Letter to My Mental Illness

Use the hashtag #LetterToMyMentalIllness to share your thoughts and see what others are sharing.

When you’re struggling with mental illness or addictions, it’s easy to feel out of control—like mental illness is all-powerful. But mental illness and addictions aren’t magical. And they don’t control you.

One strategy to help you take back control is to personify your mental illness. Give it a name and identify the things you want to let go.

Build up strength and fight. Consider the following questions when you’re writing your letter.

1. When did things start?
2. Why do you hate it? What troubles has it caused you?
3. How are you going to “leave” (stop or take control of the behavior)?
4. How are you going to feel when you leave it behind?

This worksheet from MHA’s Mental Health Month 2017 Toolkit was designed to help you break up with the unhealthy behaviors that often go along with mental health concerns.

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The scientific underpinning of this activity comes from Motivational Interviewing.