Category: Bipolar Disorder

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes: Getting better at them all the time

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes: Getting better at them all the time

(‘Changes’ song lyric sample from David Bowie, album “Hunky Dory” 1971)When the seasons change, I often have a bipolar relapse, one that starts small, like a snowball, gathering speed and size as it rolls down the hill, exploding on the impact...

Why I’m Grateful For Being On the Psych Ward

Why I’m Grateful For Being On the Psych Ward

In the beginning I thought that it would kill me, my personality, and my future. But after a few weeks I’m hugely grateful for this experience. I got there because I wanted to attempt suicide. I’ve had a few suicide attempts before but this one was extremely...

Yoga Philosophy for Bipolar Disorder 101: Part 1, Ahimsa

Yoga Philosophy for Bipolar Disorder 101: Part 1, Ahimsa

Yoga is more than what you want your body to look like. What do you want your life to look like? The core philosophy of Yoga – not just seeking fulfillment in the material world while still living in it – offers a structure of restrictions and...

Out in the Milkweed

Out in the Milkweed

I wrote this piece to express how I’ve felt stigmatized by those who haven’t gotten past how I’ve been doing better with bipolar one.  While it’s obvious in this piece that I am angry, I believe there is hope for healing for us...

My Biggest Competitor

My Biggest Competitor

It’s no secret that I have struggled with bipolar disorder for several years. What may be less known is that I have also fought hard to overcome numerous setbacks and personal losses as a result of my illness. I don’t like that I have had to deal with an illness as...

A Journey to Health and Resilience

A Journey to Health and Resilience

I didn’t realize it, but I have been on a quest for the past 20 years. At first, it felt like I was just trying to figure myself out. I wasn’t happy with my life as it was laid out for me. So like many people in their late teens and early twenties, I bounced...

Learning to Be Stable

Learning to Be Stable

What is ‘stable’? After 6 years of constant ups and downs I wouldn’t know what euthymia was like if it slapped me in the face. I was diagnosed with unipolar depression when I was 20 and up until 22 (when I was re-diagnosed with bipolar), I thought I had been...

Goals

Goals

Good afternoon readers: It is a cold and rainy day, yet I find such relaxation when I write and when I blog. It is such a passion of mine. This month’s topic is Goals. We are in a new year, a new beginning. I know some of you may set New Year’s resolutions, and some...

When We Value Things Differently

When We Value Things Differently

In my last blog entry I wrote about the art of giving space and the example I gave was more about physical space. Since then I have had a think about a different type of giving space – giving others the space to value things differently. I think it helps me to choose...

Planning Ahead for Your Next Episode

Planning Ahead for Your Next Episode

I just finished filling out a WRAP plan with the help of my therapist. WRAP stands for Wellness Recovery Action Plan. The plan can be found at mentalhealthrecovery.com and is free to print out. This isn’t the first time I’ve filled out the plan. Years ago while I...

How to Deal with A Negative Person

How to Deal with A Negative Person

My daughter was having challenges with her boss.  Despite her best efforts all she got was verbal and non-verbal criticism. “I don’t like that…you need to do it my way…you’re not good enough.” Although she is naturally a positive person, every time her boss came...

Bipolar Mother, Bipolar Son

Bipolar Mother, Bipolar Son

I dreamed of having a child throughout my formative years.  When asked what I would be when I grew up, I readily answered “A Mommy!”  I doted on baby dolls, babysat throughout my teen years and dressed every cat we ever owned up as a baby.  I deeply...

Who Am I?

Who Am I?

I sat in a chair at a psychiatrist’s office and am asked questions that provoke me to describe both my depressive and hypomanic states. It was painful yet enlightening. When I am depressed I am stupid, lazy and useless. When I am depressed I am weak,...

I’m Not a Victim, I’m a Survivor

Around Christmas I got into an argument with my ex-husband, no big surprise there.  Communication has never been our strongest asset.  Anyway during the argument he said some things that really upset me and have really stayed with me.  He said, “Quit...

Not Backing Down

Not Backing Down

The views expressed in this blog are the personal opinions of the author. Blogs are written based on the author’s personal experience and may differ for other individuals. I wrote an article on this before but it’s so important to me I need to speak up...

Possibilities in the New Year

Possibilities in the New Year

Often times, people are depressed after the holiday season for a variety of reasons, but the New Year brings with it new possibilities if we are open to them.  Every moment we are alive is a new moment so every moment brings a new possibility even though we may...

