Bipolar Disorder--Healing doesn't always mean a cure but it can prevent death

The number one cause of premature death in people with bipolar disorder is suicide. http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/resources/briefing-papers-and-fact-sheets/159/46

Robin Williams had bipolar disorder. Lots of well-known people have bipolar disorder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_bipolar_disorder

 

 

·         I have been in treatment for bipolar disorder since 1996.

·         I see a counselor and a psychiatrist every month or more frequently if needed.

·         I call myself the poster child for the “take your mental illness medication club”

·         I’ve shared my bipolar adventures with limited audiences at various intervals of my life.

·         I struggle with the stigma and shame of mental illness.

·         I get angry with misconceptions and jokes about bipolar disorder.

·         I love being who I am and where I am.

 
 In the words of Katherine Brooks, “I actually believe it makes everything I do have more meaning, passion, and purpose. I’m thankful to be this way … thankful to be born Bipolar.”

Bring Change to Mind and the the National Association of Mental Health offer fabulous resources for understanding mental illness including bipolar disorder. Take a minute to bring change to mind:

http://www.bringchange2mind.org/

 

This is my senior portrait from college. At the time, I felt like there were two sides of myself--the calm and the crazy. Foreshadowing at my best...