Tonight Pat and I with our friend Joe went to see the NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness) production of “Pieces, In My Own Voice” at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. It is a thought-provoking theatrical production depicting the lives of people living with mental health diagnoses. Through the voice of persons with mental illnesses like Bi Polar, Schizophrenia and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) you hear how they are all persons made up of many pieces and just one piece is a brain disorder. Their mental illness does Not define who they are. They all say if I had cancer you would not call me cancerous and since they have a mental illness do not call them mentally ill or by their disease. They all end the dialog that gives you an insight into their disease by saying, except for their mental disorder they were just like us in the audience.

Although the production had a universal aspect it was oriented somewhat toward the African American community where persons with mental illnesses suffered the most from stigma. The production takes you through the darkness of stigma as well as the light of recovery.

Having struggle with mental illnesses with my mother, my deceased son Peter, my brother and with myself I knew much of what was being expressed on stage. Yet the honesty of the characters and the repetitive lines “I am not my illness” and “I was just like you” got to me. I did not cry, as some in the audience did, but knew that although I have experienced ‘stigma’ to my friends, family and self there was still hope: the pieces were all there and we just need to express them in our own voice and hope that persons can listen and accept us as who we are.

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