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: Stan Clark As physical distancing measures are continuously implemented, social media has become a crutch for many people. However, social media may also serve as a double-edged sword, especially for people with bipolar disorder(1). The Good: Making Meaningful...
Author: Melinda Goedeke Contingency plans rule my world because I see the glass as half empty. My kids used to sarcastically call me the beam of optimism because I was always preparing for the impending disaster. It’s one of those special gifts I learned in...
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: Sophia Falco “Everything’s Not Lost”, this wonderfully optimistic song, by Coldplay came into my life when I discovered I needed it while in the midst of a challenging depression. These lyrics spoke to me because of their duality of the rawness and the pain...
Author: Bryson Hays How far away I feel… From everything. From family and friends, from doctors and patients, from myself and I. Every day feels the same, I wake up, take my doses of medication to keep the demons at bay, and continue to live my life. But what if...
Author: Claire Gault Those diagnosed with bipolar disorder can be more susceptible to loneliness, as our condition feels isolating from the world around us. With the government issuing restrictions on socializing, loneliness can be intensified more than ever before,...
Author: Kim Barnett I was diagnosed with Bipolar I Disorder more than 17 years ago, in my early 20’s, and have suffered a lot of trauma from my various episodes. These traumatic episodes have inflicted damaging emotional and psychological scars. I’m learning now that...
Author: Trevor Simonson Are you experiencing feelings of loneliness? Do you feel forgotten, like you are falling through the cracks? Are you missing somebody? This letter goes out to you. This is for those who live with bipolar disorder. This is for the caregivers....
Author: Stanley Clark The COVID-19 pandemic still causes fear and uncertainty worldwide. Although the lockdown measures may help slow the disease’s spread, it may also cause greater mental stress. People with bipolar disorder may have a more challenging time coping...
Author: Sophia Falco When I was in the depths of depression I decided, I needed a higher power to lean on though I understood it was up to me to improve my mental health, and I am so grateful for my support system in my life. Furthermore, this year was a mark in time...
Author: Melissa Anderson I’ve been stable for nearly a year. There was a time when I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to say that. Stability. And for a whole year! Wow! I can hardly believe it. It feels good, I must say. It was just before Thanksgiving...
Author: Melinda Goedeke I remember when Laura was little staring at me with a mix of defiance, confidence and spunk refusing to walk without her doll stroller. She was 16 months old and could most definitely walk. She knew walking solo meant moving to the “big kid...
Author: Natalia Beiser I experienced my first full blown manic disorder, as experienced by those with bipolar 1 while in my last year of high school. Prior to being sent for inpatient treatment, my behavior had been sporadic and I had many angry verbal outbursts. ...
Author: Stanley Clark An estimated 46 million people around the world are affected by bipolar disorder. In the U.S. alone, around 2.3% of the adult population has this condition. Unfortunately, many patients with bipolar disorder are still misdiagnosed. Bipolar...
Author: Sophia Falco Find a comfortable position where you can either sit or lay down for about 10 minutes. If you feel it’s appropriate to close your eyes, then please do so, and if not keep your gaze downwards—this is totally fine too. First, get in tune with your...
Author: Elizabeth Horner I debated on whether or not to share my story for a very long time. I’d swing back and forth like a pendulum; feeling like I should just own who I am and throw myself out there one day and then revert back to the very private person I usually...
Author: Melinda Goedeke When my beautiful daughter was 23, she was asked to be in one of her best friend’s wedding. Running towards me with her infectious smile, she shared the news with me talking so quickly I barely understood. What I did understand is that she was...
Author: Madeleine Russell Stigma around bipolar disorder can be gradual and subtle, but with very harmful effects. Bipolar affects 1 in 50 Australians and tends to run in families. Stigma is a well-known driver of poor health outcomes, yet continues to permeate...
Author: Christina Chambers Lately, I have noticed a pattern emerging and re-emerging. It weaves itself through my life like vines climbing a lattice. That pattern is chaos. There is a consistent inconsistency, predictable unpredictability, and almost an order to the...
Author: Willa Goodfellow I didn’t want to find out I had bipolar disorder. I was on a plane. The person in the seat next to me saw the Journal of American Psychiatry in my lap. He was curious, he said, because he was a doctor and worked on a psych ward. Why was I...
Author: Rebecca James The bipolar mind is often a chaotic place. It can be scary, lonely, sad, or wild. In the center of it, we all need some moments of peace. I’ve found that affirmations, or easy, reassuring sentences, help me navigate the bipolar mind. Here are a...
Author: Jasper James “No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness” – Aristotle It has long been said that those with bipolar disorder are more creative than average. Famous bipolar individuals of the past include Ernest Hemingway, Frank Sinatra, and...
Author: Kim Barnett I have Bipolar I Disorder, which causes manic and depressive episodes cyclically. I’d like to share with you some of my experience with Bipolar Mania, in hopes to explain the difference between insomnia and a Manic Episode, and how this topic has...
