Showing Love and Support for People with Bipolar Disorder
A major reason mental illness is so difficult for society to tackle is because of the enormous stigma that’s out there. Society places a stigma on people with mental health problems, making them feel ashamed and embarrassed. This is especially true for sufferers of bipolar disorder.
World Bipolar Day is recognized every year on March 30th, and the date isn’t random. It’s the birthday of Vincent Van Gogh, who apparently suffered from a bipolar condition, though he didn’t know it. Fortunately, there’s much more information about the disorder today. If we all learn more about it, we can start to break the stigma.
What is bipolar disorder?
Bipolar disorder is mysterious to a lot of people, but a clue is in the name. Bipolar sufferers often have moods that fall into one of two polar opposites: mania and depression. (There’s also something called hypomania which is similar to mania but more mild)
Mania is a state of mind that causes a person to be extremely energetic and reckless. A manic person takes risks (like gambling and unprotected sex) without thinking of the consequences. They have trouble staying calm and focused, constantly jumping from one thing to the next. They may feel so happy they’re on top of the world, but they have wildly unrealistic expectations that impair their judgment.
Depression is a disorder in and of itself, but it’s also a part of bipolar disorder. It’s a persistent feeling of deep sadness, fatigue, and apathy. A person with depression loses interest in all their favorite activities, and their sleeping and eating habits dramatically change – they may sleep and eat much more or less. Depression causes a person to feel hopeless, and in some cases, suicidal.
Psychosis is another part of bipolar disorder, and it involves delusional thinking that detaches the sufferer from reality. Whether in a manic or depressive state, the person can experience nonsensical thoughts and even hallucinations. In a manic state, this may look like delusions of wealth, power, or invincibility. In a depressive state, this may look like extreme self-loathing about things that don’t make sense realistically.
Recognizing and diagnosing bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder usually appears in a person’s life before they’re 20, though in rare cases, it occurs later. Sometimes the disorder can be caused by traumatic life events such as being abused, losing a job, or experiencing the loss of a loved one. If someone else in your family has the disorder, there is a higher chance that you will develop it.
The only way to know for sure that you or a loved one has bipolar disorder is by getting a doctor’s diagnosis, but that can be tricky. There are other mental illnesses like schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder that have symptoms that overlap with bipolar, so bipolar sufferers are often misdiagnosed. And since bipolar sufferers are more likely to seek help when they are depressed instead of manic, doctors sometimes misdiagnose them with depression, not realizing that they also have manic episodes.
Help and hope for bipolar sufferers
People with bipolar disorder can manage symptoms with medication, therapy, and healthy lifestyle choices (like healthy food, sleep, exercise, and stress management). There’s no one-size-fits-all treatment for the disorder because it shows up differently in different people. A good place to start is the International Bipolar Foundation’s resources page, which has information about managing different aspects of life with the disorder.
One of the best ways to help people with bipolar disorder is to spread the word so that more people know the facts about it. People with bipolar disorder often feel alone and misunderstood. They’re weighed down by stigmas, and people often want to judge those with bipolar instead of trying to help. We can celebrate World Bipolar Day by helping to create a world where bipolar sufferers are met not with shame and stigma, but love and care.
