Author: Melissa Howard Opening up conversations about mental health as a family can feel daunting, especially when it involves complex conditions like bipolar disorder. Yet, as my spouse’s reflections reveal, beginning the conversations early and creating openness can...
Author: Melissa Howard Living with bipolar disorder (BD) creates many unknowns—variables that shape my life in ways that those without a mental illness may never have to consider. BD doesn’t just affect my day-to-day; it impacts my entire family. Every decision I make...
Author: Melissa Howard Understanding bipolar disorder (BD) as a couple is not just managing a diagnosis – it’s about building a life together with greater compassion, flexibility, and love. As this blog is a follow up to my candid Q & A with my spouse, the...
Author: Melissa Howard Navigating marriage with bipolar disorder (BD) is a journey of love, resilience, and continuous learning. Bipolar disorder can add unique challenges as well as hardships to a relationship, but with open communication, mutual...
Author: Subrina Singh Let’s talk about it: trust. One of the most overused words, with meaning deeper than we can begin to understand. Trust. A word encompassing multiple feelings and a word full of such depth but still causes great confusion. When we are...
Author: Melissa Howard Raising children is accompanied by an abundance of emotions. Anywhere from excitement, love and joy, to the less talked about, sadness, exhaustion and loneliness. Parenting does not come without its challenges. From conception or...
Author: Che’ Lang Caring for a child comes with many responsibilities. Being emotionally and mentally stable is essential when teaching a little human the ropes to this complex life. It requires immense amounts of patience, and the ability to stay calm...
Bipolar disorder can strike anyone, regardless of gender, race, education, or class, from pre-teens into our sixties. It is an equal opportunity disorder and can, at its worst, destroy lives and health, marriages and families, careers, friendships, finances, and more....
By: Melinda Goedeke Spying on a lobster the size of my leg while gently swaying back and forth 70 ft. below the sea is both exhilarating and meditative for me. I even secretly like the anxiety of knowing that with each breath my oxygen is depleting. I swim swiftly...
By Margaret Fitzgerald After my initial manic episode at eighteen, my friends were making purchases for their dorm rooms and packing up for far away colleges. I was chronically depressed, which often happens after coming down from a manic episode. Friends were saying...
June 19, 2022 Dear Dad, This Father’s Day I want to celebrate your role in my life. Especially how you helped me through my bipolar diagnosis and functional recovery. Three years before I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, you shared some wisdom with me that...
by Melinda Goedeke I’m often asked whether or not I saw the signs. What I hear in that question is blame and responsibility; assignment of fault. I didn’t see the signs because there weren’t many to see; I saw Laura – my delightful, radiant, and complicated...
Author: Margaret Fitzgerald I wish that my Mother would have sought out therapy when I was a child. I know that this may have been somewhat unheard of in the 1970s. In recent years, we have learned that my Mother experiences post-traumatic stress disorder. I have...
Author: Margaret Fitzgerald My family knew little about serious mental illness when I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Hindsight is 20/20. What follows are what would have best helped me be successful in life before and after my diagnoses. Many...
Author: Cassandra Stout Trigger Warning: This post contains a discussions of suicide. If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, please: Call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 Text TALK to 741741 Or go to...
Author: Melinda Goedeke Dedicated, thanks and praise to my therapist. I used to have a stabbing searing pain in my right shoulder. You couldn’t tell by looking at me as I winced silently until I simply could not. At that point, I sought medical help and now go...
Author: Sharnisha Stokes #BipolarTogether is a hashtag that’s been needed and will continue to be. To provide hope in times where none can be found. Resources when coping mechanisms that are detrimental have been exhausted. Education for those caring for...
Author: Christina Chambers Writing down a wellness plan upped my Bipolar Disorder management game exponentially. I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type I in 2008. I had rapid cycling, so I had at least four episodes each year for twelve years before even...
Author: General Gregg F. Martin, Phd, General Major, US Army Retired From my teenage years on, I benefitted from what was a positive personality: high levels of energy, enthusiasm, drive, extroversion, positivity, happiness, and optimism. This was the...
Author: Melinda Goedeke To still my brain, I puzzle. In my world, puzzle is a verb. It is what you do when the thoughts in your mind run rampant and collide leaving you lost in chaos. While puzzling, I only consider the pieces in front of me. Where is the piece...
Author: Major General Gregg F. Martin, US Army Retired My brain burst into full-blown mania in 2014, at age 58. This “late onset bipolar disorder” is rare, with only about five percent of diagnosed cases occurring this late in life. I may have had undiagnosed...
Author: Melinda Goedeke I have two children. One is low key, mild-mannered, and has a half tooth. The other is high-key, wild-mannered and has a double tooth. Both are brilliant, beautiful and better than me, but one is living, and one is dead. Laura died from bipolar...
Author: Dayna J. It’s common knowledge that fifty percent of marriages end in divorce. Psychology Today cites that statistic as high as ninety percent when at least one partner lives with bipolar disorder! I am grateful to be beating those odds and celebrating my...
Author: Melinda Goedeke We don’t have bonfires. We have scorching, searing conflagrations that silently raise our internal boiling points until we are nearly cooked and charred. We scoot back only an inch as we don’t really want to leave the warmth despite the fear...
Author: Maria Eva Jacobs My name is Maria Eva Jacobs and I have lived with Bipolar Disorder my entire adult life. I’m here to tell you, there is life after diagnosis! Though still on medication, I live today in remission and while that is not a perfect walk, it is...
