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Maslow’s (Bipolar Disorder) Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs provides helpful structural guidance for the multi-faceted approach to treating Bipolar Disorder. Articulated in 1943, his theory…
Bipolar 2024 Resolutions— Do the New You or the Tried & True?
For many, January is THE time to take an honest look at our habits, routines, and other frequent choices that force us to take stock of what works and doesn’t work for our physical, mental, and emotional health…
The Nails (and Medals) of a World Champion Brazilian swimmer
Felipe abandoned training, got out of the pool and went to the shower. His head didn’t stop. Thoughts were racing. The restless mind. Inattention harmed the strokes. Irritability disrupted his rhythm of breathing. How can you balance the intense training of a professional athlete…
Disclosing Bipolar Disorder
I am extremely lucky. On the day that I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I knew I had at least 5 calls to make, receiving nothing but empathy and support on the other end of the phone. Beyond that though…
Bipolar Disorder on the Job: How Managers and Co-workers Can Help
A truly inclusive workplace can positively impact employees and companies alike in countless ways. The stressors that jobs bring…
The “Little Things” Before Symptoms
It’s the Little Things. Big shifts in our lives can derail us from progress in managing bipolar, but it’s crucial we often look at the little things as well that may cause our symptoms to take over. Are we ignoring the need to eat food or so overwhelmed by the idea that we start skipping meals?
Coping with Grief: Managing Bipolar Disorder After Losing a Loved One
Losing a loved one and going through the grieving process is difficult for everyone. But, when you’re an individual with bipolar disorder, experiencing that loss can be even more difficult…
Fighting Through Depression – Getting Back to the Basics
With bipolar disorder, every depressive episode varies in length and intensity, with a fleeting epiphany that holds the key to breaking free. This past summer…
Finding Hope Through Challenges
I wanted to start by saying, this road isn’t easy. I forced myself into thinking it would be fine and I would be fine, but many times I’m not…
Obsessions and Impulsivity with Bipolar Disorder
Before I was diagnosed, my obsessions and impulsivities were an unstoppable force. I’d wake up in the morning convinced I was NOT going to gamble that night…
Sleep’s Effect on Bipolar Disorder
Author: Sam Bowman
The sleep-wake cycle is an important factor in overall health. The quality of sleep you are getting impacts several areas of your health, including heart function, circulation, metabolism, respiratory system, and immune system…
Bipolar and Cultivating Community
Author: Matthew Palmieri
After my initial diagnosis in 2014, like many, I felt deep shame. There was this nagging and persistent feeling that bipolar had put me behind somehow. That I had done something wrong to end up here and this was going to be…
Managing Anxiety with Schizoaffective Disorder
Author: Liz Colvin
Being a caregiver is a huge responsibility. My adult daughter has survived the rigorous battle of finding the right medication for schizoaffective disorder with her medical provider. However, while managing the mental illness itself, one has to…
Asking the IBPF Community – What is one thing or activity that you ‘cannot live without’ that helps you manage your bipolar disorder?
IBPF Community Answers
As those living with bipolar disorder learn more about their diagnosis and settle into a routine, there are several habits they learn benefit…
The History of Lithium: Who Ate the First Oyster?
