RULES FOR THE GRACIOUS ACCEPTANCE OF LITHIUM INTO YOUR LIFE
1.. Clean out the medicine cabinet before guests arrive for dinner or new lovers stay the night.
2.. Remember to put the lithium back into the cabinet the following day.
3.. Don't be too embarrassed by your lack of coordination or your inability to do well the sports you once did with ease.
4.. Learn to laugh about spilling coffee, having the palsied signature of an 80 year old, and being unable to put on cuff links in less than ten minutes.
5.. Smile when people joke about how they think they need to be on lithium.
6.. Nod intelligently, and with conviction, when your (doctor) explains to you the many advantages of lithium in leveling out the chaos in your life.
7.. Be patient when waiting for this levelling off. Very patient. Reread the Book of Job. Continue being patient. Contemplate the similarity between the phrases being patient and being a patient .
8.. Try not to let the fact that you can't read without effort annoy you. Be philosophical. Even if you could read, you probably wouldn't remember most of it anyway.
9.. Accommodate to a certain lack of enthusiasm and bounce that you once had. Try not to think about all the wild nights you once had. Probably best not to have had those nights anyway.
10.. Always keep in perspective how much better you are. Everyone else certainly points it out often enough, and annoyingly it's probably true.
11.. Be appreciative. Don't even consider stopping your lithium.
12.. When you do stop, get manic, get depressed, expect to hear 2 basic themes from your family, friends and healers :

But you were doing so much better, I just don't understand it.
I told you this would happen.

The Dep't of Human Services in Victoria are currently developing a State Disability Services Plan. Six consultation papers have been released and an extensive consultation process is under way. The plan is to cover people with physical sensory, intellectual disability and acquired brain injuries. However people with psych. disabilities have been left out.

When asked about this, a senior disability services bureaucrat remarked "mental health is a health issue, not a disabilty issue" (sic). We believe that clinical MH services may be a health issue, however psych. dis support is not, nor is the inclusion of people with psych. issues in society.

People are encouraged to make a submission expressing concerns on these issues thru the Human Services page www.dhs.vic.gov.au/disability
EMAIL statedisabilityplan@dhs.vic.gov.au

More items to be added later, as always.