Author: Kerri Scott I don’t know what it’s like to live with bipolar disorder but I know what it’s like to lose someone to bipolar disorder. When I was 25, during the heat of the summer I got the news. A mutual friend called to tell me that my boyfriend had died. He...
Author: Joe Landers Greetings readers my name is Joe Landers and I am the author of The Methods of Genius and Madness. My book is on amazon but I used the name Maverick Hunting because although all of the events are true, I changed everyone’s names. I have bipolar...
Author: Kim Barnett I have kept my personal opinions and thoughts, about the state of our nation, mostly to myself. I have been extremely open about my mental health struggles, but now that the state of our nation is having an impact on my mental health, it is no...
Author: George Hofmann Last summer, with people crying out in the streets, I learned about the need to pause and listen to each other in the midst of uncertainty and upset. As we begin 2021, with Covid-19 shutdowns dragging on and polarizing political unrest, people...
Author: Cory Anderson As a therapist, I thought I would be well equipped to handle anything marriage threw my way, including my wife’s bipolar II diagnosis. Well, I was wrong. Even our journey of getting this diagnosis was long and fraught with potholes. I imagine a...
Author: Natalia Beiser I became angry when overhearing someone saying that people with bipolar disorder should not receive disability accommodations because “…all that they need it to take a pill.” As most individuals with bipolar disorder know, it is not usually that...
Author: Rebecca James Talking to someone with bipolar disorder can be confusing and overwhelming, particularly if the person is in crisis. Here are some key words to use to connect with your loved one. Tell me. Tell me what you’re feeling. This gentle command can be...
Author: Natalia Beiser Like most girls, I dreamed of being a mother. Planned were baby names, thoughts of how I would parent and nurture a child, and the locality where I wanted to do so. As a teenager, I was a sought out babysitter. My fantasy was of a family of five...
Author: Violette Kay I used to feel a lot of pressure to be discreet about my bipolar disorder. When asked what my plans were for the day, I wouldn’t mention therapy appointments if that’s what was on the agenda. I wouldn’t take my medication in front of people. I...
Author: RaeAnn Collins Wikipedia defines brave as: “ready to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage.” It is an act of bravery to tell others about this disorder. I have had Bipolar Disorder 1 for about 37 years now. Back in my early days, the stigma of...
By: Sophie Prosolek Christmas is a time of festive joy, of giving and receiving – ‘it’s the most wonderful time of the year’, or so the song goes. But several years ago I decided to make a change to the way I celebrate Christmas – I decided to...
By: Cassandra Stout The holidays strike fear into many hearts, especially those of us with mental illness. But they don’t have to. People with mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder, can thrive during the holiday season. Don’t Neglect Basic...
By: Cassandra Stout As a parent with bipolar disorder, you might worry about the effects of your unchecked mental illness on your loved ones, especially your children. The devastating mood swings of bipolar disorder can cause instability for your kids. One example, a...
By: Courtney Davey, MA, LMFT The holidays are a wonderful time: family, friends, feelings of good will etc. However, these additions to your schedule also can create high levels of stress. Holiday movies are notorious for making gags out of the difficulties with...
By Allison Clemmons Hatch One of the most difficult seasons for many is upon us. Those of us who celebrate Christmas, not just those of us who grapple with the symptoms of bipolar disorder, have a tough time maintaining any sort of cheerful disposition, for a...
By: Tosha Maaks I am a lucky suicide survivor. In 2008 I tried to end my life after a hard day at my job. I came home, and I said good-bye to my children, and I climbed into bed to snuggle with my middle child and say my good-byes to him. My husband knew something...
By Wendy Ward, Executive Director, The Youth Mental Health Project My first experiences with mental health conditions are the reasons that I co-founded The Youth Mental Health Project. I believe that by changing the way we talk about and how we act with regard to our...
By: Danielle Workman I’ve said it in many other posts and even in my book, but the day I received my diagnosis and was told I had Bipolar Disorder, I truly felt alone. The days that followed, the feeling remained. The more I searched online and the more I dug, the...
By: Michelle Vasiliu In 2015, my first picture book, My Happy Sad Mummy, was published. My Happy Sad Mummy is a Picture Book for 3-8 year olds. It is a story that portrays the emotional response of a young girl living with a mother who has bipolar disorder. The book...
By: Serena Goldsmith As a peer counselor, speaker, and mental health clinician, many people have shared with me that they feel stigmatized by having a mental health diagnosis and they feel reluctant to tell others about it. I felt that way too for many years after I...
By Jen Teh In a recent conversation with a good friend, we talked about a mutual friend who appeared to be showing signs of bipolar disorder but who was quite closed to the possibility of a problem. The conversation meandered to what it was like when I was first...
By: Farida Raj “My son needs help. He has bipolar disorder. Bipolar! How can a seven year old child have bipolar?” I, a Remedial Educator, was sitting with a parent who had recently relocated from Canada to Hyderabad, India. A pediatric psychiatrist had diagnosed her...
My only brother received a gift two days after his birthday, and ten days before Christmas. It was a gift that every person who suffers from mental illness wants. He carried a cross throughout his life called bipolar disorder. Many people – including me, our...
By: Karen Meadows In retrospect, during my daughter’s battle with mental illness, I wasted a lot of energy worrying about things I couldn’t control. When I learned about a framework called Three Concentric Circles at work, I realized this was a powerful approach I...
Inspired to Stabilize By: Kryss Jobes So, this year I want to make changes in how I live my life. For the past few years, I have told myself I will do this, but it never lasts. It is all too easy to get distracted and put off important tasks, or to miss one day and...