Author: Sophia Falco I delve deep into the dreamland of my imagination. I embrace envisioning light flowing throughout my body, and soothing my mind edging out the darkness that has taken up residency for far too long. The beauty of the natural world speaks to me in...
Author: Melissa Anderson Can we just take a moment out of our busy lives to congratulate ourselves? Bipolar disorder can be a beast. We are either living with it or supporting someone who does, and that deserves some recognition. Every day that we get up and face the...
Author: Valéry Brosseau Bipolar depression is like an old faded blanket that’s worn out in just the right spots. The one I can’t bear to throw away. Once in a while it falls out of the closet and I pick it up, wrap myself in it and hide from the world. It’s...
Author: Claire Gault As someone with bipolar disorder, I have a fascination with reading about and researching the illness itself. I believe that the more information I learn, the better equipped I can be to manage the illness. My favorite way to learn is through...
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: Kim Barnett I’ve had my share of stays in various Psych Wards over the past 17 years. In California, where I live, they are now called Behavioral Health Units. The things I’ve experienced and the people I have come across in my stays have changed me, mostly...
Author: Jasper James Naturally, when I think of the first day of school, I experience anxiety and extreme nervousness. One of the tricks I like to use is mindfulness to get me through my anxiety. I simply take the “butterflies in my stomach” feeling and ramp it up to...
Author: Cassandra Stout Self-care. It seems self-explanatory; after all, the term indicates caring for the self. But why is self-care so hard to accomplish, especially for people who suffer from bipolar disorder? The answer is easy. When we’re manic or...
Author: Fatima It felt as though a trap door had opened under me and I was free falling. “What you experienced was a manic episode” the doctor said. “You have type 1 bipolar disorder”. My world was rocked. Bipolar disorder? What did that mean? What did that entail? I...
Author: Rosebuds and Thorns Through my experience with Bipolar Disorder, I have learned many things. To tell someone newly diagnosed with bipolar everything I have learned would take more pages than one could bear to read. So, I will focus on three things: time,...
Author: Willa Goodfellow It goes back to Freud. You could call him a liberal for his day. He did not believe that homosexuality was a character flaw or degeneracy. He viewed it as a kind of arrested development. Does arrested development sound better than the later...
Author: Claire At the beginning of my college career, my expectations for post grad life were through the roof. I was going to graduate early, balance a million extracurriculars, and somehow make time to travel the world. Without time to prepare, mania arrived without...
Author: Rebecca James I’ve been keeping a journal since I was fifteen. That was twenty years ago! But journaling has never been as important to me as it has been in the last seven years, since I’ve been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. For me, journaling makes sense...
Author: Lauren Meredith When I first diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I found it difficult to identify how I felt a lot of the time. Giving my emotions, especially ones that I encounter more often than others, a nickname has helped me to identify my emotions in the...
Author: Natalia Beiser I had a dear friend that could not understand my mood disorder; particularly the depression. I tried diligently to explain it to her. She could tell when I was down by the tone in my voice over the telephone. My friend was a senior citizen and...
Author: Lauren Meredith I was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) when I was 21 years old. I was a senior in college. I had testing problems and lo and behold it was due to testing anxiety which was also manifested in various other aspects of my life. My...
Author: George Hofmann It seems that today a man with a mental illness in his middle age is without a voice. So many of the stories told about the struggle with an incoherent mind are from the point of view of the young and mostly female. For so many older men the...
Author: Valéry Brosseau The gym smelled a bit like a warehouse would smell, but mostly like sweat. I came to this gym 5 times a week to practice Brazilian Jiu Jitsu but tonight I was not feeling it. I struggled through the warm up. My anxiety was making me irritable...
Author: Jessica Kaushik I was diagnosed in 2004 and have been largely living hospital-free for the last thirteen years. So, I do have a few coping strategies for living with Bipolar Disorder that I’d like to share with the newly diagnosed. …I wouldn’t say the list is...
Author: Zachary Burton The California hills were quickly turning to gold. Our weekends were filled with barbecues, swimming, and late nights around our fire pit. Life couldn’t be better. I certainly thought so, as I hurtled toward my PhD qualifying exams in the late...
Author: Violette Kay “Grandiosity”. That’s the word that convinced me I actually had bipolar disorder. The sleep disruptions, increased energy, racing thoughts and flight of ideas – not to mention the recurring depressive episodes – all these other textbook...
Author: Sophia Falco It has been a challenge living with bipolar disorder 1 for nearly a decade (diagnosed at age 16) yet I have risen above this to have made my dream come true—a college graduate that has excelled! I have achieved the Highest Honors in the Literature...
Author: Christina Chambers Have you ever had a dream that was so vivid when you awoke it was hard to believe it didn’t actually happen? You had that surreal feeling of not being certain what was a dream and what happened in your waking life. What about a dream where...
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: Scott Walker A continuation from Reflecting Back on My Initial Diagnosis… I ended up being in the psychiatric hospital for three weeks after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. At the time I was in New Zealand visiting family and seeing my Mom and brother....