Author: Thiago Lopes Genaro
In the 1970s, at an FDA meeting, Gerald Klerman, at the time a professor of psychiatry at Harvard University’s medical school, advocated the use of lithium in episodes of mania, in bipolar disorder. He was then…
Handling Professional Conflicts With Bipolar Disorder
Author: Sam Bowman
Experiencing a professional conflict is never enjoyable. However, it is bound to happen from time to time. A staggering 85% of people experience workplace conflict to some degree. As someone…
Finding Comfort in Discomfort: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Bipolar Disorder
Author: Thiago Lopes Genaro
In his book Breathe – a life in flow, Rickson Gracie, one of the biggest names in Jiu Jitsu and one of those responsible for bringing the sport to the United States, narrates a curious scene from his adolescence. Rickson tells of being involved, one afternoon, in a fight…
The Best of Intentions
Author: Elizabeth Horner
Bipolar Disorder is a tricky illness, even when we think we have it mastered. Fine-tuning our medications, ensuring consistent sleep, eating well, therapy, and balancing stability at work and in our personal lives can feel like carefully setting up a complex Domino course and then praying that everything falls in its place. However, even with the best intensions…
When the Fog Lifts: Accepting Yourself
Author: Matt Palmieri
One of the most challenging aspects of living with bipolar is the phase that follows an unfortunate period of heavily distorted thinking. No, I’m not the CEO anymore. Guess I can’t retire just yet…
My Life-Changing Vegan Ketogenic Diet for Bipolar Disorder
Author: Dyane Harwood
At the age of fifty-two, I didn’t expect I’d make one of the best decisions of my life. I began a well-formulated (i.e., carefully planned) vegan ketogenic diet…
Navigating the Challenges: Living a Full Life With Bipolar Disorder and Depression
Author: Sam Bowman
Everyone wants to live a full life — and everyone also has their own definition of what that means. Everyone also has their own obstacles that they must face throughout life…
Anger
Author: Paul English
I used to have anger in my teen years and 20s. I learned how to greatly diminish this through Buddhist teachers, from friends, and from personal mindfulness practice…
Taking Control of My Sleep to Help Me Manage My Bipolar Disorder
Author: Lee Formella
Instead of giving in to life, try to take control of one thing that can begin to change everything; your sleep. While the extreme range of emotions may never calm down or subside in the ways I might hope…
Embracing Your Authentic Self: Nurturing Self-Esteem With Bipolar
Author: Sam Bowman
The path to self-acceptance doesn’t always look like a straight line. In fact, it’s more likely to be paved with inconsistencies. If it were easy…
Workplace and Bipolar Disorder
Author: Niki Castle
The stress of working in television.As kids, we were all asked what we wanted to be when we grew up. I changed my mind so many times. From cardiologist to artist and then an architect…
The Reality of Bipolar Disorder Treatment in Brazil
Author: Thiago Lopes Genar
Recently I was reading the Indian guideline for treatment of bipolar disorder (BD). It is from 2017. When you are a psychiatrist specializing in bipolar disorder, you read guidelines from many places around the world we have the Indian guideline (2017)…
The Truth Behind the Lies
Author: Melinda Goedeke
I had a beautiful daughter who amazed the world with her laughter, intelligence, spunk and adventure. And she was a liar. She lied to her family, she lied to her friends, she lied to her employers and most painfully…
Raising Awareness About Bipolar Disorder Through Blogging
Author: Sam Bowman
If you’re familiar with the struggles of bipolar disorder, you want to raise awareness or help others who share your concerns, and you’re good with words and writing, then creating your own blog may be a way to do just that. The fact is…
The Intersections of Bipolar and Bisexual
Author: Lexie Manion
I am newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder as of 2019 and newly out as bisexual as of 2021. Interestingly enough though, these are two intricate parts of my identity that I have been familiar with my entire life – whether or not they have been…
African American Mental Health
Author: Niki Castle
Growing up in a biracial home, I became aware of the difference between white and black at an early age. My Irish mom received varied responses to her mixed-race kids…
Getting Diagnosed With Bipolar Disorder as an Older Adult
Author: Sam Bowman
Getting diagnosed with bipolar disorder as an older adult can be challenging. Stigmas and misconceptions about the condition may be discouraging and lead to feelings of embarrassment or unease. However, bipolar disorder affects millions of older adults…
Breaking Free From the Cage of Productivity
Author: D.O Vo
During my time in university, having to combat the suffocating experience of bipolar depression truly felt like I was drowning. I was trapped in this never-ending cycle of being unable to complete my school work because I struggled with motivating myself while also carrying severe guilt that I couldn’t find the fortitude to excel in my courses…
Asking For Help as a Man
Author: Lee Formella
If you were raised anything like me, you were told to be strong, be a man, be tough, do everything yourself, provide for those around you and definitely, no matter the extremity of the circumstances, do not be a burden to those around you. I am not sure…
