Health Humor

Mental Health Humor:

Caricature and What do I call myself?

EntreCard / Facebook

I have been having fun on this social network doing a few caricatures.

 

Are You Bipolar? Am I Bipolar? Do I have Bipolar or Do I live with Bipolar Disorder?

These is  semantics of this statement. It just comes down to personal preference.

The fact is if I say “I am bipolar” would be grammatically wrong because you are really not that person… You are Joe, Frank or Suzy, not Mr. Bipolar.

Saying I HAVE bipolar means you possess it like it was some type of toy or product to desire and want. Personally, I would like to give mine away.

Then you have the term “I live with bipolar”… Then again, I live with with a cat and a dog but they don’t force me to take meds… Well, that is unless they are antihistamines.

The truth is these are just terms that society require us to use as identification… And some times, we ourselves need a label for one reason or another.

Clinically speaking, we might be known as BP2 or BP1/psy or BP/PTSD… Again just labels to show a condition… Since we are not our disorder -  we are people.

Since we are talking about basic semantics then it just might be the only way to identify ourself  saying:

My name is chato and I was diagnosed by a doctor with bipolar disorder with major depression.  Then the doctor changed his mind a week later and said I was BP2 Rapid Cycling. On my return, he changed it again to BP2 Mixed with Psy Tendency. And when I went to him again… (Mind you, I have to go to him by the way since I have no money for a real doctor)… Still again, I was diagnosed with BP2 Mix / PTSD and Psy Tendency…

But for some reason when I say this every one thinks I’m just crazy… So I stopped telling every stranger I walk up to on the street that I live with a mental disorder…

At the end of the day, this is just a mood disorder that affects our lives but it is not who we are… If you are comfortable saying I’m bipolar” or “I have” or “I live with bipolar disorder”… Then that is 100% right! If someone wants to try and correct you or thinks “we” need to be called by some definite label, then I ask you to exclude me from that “we”… I am me, I am a father, I am a hard worker, I am a person living with a label but I’m a person first!

Oh ya, and I gut bipolar! ….

Chato

Dr. Bob Bob, Meds, Suicide, Bipolar, Chato, Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia, Mixed Bag

Thanks for dropping by:

Chato B. Stewart
Mental Health Advocate - Cartoonist - and a few other things!
http://www.mentalhealthhumor.com

“Using Humor to Heal and Educate with badly drawn cartoons.”

If you liked this, please subscribe to my RSS feed and/or email feed .

MentalHealthhumor.today.com By: Chato B Stewart

Mental Health Humor

Mental Health Humor:

Facebook and a Caricature.

Here is what I love about Facebook, no matter where I go, I can find someone I know or someone I want to get to know…  I have never seen a social network that has so many ways to meet with peers, providers and caregivers.  Like I said before, I have been revitalized, reborn, rebounded, and now falling in “re-love” with Facebook!

This week I connected with an old buddy.  Above is his black and white caricature… I think it is my best to date.  So, I did not want to color it since I still need to work on coloring.

Today has been a good day for me.  I went to my art class and worked on my oil portrait of my wife.  I got home work and I have to finish it this week… This is only my second time ever working with oils.  My first painting was nothing but globs of muddy paint…  Sorry, no master piece!  Just a thick canvas full of mixed paint.

I really needed today.  I have been so down the least three weeks…  I am just realizing  now that I was depressed…  You would think that the lack of hygienic upkeep and snippy mood and the total withdrawal for everything, just might have given me a clue.  The wife knew.  Then again, she always seems to know.  Funny how that happens!

What I keep telling myself is that I know it’s only temporary… Believe it or not, having that “positive” attitude has helped.

Chato

Dr. Bob Bob, Meds, Suicide, Bipolar, Chato, Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia, Mixed Bag

Thanks for dropping by:

Chato B. Stewart
Mental Health Advocate - Cartoonist - and a few other things!
http://www.mentalhealthhumor.com

“Using Humor to Heal and Educate with badly drawn cartoons.”

If you liked this, please subscribe to my RSS feed and/or email feed .