Maintaining relationships while managing bipolar disorder is tough. Here are personal stories, practical advice and tips to make relationships a bit easier.
Assembling a care team comprised of trained professionals, family, and friends is crucial to building the support system you’ll need while navigating bipolar The first reactions of someone just recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder often include denial, horror, shame, fear, anger and a host of other negative feelings. Shame and denial have been the strongest...
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Stigma stings, but when it happens in your own backyard—our own families and friends not accepting us—it is especially hard to take. Stigma, no matter where it comes from, is insensitive and dehumanizing. But when discrimination comes from those we consider to be part of our inner circle—friends, family, co-workers, fellow worshipers, others we’d hope...
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The personality traits of entrepreneurs and those with bipolar frequently overlap; experts say embracing both strengths and vulnerabilies is key to success. Entrepreneurs are always on, which is why they need to have lots of energy, an inventive streak, and a sizeable appetite for risk—but they’re often stressed out, sleep-deprived, responding to high levels of...
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If you’ve been unemployed because of your bipolar, you might be hesitant to try returning to work. Here are some things to keep in mind: Returning to work after an absence due to mental illness requires a great deal of courage and strength. It may be the most difficult thing you do in your recovery...
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Sometimes people are unaware that using mental health terms to describe everyday situations can cause harm to people by trivializing those mental health issues. Back in my days of mental health ignorance, when I didn’t know the difference between different disorders and thought everyone with a mental health issue was just “crazy,” certain things didn’t...
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Feeling inferior can contribute to negative self-image and distorted thinking. It’s time to tackle your inferiority complex and see yourself for who you truly are. You will never know the powerful person you were meant to be if you keep perpetuating your inferiority complex. An inferiority complex is a cultivated behavior that develops out of...
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An adult child’s behavior may become more than you can handle. If so, you might want to consider a professional intervention. My son will be turning 26 this month. When he was younger, I honestly thought things would get easier as he got older. I thought things would be easier now. However, I know bipolar...
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I am so much more than my diagnosis. Yet as soon as people find out I have bipolar, their perception—and their behavior toward me—change. According to Forbes magazine, we have 7 seconds to make a first impression, good or bad. Imagine that—being judged based on so little time. When I tell someone who doesn’t know...
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Heading off to college is a daunting time, made even more uncertain when you have bipolar. Keep these tips in mind to smooth your path to graduation. As a first-year student preparing for my transition to a new college, living situation, and city, mental illness was not even something on my radar. As someone who...
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There are times in life when we must be our own best advocate. This can be difficult when depressed or manic; however, it is doable. Countless times, I have thought to myself, “All persons with bipolar disorder should have some type of advocate.” Not only the sort of advocate you’d find in a lobbyist group...
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