Overcoming Body Shame and Mental Boundaries: My Exercise Journey
Author: Margaret Fitzgerald
It took more years than I want to admit for me to exercise. Many around me told me how doing so would assist me in having better mental health. It was obvious that exercise would assist me physically…
Bipolar is Not Your Fault
Author: Chris Chambers
It is my 15-year anniversary since I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Looking back, I think one of the most painful parts of my journey was the underlying belief that bipolar disorder was my fault…
Unlocking My Potential
Author: Vasavi Kumar
Whether it’s losing myself in the vibrant colors of a painting, getting lost in the rhythm of a dance class, or finding my voice through acting and voiceover work, these pursuits have given me a sense of peace and purpose that has been invaluable in managing my symptoms…
My Story: Athletics and Bipolar Disorder
Author: Niki Castle
At the same time, while I was transitioning to college, I began to experience a new pain. Something inside me felt “off”. I was able to stay up for days without sleep. I began to have racing thoughts and would see flashing lights when I would close my eyes at night…
Triggers
Author: Melinda Goedeke
Unfortunately, like many, I have experienced trauma in my life. So much so that I often see life as just a series of traumatic events. Some wounds are bored so deeply that they are firmly lodged…
I Was Afraid to Take Meds
Author: Lianca Lyons
I was crying uncontrollably at work because I was mentally, physically, and emotionally EXHAUSTED. I would wake up in the middle of the night sending work texts and emails about things I had either forgotten about or needed to remember. My…
Living With Self-Stigma is Like Driving With the Brake On
Author: Andrea Vassilev Many people experience shame, embarrassment, and guilt surrounding their bipolar diagnosis. They feel as though they must be "one of those people" others are always talking about. They suffer from low self-esteem and feelings of...
DBT and My Experience
Author: Subrina Singh DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) founded by psychologist, Dr. Marsha Linehan of Stony Brook University, has recently gained a lot of popularity. It was Selena Gomez actually who brought light to DBT, discussing how greatly it had...
Acknowledging and Addressing Financial Barriers to Bipolar Treatment
Author: Sam Bowman Bipolar disorder is a challenging condition to live with. These challenges aren’t just because of the symptoms. It can affect all aspects of your life — personal or professional alike. This is why effective treatment is vital. However, there...
How Seeking Hobbies Can Help Manage Bipolar Disorder
Certain hobbies and self-care strategies can make a profound difference in an individual’s ability to manage bipolar disorder. Incorporating these into life, even in small amounts, can really add up to make mood swings more manageable and interrupt life a bit less. Developing some of these strategies and incorporating hobbies can even make life more fun in general.
Not Only Surviving, but Thriving
I was a senior in high school in 1990 when I had my very first manic episode. I felt the silence and stares; people were so cold. They acted quiet and scared. I was alienated. The pain that I experienced has helped me to survive mental illness through many phases of life.
A Three-Headed Monster: Mental Illness, Stigma, and Suicide
Suicide is one of the most misunderstood and stigmatized of human experiences. We need a call to arms, not in the sense of weapons, but rather with people working together. Most suicides result from a combination of two things: a mental condition—
Navigating College with Bipolar Disorder
Being enrolled in college while having bipolar disorder can be a tough task. College is an exciting time for many, as it marks the beginning of a new chapter of life. However, when dealing with a mental illness this time period can be very stressful. The good news is a healthy, thriving, college life is achievable!
Your 12-month Self-care Calendar Plan
There’s something about a fresh start that creates the desire to tweak your life. And a new year is a fresh start. Why not resolve to practice more self-care each month in the coming year? Here’s my 12-month calendar of self-care tips to try. Most of them are habits you can build with a 30-day challenge. You don’t have to try all of these. But making a New Year’s resolution to practice more self-care is more easily done with a plan.
What 2022 Taught Me
This trajectory of trauma hit its peak in January 2022. An ill-informed rocket ship that took flight against my will, needing so many prescribed pills this was not a thrill and I didn’t try to kill myself yet myself went missing because this body would shake and shake...
Is An Emotional Support Animal Right for You?
By: Sam Bowman Emotional support animals (ESAs) are more popular than ever. As of 2019, the National Service Animal Registry had nearly 200,000 support and service animals listed — up from just 2,400 in 2011. While some animals are used to help people with...
Weathering Bipolar
by Melinda Goedeke A woman and her child sit tightly together in their stranded car hoping and praying help is on its way. Snowflake after snowflake rapidly envelopes the car until it cannot move at all. Nearly out of gas, the car remains off, and they snuggle trying...
