Other than mental illnesses being extremely disabling, Being that I am a nursing major I know mainly about the pharmaceuticals involved in treating them.  I think that the media and my own personal experience dealing with loved ones who have mental illnesses has shaped my idea about mental illnesses the most.  Watching someone suffer from depression and anxiety has showed me that the perception of mental illnesses in movies and in the media are often times skewed. Though it is hard to say because I do not personally suffer from a mental illness but like everything else in Hollywood, mental illnesses can me made over dramatic.  This is why we, as consumers of the media, must be careful where we obtain our information from when researching such topics.

What I enjoyed about Kaitlyn's poems was how each of them represented an exact moment when she was struggling so deeply with her depression.  It was nice to read what she had to say about the poems now too and how she does not think the same way anymore and she can thank her poetry for that. After reading these poems I now understand that everyone has a different way of coping with their mental illness, there is no one "magic pill" or solution.