The inspiration behind this blog is that it seems that bipolar disorder is the “in” diagnosis. Everyone and their dog appears to have bipolar according to current media hype. The disorder is becoming trivialised in the same way that depression and OCD have been previously. Hearing “I’m so depressed this revision is hell”, “Oh my God you’re organised, that’s a bit OCD “, “I’m so stressed I think I’ll take a toaster in the bath” and “He’s so moody he must be bipolar” in everyday conversation annoys me a lot. However, I have been known to play down my problems and have a very dark sense of humour – sometimes I have to laugh or else I would just cry all the time.
A diagnosis of bipolar disorder is nothing to aspire to, it is a “severe and enduring” mental illness which has a great influence on an individuals life. For me, getting a diagnosis of bipolar disorder was a blessing as it put a name to my problems. There seems to be a lot of comments flying about the internet that individuals claim to have bipolar as an excuse for bad behaviour. I would say that generally people with bipolar disorder do not go around blaming every experience they have on their disorder and that most people tend to keep their diagnosis secret due to the real stigma that being bipolar causes.
Having a bipolar disorder is anything but cool. I am open about having this diagnosis not because I want to show off or get sympathy from people but because I try to find opportunities to educate people as to what having a bipolar diagnosis actually means and how it affects my life. Being open about my diagnosis opens up channels for support but at the same time opens myself up to stigma (yes it does exist and causes great problems) and to negative comments due to people’s inaccurate perceptions of what bipolar means.
Bipolar disorder seems to be associated with great creativity and sometimes genius. I have my moments of creativity but I would say I am less creative and certainly not any more exceptional than the next person on the street. If you stood me in a line-up 99% of the time you would not be able to tell I have a bipolar disorder. I wish that I had been blessed with the creativity that some people with bipolar have been but in reality it is just another medical condition that really doesn’t add anything positive to my life.
The aim of this blog is to give an insight into my day to day life in order to show that bipolar disorder is not a good diagnosis to have and is certainly not a fashion statement. It is about me and my experiences and all views held are mine and not of any other organisation etc and cannot be generalised to everyone with a bipolar disorder. Some content may be graphic, upsetting, badly worded but it will always be honest.
I agree about the trivializing of MH disorders.
It’s the brushing off of suicide that really gets to me personally.
“Sasha should go kill herself for wearing those shoes.”