The Special Hell of Winter
For anyone who has suffered depression in the winter months, I feel you. A few years ago, before I recognized the pattern of my depressive episodes, I sunk deep into a pit of despair every January. It was like clockwork. First, I’d be hypomanic–eager and...
How to Prevent Manic Spending
Mania is challenging to deal with on its own. Add impulsive spending to those manic episodes, and you’ve got an additional layer of difficulty to overcome. Grounding yourself after an episode and finding out you’ve spent all of your savings on trinkets at a garage sale might just tip you into another bout with mania. Impulsive spending not only wrecks your financial stability but can hinder your ability to manage your bipolar disorder successfully. Instead of letting your next manic episode put you further into financial ruin, do the following to protect yourself and your money.
Her Orange Crayon
The orange crayon made the setting sun possible as he held on to the string taking him upwards attached to the rays attached to the orange balloon that was made possible by the birth of creativity, outside the lines as the string swayed as chaos ensued as the orange...
AROUND THE SUN: TRIP 28
Dear 16-Year-Old Sophia, You will have made it. You will have made it with flying colors and will be proud to represent the rainbow flag. You will have made it with your dream of being a unique, talented, and published poet come true with your book three masterpieces!...
Afghanistan war vets are still enraged and hurting – reach out and listen
As the last American soldier stepped aboard a C-17 cargo plane in Kabul in September 2021 and became the last soldier to leave Afghanistan, my inbox was filling up with messages of despair from Afghan war veterans. They were witnessing a disastrous end to the war for...
No One Should Endure This
By: Margaret Fitzgerald I was a moody, undiagnosed, anxious bipolar child that self-soothed with food. I was always ten pounds overweight, and my parents catastrophized it. So many weight loss tactics were tried. One diet included eating only carbs until noon and then...
Navigating the Work World as a Person With Bipolar Disorder
By: Sam Bowman Living with bipolar disorder can negatively impact many areas of life. It can be especially problematic, however, when you’re trying to hold down a traditional job or expand your professional network. However, as long as you’re willing to put in the...
Why Seeking Help for Bipolar Disorder Can Be a Sign of Strength
This is part 5 of a 5-part series about my service and success, followed by mental health disaster, recovery, and a new life. Personal perspective: It’s OK to admit you’re not OK.
Diving into Bipolar
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...
Lithium and Dialysis, Part VII
By Natalia A. Beiser Please note: These are Natalia’s experiences with Lithium and Dialysis. Not every patient will share the same experiences. I have now been on dialysis for one year and two months. The psychiatrist and I have had the Lithium dosage at a level that...
Why I Choose to Abstain from Alcohol as a Woman with Bipolar Disorder
By: Cassandra Stout As a social lubricant, alcohol takes top billing. But if you have a mental illness like bipolar disorder, alcohol and other substances tend to tank your mental health. I’m not going to lie: alcohol temporarily helps decrease the suffering that...
My Bipolar Life: Recovery
This post is Part 4 of a five-part series that tells of my successful service, mental health crisis, and recovery. The purpose is to raise understanding, build hope, and help abolish the stigma.
You Are Not Bipolar
By: Chris Chambers It can feel like Bipolar Disorder alters who we are. After all, it changes thinking, emotions and behavior. We typically view who a person is based on those qualities. Believe it or not, our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are not who we...
Glow Sticks
She is asking me to wish upon something I cannot see, to believe in there is another side and a way out, but light pollution and pollution of light; yearning for my eyes to ignite with the sheer amount of power from the hands waving the countless neon glow sticks (at...
Beyond The Beyond
By: Sophia Falco He resurfaced as I was drowning at the park, dragging me down further on such a pristine day: children running about, playing hide -and-seek, laughing, groomed dogs barking, chasing muddy tennis balls and some not muddy yet I tried to seek refuge away...
