By Zach Morgan This blog was originally published for the Daily Nexus, UCSB’s student-run newspaper. I used to think anxiety was just a bunch of bullshit. In middle school, seventh or eighth grade I think, I remember my grandmother talking to one of my aunts on the...
By: Vicki M. Taylor “Anxiety can begin early in life for people with depression or bipolar disorder. Anxiety and mood disorders can be a co-occurring diagnosis.”- DBSA Treating anxiety disorder in combination with bipolar disorder can be tricky....
Melanie Luxenberg Mental health awareness is a term that we are hearing more and more these days- and May is an important month for us mental health advocates! In Canada, the first week of May is designated as Mental Health Week, which was first introduced in...
Russ Federman, Ph.D., ABPP For those living with bipolar disorder, the first few years post-diagnosis can be some of the most difficult in terms of one’s relationship to the disorder. Beyond the necessity of initial symptom management, the process of accepting...
By: Jayson Blair I cringe anytime I hear someone talking about finding “the cure.” It’s the same feeling that strikes me when someone walks into my office, where we help people with mental health problems, proclaiming how they just want to “fix” their...
Q: My partner does not always seem open about sharing their experience with bipolar disorder. How do I speak openly with them about their condition and my concerns? I also frequently worry that I might unintentionally do something that might trigger an episode for...
Q: Besides attending couples’ counseling and individual therapy, are there any other specific strategies you use to keep your relationship balanced? Beka: To keep balanced, I make sure I take time for me (and we take time for US as a couple – i.e., date nights!). I...
By: Chris Cole My introduction to transpersonal psychology came in the form of initiation. I was no stranger to adolescent disturbances, assigned twelve-step meetings, and group therapy for my drinking after having wrecked my car, and there were many less outwardly...
By: Amanda Michaela I woke up in a bed of steel, covered in snow white blankets. Drops of water were running down my face, but i couldn’t tell tears from sweat. I rose up and looked around the room trying to get a grip of reality. It was just a dream… a bad...
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: EmmaLou What is the real meaning behind Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)? Dissociative Identity Disorder, also known as DID, or sometimes referred to as Multiple Personality Disorder, is a split in an individual’s identity characterized by two or more...
Love can be the most wonderful emotion. It can bring both joy and sorrow simultaneously. Even the best and most solid relationships can often be difficult. It is especially challenging when a partner has bipolar disorder. This is not to say that you cannot have a...
This past year, I stressed myself out way past my limit time and time again. All of the goals I set at the beginning of 2016 led me to one of the toughest years of my life and left me mentally, physically, and emotionally burnt out. One goal was to be an amazing wife...
It isn’t enough to just have a mental illness in your life. There is so much to balance: learning coping skills, managing medications, managing medication side effects, identifying triggers so you’re prepared for them when they hit, advocating for yourself...
This is Part 3 in a 5-Part Series: “When the World is Too Bright: An Intensive View of Mania from On the Ground” (Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, and Part 5 here) I fancy myself an iPhone/Instagram photographer! I love taking pictures throughout my week to...
In the year 2009, I gave birth to my son. After this event in my life, my suffering began. I started to find it hard to sleep at night. I often would stay awake each night staring at the ceiling of my room. It lasted for about a week and I began to have hallucinations...
My name is Roger and I have Bipolar. This was written a week ago, just after the painting was completed. There are times when I am in the “high” of a mania and there are times when I am in the “low” of depression. This painting depicts that frightening time when I am...
I have no memory. Alright, I’m being a little tongue in cheek here. But, most days I really do feel like I have no memory. Who knows when it began. I’ve always had some memory retention issues growing up. It drove everyone around me batty. I can’t...
Learn more about #DearTeenageMe at http://sayitforwardcampaign.org/ My journey through bipolar disorder started genetically, but wasn’t kicked off symptomatically until the major traumatic event that could shatter any teenager’s life. My mother died suddenly of a...
Help us win Healthline’s Best Health Blog of the Year! Vote for International Bipolar Foundation here. I was diagnosed with bipolar type I disorder when I was twenty-three after experiencing nine years of symptoms, a diagnosis of depression, and then a...
Learn more about #DearTeenageMe at http://sayitforwardcampaign.org/ Do you remember the song “Sound of Silence”? The one we used to sing with Dad? Remember how we always thought it was about being quiet and not making any noise no matter what we were feeling?...
Learn more about #DearTeenageMe at http://sayitforwardcampaign.org/ Dear scared Ros, I know you tried it again last night, like you try every week. You spend hours crying and pouring your emotions into your little black book hoping that someone will finally hear your...
I was born in the mid 1950’s when mental illness just wasn’t talked about. I wish that I could have had advice about the bipolar disorder I struggled with prior to my diagnosis. Perhaps it would have brought some ease to the fear I was experiencing. If my parents had...
If the teenage Sarah knew what 27 year old Sarah knows now, I believe this bipolar journey could have been a lot less painful. But when I’m tempted to dwell on how much farther ahead I could be had I been more prepared to live life with a mental illness, I remind...
I can’t give you the answer you want, because the real answer is “Probably. You will most likely require psychotropic medication for the rest of your life.” (I’ll get to that “most likely” in a bit.) Personally, I don’t see...
My father was a man of very few words. The only exceptions were hilarious dad jokes and long conversations with my mother — conversations that looked so pretty that I wished to have some like them in my life. Since he didn’t talk much, I can’t start with a...
Carrie was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 28, though she experienced clinical depression for the first time as a teenager. She knew something was seriously wrong but wasn’t able to get help at that time. Carrie wrote the following letter to her 17-year-old...
When I was in my 20s (I’m 37 now), my bipolar depression got so severe that the docs decided it was time to try ECT, Electroconvulsive Therapy. In the old days, they called it “shock therapy”. The premise is sound: if you cause a 10-60 second seizure in the...
I keep hearing the word acceptance when it comes to living with bipolar. But what exactly does it mean to me? A doctor once told me acceptance means acknowledging a fact, but not necessarily being “ok” with it. I was uncertain so I looked it up. Acceptance is defined...