Health

Health

It’s January and this is the month that we hear all about health. We start seeing more health and diet topics in magazines and healthy food goes on sale more. I don’t mean to sound like Mrs. Goody-Goody, but I love all this. That’s because I used to...

Creative Minds Want To Know

Creative Minds Want To Know

Much has been written and said about a potential link between the hypomanias of Bipolar Disorder and creativity.  Last month’s Webinar, Igniting The Creative Fire: The Neurobiology Of Creativity In Bipolar Disorder With Dr. Mohammad Alsuwaidan, explored the link...

I Choose Life

I Choose Life

I am just going to come out and say it.  I, Nanieve, am relieved that I can finally rip down the gaudy Christmas baubles, fold up the tree, and wipe the stupid but, expected cheerful grin off my face. To me, the festive season feels unbearably stressful....

I Have a Bipolar Support Dog

I Have a Bipolar Support Dog

When I got my dog, Lena, just over two years ago, I didn’t yet know I had bipolar disorder. I had been diagnosed with major depression by my college’s health services and given only an anti-depressant to take. I had been high as a kite all summer – my apartment was...

Friends

Friends

“Only solitary men know the full joys of friendship. Others have their family; but to a solitary and an exile his friends are everything.” WILLA CATHERI discovered I had bipolar disorder in May 2014. The diagnosis was delivered roughly 12 hours after I had...

A Torn Yet Magical Christmas

A Torn Yet Magical Christmas

I hope you all are having a wonderful Holiday Season and you all have a blessed Christmas. This month’s blog entry will be a poem that I wrote; I hope it brings you comfort and strength, though this time of year is a joyous time for many, many others suffer alone and...

The Social Weight Behind Research and its Possible Impact

The Social Weight Behind Research and its Possible Impact

Having experienced, at least in some small way, the nature of higher education, I’ve come to understand how the significance of politics in research has come to dominate fields once dedicated to improving our grasp of both natural and social sciences....

We Need to Talk

We Need to Talk

First of all, I just want to say I am excited about making my first official post for the International Bipolar Foundation. I never thought the need for an outlet would bring me here. It means a lot to me to have this opportunity. I have Bipolar Disorder. Bipolar...

EFT- Emotional Freedom Technique – a 6 minute therapy?

EFT- Emotional Freedom Technique – a 6 minute therapy?

What is EFT? It is a type of therapy used for physical and emotional pain.  It utilizes acupressure from the east along with the “power of thoughts” from the west and creates a usable technique that can be used quickly and effectively. EFT helps us get from...

La Bipolaridad en Países en Vías de Desarrollo

La Bipolaridad en Países en Vías de Desarrollo

Yo nací en un País que se considera un país en vías de desarrollo donde el acceso a los sistemas de salud pública es extremadamente precaria, por esa condición las personas con bipolaridad tenemos doble estigma una el de la pobreza  y segundo la...

The Art of Giving Space

The Art of Giving Space

Recently I went to a private ward to be admitted just so I could sleep well for a few days. The irony was that it happened just a week after I had come back to Singapore to be with family – I had done that precisely so that I could have more stability in my housing...

Managing a Relapse When Your Child is Ill

Managing a Relapse When Your Child is Ill

Recently, my daughter had to have heart surgery to close a hole in her heart that should have closed on its own shortly after she was born. She is 18 months old and is now 7 weeks post surgery, healed quickly and is now considered to be healthy and normal.  But...

A Different Take on Exercise, and Why I Want You To Join Me!

A Different Take on Exercise, and Why I Want You To Join Me!

Long before I was diagnosed with postpartum bipolar one disorder, I led an active life.  After college graduation, I became an American Council on Exercise certified personal trainer and I worked in a family-owned gym  My duties included greeting members and...

Rescued by a Dog

Rescued by a Dog

I own a psychiatric service dog. He’s similar to a dog that would assist a blind person, but he’s trained differently. He’s not a therapy or emotional assistance dog, he’s a certified service dog and is allowed anywhere that a dog for the blind would be allowed to...

Summer and the Festive Season

Summer and the Festive Season

Living in the Southern Hemisphere where Christmas and New Years is a time of long, hot days, and having Bipolar with ‘seasonal affective components’ usually results in me becoming elevated. The 15 hours of sunshine, hot weather and days of being active at the beach is...