My Bipolar Life: Depression and Psychosis
This 5-part blog series tells my story of service and success, followed by mental health crisis and recovery. The purpose is to raise understanding, build hope, and help abolish the stigma. In Part I, I discussed the onset of my bipolar disorder, surge into full-blown mania, removal from command, three medical misdiagnoses, and crash into depression and psychosis. Part II briefly described what bipolar disorder is, and then discussed my service and success, and how my hyperthymia and bipolar disorder helped me until they didn’t. In Part III, I will delve into how I dealt with depression and psychosis. Part IV will cover recovery and my ongoing journey of living successfully with bipolar disorder.
If My Family had Known, So Much would have Been Different
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...
Combatting Mental Health Issues When Diagnosed with an Aggressive Type of Cancer
By: Stanley Clark Life-threatening conditions like cancer can affect more than just a victim’s physical well-being. For example, a study showed that 32% of cancer patients may experience one or more diagnosed mental health conditions, including anxiety and mood...
Managing the Challenges of Bipolar Parenting
Parenting is one of the most rewarding yet challenging experiences you can go through. When you have bipolar disorder, however, those challenges can sometimes feel overwhelming. From dealing with your emotions and heightened anxiety to striking a balance between caring for your children and yourself, there are a host of obstacles that can get in your way.
While it’s a tough task, it’s important to know that you’re not alone. Let’s cover some of the most common challenges you might face in bipolar parenting and how you can mitigate those struggles to find a better balance, allowing you to be the best parent you can be.
A Father’s Love
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...
It Ain’t Easy – Meds and Bipolar Disorder
By Melinda Goedeke I laugh sarcastically every time I watch a commercial about medication for the treatment of bipolar disorder. Unkempt young men and women are shown in dark, depressing places with vacuous eyes and downtrodden faces until they take the miracle...
How Bipolar Disorder Helped Me (Until It Didn’t)
Part II of IV
This 4-part series of blogs tells the story of a general’s service and success, followed by mental health disaster and recovery, then new life. The purpose is to raise understanding, build hope, and help abolish the stigma.
The Big Reset Button
By: Trevor Simonson If you are anything like me, you struggle for consistency. My life runs in peaks and valleys. So many valleys. A never-ending game flirting with progress, but always feeling like I am back at square one. Square one. It isn’t real. We are always...
My Bipolar Life: service and success, crisis, recovery, and new life
Part I of IV
This 4-part series of blogs tells the story of a general’s service and success, followed by mental health disaster and recovery, then new life. The purpose is to raise understanding, build hope, and help abolish the stigma.
How Co-morbidities Can Build Even More Strength
By: Chris Chambers Lately, I’ve been writing solely about my Bipolar Disorder. In reality, Bipolar is only part of the picture for me. My nervous system is very challenged. In addition to Bipolar Disorder I am living with cPTSD, in recovery from eating disorder, and...
3 Tips for Traveling with a Mental Illness
By: Cassandra Stout It seems everyone and their mother is traveling these days. And that includes those of us with mental illnesses. For those of us living with mental health conditions, especially bipolar disorder, breaking from our usual routine can have disastrous...
Complicated Simplicity
By: Christina Broderick My childhood was what I considered entirely normal. As a kid I had a great family, nice friends, performed well at school and participated in extra-curricular activities, becoming highly involved in sports during my teenage years. College began...
Conditional
By: Neil Mccarthy The brief—but fictional—scenes in this piece show the bias with which people with bipolar (or any mental illness) can be treated. With some luck, maybe we can evolve into a new way of treating people who are already suffering. — The Director of the...
How to Make a Dopamenu to Give Your Brain the Stimulation it Desperately Needs
Have you ever found yourself doom scrolling the internet, desperately seeking stimulation for your depressed brain but being too tired to think of a healthy way to do that?By:Cassandra Stout
Finding the Right Medication
Author: Christina Chambers The nervous system is so incredibly complex. I often think of it as the ocean of the body – we have really only just begun to uncover portions of what exists. The effect of psychiatric medications on the nervous system is no exception. It...
Signs: Everywhere and Nowhere
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 daughter...
How Bipolar Disorder Derailed My Life, and How I Fought Back
Author: Gregg F. Martin, PhD, Major General, US Army (Retired) I am a 65-year-old husband, father, grandfather, combat veteran, and a proud, thankful bipolar survivor, thriver, and warrior. A qualified Airborne-Ranger-Engineer and strategist, I commanded soldiers in...
