Going deeper with Heather...
Mental Health Awareness
November 15, 2010
As a personal advocate for mental health awareness, I want to share the story of my own struggle with bipolar disorder and depression. The following details my journey with this disorder, and I hope it inspires and touches others as I fight to end the stigmas associated with mental health.
For as long as I can remember it has been my passion to write and create music. In the beginning I simply wrote melodies on the piano. When the lyrics started to come to me, they became my way of dealing with the challenges I faced growing up and into adult hood.
In my early youth, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and suffered with migraines. As a result, school was a great challenge for me, physically and socially. Music was my comfort and I spent many, many hours writing and singing at the piano. Thankfully, my family was able to provide classical vocal and piano training for me, for which I am forever grateful. Throughout my school years, I performed and flourished in musicals, spending all of my time in the theater. Nevertheless, I always felt most at home in the studio singing my own songs.
When I was thirteen I began recording in the studio and at fourteen I had the trill of traveling to New York to record my first professionally arranged song. In college, I studied theater and world religion, yet in my heart I knew I wanted to be a singer and songwriter, as communicating ideas musically has always been my passion.
It wasn't until after my children were born that I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I had previously known it as manic depression and was aware of its effect because my paternal grandfather and aunt had suffered with it all my life. My grandfather, who was treated with shock treatments and lithium, remained functional most of his life and was a brilliant and successful, yet eccentric businessman. My aunt, although she was beautiful, artistic and exceptionally gifted, remained untreated all of her life and was therefore very troubled and mostly dysfunctional.
My first major depression came soon after my youngest child was born and I was hospitalized repeatedly for bipolar swings from mania to suicidal depression. My life was saved through electroconvulsive therapy, otherwise known as ECT. Although my mind was restored to a place of peacefulness, the treatments erased my creative ability for six years. I was grateful for the quiet in my mind, but I greatly missed writing.
Gradually, over the years, my creative abilities were restored and I have been enjoying the process of writing, singing and producing music. I am fortunate to have worked with some of the most brilliant musicians around and I just completed my third CD, Give It A Day, with much creative support, encouragement, and help along the way. I am endlessly grateful for all the support and guidance I have received throughout the years.
Through my journey, I have become extremely passionate about mental health awareness. I strongly desire to encourage others who suffer from mental health disorder, and I seek to rid the world of the ancient stigmas associated with them in all forms. As a long time sufferer I have looked for meaning and purpose for the pain, and I now believe I am finding clarity. Whatever the scale may be, if I can in some way comfort and inspire sufferers and help others understand the pain with new empathy in their hearts, I will have been successful.
Contact Heather on Facebook at www.facebook.com/heathermccready. Media inquiries can be directed to Kelly Fordham Brynn Bagot Public Relations at 214.528.5600 or kelly@brynnbagot.com
