My Life with Abilify, Antipsychotic Drug

A Personal Account of Treatment for Mental Illness

Abilify, or aripriprazole, an atypical antipsychotic drug produced by Bristol Myers Squibb, has taken over my life and I couldn’t be more thrilled about that. Being an active mental patient with unfortunately a cumulative of about five different mental illness diagnoses, I have gone through the rounds with all types of medications. And while doing so, while experimenting with all the different brand names of all the different categories, I went back and forth between loving and hating medication in general. Mostly this was due to the side effects, particularly sleepiness, that each medication I tried seemed to cause. So I would neglect my mental health and go against my psychiatrist’s advice and I’d discontinue medications on my own, or I’d lessen the doses. And for many different intervals, I stopped seeing my doctor altogether, believing that no medication was going to work for me and it was just a waste of my time, money and precious brain cells.

Then, Abilify, antipsychotic drug. To me, Abilify has been a miracle drug. And even though it has me on a string, for if I stop taking it I lose all control of myself and become a complete and total psychotic mess, it has been consistent and reliable over the past two years that I’ve been taking it.