Haiku Train: Railways
Author: Sophia Falco existentialism may be the way live without street signs spelling out starlit sky does not equate to lit torches fire still seeing darkness energy to moon and back bursting with the blank possibilities verbalize rather not trip up tongue...
Lithium and Dialysis, Part VI
Author: Natalia A. Beiser I have been on dialysis since July 2021 and continue to take Lithium, which in some patients causes decreased kidney function. However, I continue to be prescribed Lithium because it is the only proven medicine to curb my personal experience...
Endurance
Author: Catalina Bellizzi-Itiola Sometimes I look back at the timeline of my life’s volatile mood fluctuations, and it makes me worry about what on earth my future will look like. Will I hold a job? Will I have a child? Will I be able to survive more episodes? Even...
Tips to Help You Never Run out of Meds Again
Author: Cassandra Stout Running out of meds is the worst. If you're regularly taking medication and you run out of pills and stop suddenly, this is terrible for your body and your mind. If you're bipolar, you may end up tripping into a mood episode that can devastate...
Lifestyle Alters Brain Chemistry Too
Author: Christina Chambers I firmly believe lifestyle factors are just as important as medication for living well with Bipolar Disorder. Sunlight, alcohol or drugs, nutrition, social connection, nature, repetitive thoughts, meditation and exercise are just a few of...
Earn This!
Author: Gregg F. Martin, PhD, Major General, US Army (Retired) Written in honor of the service and sacrifice of the US Military for Memorial Day, 2022 In the epic World War Two film “Saving Private Ryan”, Army Captain and Ranger John Miller (Tom Hanks) lies...
I wish that my mother would have had a therapist
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...
I Can Help Myself (You Can Too)
Author: Neil McCarthy Life experiences, including a regular meditation practice, have shown me that all life predicaments and mental states will pass in time. But more than just meditation has seen me through tough times; music has served as a constant,...
What I Wish My Family Knew
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...
Simplifying and Communicating
Author: Sarah Ross I find strength to persevere through challenging times by simplifying tasks as much as possible and through communication. If I keep my thoughts to myself, I will just end up spiraling. Once I reflect my thoughts to someone I trust, I feel a...
The First Time
Author: Sophia Falco the world was fake, merely a blue green marble that started to crack, the lines ran too deep the same day it rolled off the kitchen table after the argument that this marble was more than just a marble also a representation of the ocean and...
The Road to Healing
Author: Ambika Paul The road to healing has been like walking on a tightrope with no flashlight or map; and I don’t know if there's an actual finish point. From my experiences with Bipolar disorder, I’ve learnt to not suffocate myself with expectations of what my...
Racing
Author: Mallory Bockelman When I race, I’m MetaMal. Meta meaning more, above, and beyond The race begins easy. Less sleep, more thoughts and energy. Beginning slowly but always building Becoming a force of ideas never ending This race is not your...
The Three-Headed Monster We Must Now Defeat: Mental Illness, Stigma, and Suicide
Authors: Major General Gregg Martin, PhD, US Army Retired, and David Bartley May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a month in which we shine a light on mental health. I have chosen to focus on one of the most misunderstood and stigmatized of human experiences -...
How I (Mis)managed my Bipolar Disorder During my Pregnancies
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...
Therapizing
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...
20 Things Only Someone with Bipolar Would Really Understand
Author: Phil Cibicki Dedicated to Ian & Annie, who would most understand what I’m talking about here. Thanks for the time I had with both of you and for showing me how to listen, to be kind, and to have an open mind. I can’t tell which drops come from my tears...
Finding Therapy That Fits Me
Author: Natalia A. Besier Therapy has benefitted my mental wellness journey by teaching me to reclaim my mental health “toolbox” by rethinking and restructuring my negative thoughts. I find that I benefit most from cognitive behavioral therapy and this focus causes...
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Check Out Pilar’s Corner!
Sharing lessons from personal experiences, time-saving tips, and helpful strategies to support you or your caregiver and navigate a bipolar diagnosis.
Check Out General Gregg’s Corner!
Hear from Major General Gregg Martin about his battle with bipolar disorder, and learn more about how you can support service members & veterans mental health.