John

I’ve also suffered from depression and OCD since I was an adolescent. Most of the OCD symptoms dissipated by the time I turned 21, but my depression began around then, and I have suffered bouts of it periodically throughout my life. I have used therapy, exercise and antidepressants to get through these bouts and have usually been able to get through them this way. Before coming to Skyland I had been doing biweekly therapy with a psychologist and taking Prozac to manage my mental health.

I also have struggled with substance abuse. My drugs of choice were beer, pot, and hallucinogens. For most of my working years, I was able to keep my use in check with occasional flare-ups.  I was also sober for a year and a half following the pandemic because I was abusing these things more during the lockdown.

When I retired, I moved to Hawaii with my partner, and we bought a house on Kauai. I had some part-time work initially but was free most of the time and started to drink and smoke daily. My partner left me because of this, ending a long and fulfilling relationship. I then began drinking and smoking even more until I quit one day cold turkey. Immediately following this I experienced the worst depression of my life and began ideating about suicide. One day this became apparent to my therapist who instructed me to go to the hospital on Kauai.

I also communicated the situation to my immediate family. My youngest brother lives in Atlanta and he offered to help me there. My condition only worsened at his house, and I ended up at in a hospital for a while and was then admitted to Skyland. I had a rough start at Skyland and I did feel a little out of place because of my age. I also was very angry and not communicating much.

The program saved my life, and now I feel like I’ve been renewed and have a second chance to thrive in my senior years. 

John

I think what made the program effective for me was the way in which the staff communicated with each other about my condition and worked together to help me through this dark time. At one point, I was taken to a hospital because I needed more intense psychiatric attention. I ended up doing ECT there, something I never could have anticipated doing. ECT was what helped in turning me around.

After ECT, I went back to the Skyland campus and embraced the program. I especially benefited from the core group sessions. I ended up forming relationships with patients both young and old at Skyland, and truly appreciate the professionalism of all the staff.

I am now feeling better. I’m a year sober, taking new meds for both OCD and depression and doing therapy weekly. The program saved my life, and now I feel like I’ve been renewed and have a second chance to thrive in my senior years. 

I am now using some of the skills I learned at Skyland in living a sober and more balanced lifestyle. I am still doing therapy once a week at least and taking my prescribed meds. I’m doing my best to fill my schedule with activities that are beneficial, but also allowing plenty of time for rest. I also now have a plan just in case things were ever to get bad again, which I’m doing my best to prevent (some of this motivation is also due to the some of the scary memories from that time). I’m also doing my best to be candid with others about what happened and my experience with mental illness and substance abuse, especially with those who might benefit from getting some help themselves.