Tis the Season to be Depressed

Tis the Season to be Depressed

It is that time of year again when we are supposed to be joyful, surrounded by friends and family, and have a generous heart.  Many of us though find this time of year to be depressing especially because we are supposed to be in the Holiday Spirit.  We are...

Life Preserver

Life Preserver

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s (AFSP) logo is a life preserver. I think the idea is that the organization brings people together who want to preserve life and prevent suicide. For those of us who have tried to help a loved one who has to navigate...

The Loss of Friends and the Actual Reality of It All

The Loss of Friends and the Actual Reality of It All

We all know someone or have gone through the experience of losing friends because of a mental illness. I don’t have many friends right now and I go day by day watching my two sisters, my Mom, my Dad, and even going into a store, I see girls laughing together and the...

It’s the Most Triggering Time of the Year

It’s the Most Triggering Time of the Year

Jumping off my balcony, abusing drugs, walking down the middle of a highway and neglecting meds. That’s how I use to ring in the New Year and wish my family a Merry Christmas. Since I’ve been diagnosed bipolar in 2011 I’ve found that once the Christmas season hits, I...

I Should Just Go

I Should Just Go

Often, there are times when we don’t want to do anything; nothing inspires, nothing motivates, nothing is uplifting. “It seems that the weight of the world is bearing down on me and I can’t possibly do anything about it-I should just go. It’s just one thing after...

Dual Diagnosis

Dual Diagnosis

“Population-based studies have documented that among all patients with major psychiatric disorders, those with bipolar disorder have the highest prevalence of comorbid substance abuse and dependence” (Tohen, et. al 1998, Pg. 133).My substance abuse came long before my...

To Loathe or To Love?

To Loathe or To Love?

To Loathe Every time I looked in the mirror I hated what I saw. Self-loathing had been a big part of my identity. Why did I hate myself so much? Why did I look at my reflection with contempt and disgust? I am not sure how or when it started, but many of...

Psychiatry in Jordan

Psychiatry in Jordan

Teamwork in Psychiatry: King Abdullah University Hospital as a ModelI would like to make it crystal clear that this story aims not as the title may suggest, to draw up a panoramic view of the mental health system in Jordan. Nor does it claim a science-based approach...

15 Seconds of Uninterrupted Positive Thought

15 Seconds of Uninterrupted Positive Thought

I am fortunate to be mentally stable and manage my bipolar disorder well.  That being said I sometimes have a tendency to not always have a positive mindset throughout my day.  At times negative things that people say or do bother me and I’m not able to let...

Stigma

Stigma

I wanted to start off this month’s blog by saying that I’m so thankful that I live in a society where I can both be honest about my mental illness and reach out to others. I know that we used to live in a time where you pretty much couldn’t talk...

Mental Illness and the Holidays

Mental Illness and the Holidays

Nine years ago this December, my mental illness erupted through the surface of my otherwise regular life. Work was a snowstorm of activity with the holidays approaching, and I remember feeling super stressed out trying to keep all my end-of-the-year meetings with my...

Broken Radio Dial

Broken Radio Dial

Being understood is on my top ten list of desires.  I’d imagine it’s pretty high on everyone’s list but for those suffering from an illness which carries so much stigma, being understood can save a life.  I’m talking about being understood by the people that...

Attitude of Gratitude for Thanksgiving

Attitude of Gratitude for Thanksgiving

Outside its cold, inside I’m warm as I sit down to drink my hot cup of herbal tea and write my blog. Usually each month when I submit my blog, I address a certain topic that is important in the mental health community, but this month I want to focus on what it means...

Hopping Off the Merry-Go-Round

Hopping Off the Merry-Go-Round

Since I was diagnosed bipolar I’ve found myself in a constant cycle. I remain compliant with medications and avoid substances and I enjoy euphoria and life for that matter. However, the second I deviate from my prospective recovery regimen everything goes awry and I’m...

Family and Friends Who Mean Well But Really Have No Clue

Family and Friends Who Mean Well But Really Have No Clue

 We’ve all heard it before, or something similar, “This too shall pass”. “Just puts your big girl panties on”. “You’ve been here before, you can do it again”. While our loved ones mean well, in the throes of...

Caregiving Matters

Caregiving Matters

There are three things that I have begun to incorporate into my way of thinking as a caregiver. It started when I was in my early 20’s and began to lightly step onto the caregiving path for my aging grandmother. My parents long ago started something, (now defunct),...

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