As I sit down to write this blog, I am reflecting on my last post and where I am at today. All I can come up with is that for me living with bipolar is all encompassing. It is present in every action I take or do not take. It undermines my sense of self and often distorts reality. Accepting this fact is exceptionally difficult but I know there is...
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How Art Helped Me Through My Longest Depressive Episode
November 22, 2017
By: Emily McGuigan
*The charcoal artwork featured above is titled "Too Much" by Emily McGuigan*When I’m asked for an example of how I’ve used art therapy in my own recovery, I instantly think of a recent time in my life where my art actually resulted in me discovering some past trauma that I suppressed and also where it resulted in me addressing major...
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Witchcraft Or Simply Mental Illness?
November 17, 2017
By: Mamotladi Ivy Matloga
I recently watched a programme on television wherein a young lady was talking about how in her understanding, there is no such a thing as mental illness. According to the lady, mental illness was nothing more than plain witchcraft. “People waste a lot of money on expensive medication trying to cure mental illness, and they can never find cure in...
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Changing the Perspective Of Your Symptoms
November 10, 2017
By: Danielle Workman
The best advice I had ever gotten in regards to my diagnosis came from my father. It was a dark and gloomy day, in those long months between winter and spring. “You need to spend less time fighting your bipolar and more time working with it.” He said. “It’s how you would work with a difficult person, you could make that person work for you - why...
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Fear Of Taking Pills
November 10, 2017
By: Conor Bezane
Artificial happiness. That’s what I thought I’d be getting into if I went on antidepressants. I have to admit I was scared to even go there. Would I become a zombie? Would my emotions be flattened? What about apathy? Turns out these fears were, for me, irrational.But the circumstances were terrifying. My initial diagnosis of depression occurred in...
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From Negative to Positive
October 31, 2017
By: Kryss Jobes
There was a time in my life when I had a breakdown. I sought help in caring for my daughter before things got too bad. But after that it was a continuous downward spiral until I wasn’t me anymore. I had run away, to live in the back of my mind, while my life went on around me. I didn’t like what I saw through my eyes, but no matter how much I...
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Mental Illness And The Dementia Link- Part 2
October 31, 2017
By: Vicki Taylor
In Part 1 of the 2 part series I wondered whether there was a link between having a Mental Illness and developing Dementia. I was genuinely concerned, as I felt I was experiencing more than the normal “aging” memory issues. Other cognitive issues included inability to focus, think clearly, or make sound decisions.I had talked to a Tampa, FL...
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Laughter Isn't Always the Best Medicine for Bipolar Depression
October 23, 2017
By: Janet Coburn
You often hear it said that a good belly laugh is as effective as a dose of antidepressants. You read author Allie Brosh's account of her depression breaking when she couldn't stop laughing at a piece of corn she noticed under the refrigerator.But for a lot of us with bipolar depression, laughter is not only not the cure, it simply isn't...
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Parenting With a Mental Illness Part 2
October 23, 2017
By: Michelle Vasiliu
My experience of bipolar I suffered from major depression from my late teens but I wasn't diagnosed with bipolar till 2007 when I was 40 years old. My form of bipolar is largely about extreme depressive episodes and less frequent hypomanic episodes. I've only had three major manic episodes - back in 2007 when I was first diagnosed and more...
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Food And Bipolar Disorder
October 20, 2017
By: Natalia Beiser
In my experience, I have found there to be a direct correlation between food and bipolar disorder.When manic or hypomanic, I have observed that not eating is easy. The more that I don’t eat, the more weight that I lose and not eating makes me even more wound up. At that point, I don’t care how fast my brain is spinning. Once I went into the...
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