I’m having a happy holiday with bipolar — at least, so far. There was a time when I didn’t think that was possible, but I’ve learned differently since then. This post isn’t about how great my life is or how you should feel bad about not having a happy bipolar holiday, this is about discussing how to have a happy bipolar holiday and how, if you can’t, that’s okay too.
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It’s important that people recognize that a person is never too young to be suicidal. Children can be suicidal at four years old. Really. I know how scary that is to me and I assume it’s even scarier to the parents out there, but it’s still true: you’re never too young to be suicidal and attempt or even die by suicide. Let’s take a look at what that means for parents, families and the rest of us.
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People don’t argue when you say paraplegia is a disability, but when you say your bipolar disorder is, people often do argue. This is in spite of the fact that, legally, bipolar disorder is a real disability in Canada, the United States and elsewhere. So what is a “real” disability and why don’t people think bipolar is a real disability?
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I experience massive fatigue with bipolar disorder. True, there are likely other components to my fatigue, but I know bipolar disorder is a driving factor. The fatigue is so bad that I think it’s one of the worst parts of bipolar disorder or any chronic illness. Fatigue affects my life on a daily basis like no other symptom of bipolar disorder and worse yet, there are pretty much no cognitive tools I can use to cope with it. Read on to learn about bipolar disorder and fatigue, why it’s so hard to best and the treatments for fatigue in bipolar.
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I firmly believe that suicide prevention starts with a conversation. A conversation that can stop suicide can be initiated by the person feeling suicidal or someone around them; regardless, a conversation is the starting point. But it can be very intimidating to talk about suicide. There are all kinds of “rules” when you talk about suicide and political correctness affects the language you are “allowed” to use. I say forget all that. Suicide prevention starts with a conversation that makes sense to you, not the PC police.
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Recently a commenter called me out for saying, “It will get better.” The commenter’s point is that pain doesn’t get better for everyone and saying “It gets better,” is a lie; and, I can see how it could be somewhat dismissive of an individual’s experience. I understand this commenter’s complaint. I understand that just saying, “It gets better,” can sound just as trite as, “Turn that frown upside down.” So let’s talk about when things don’t get better. Let’s talk about the nuance of what to say when pain is not getting better.
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Do you think “real” men cry? What do you think “real” men are like? I’m a man and I say tough guys are sensitive and real guys cry too.
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I work very hard to be productive every day in spite of depression. My depression would like me to stay in bed — forever — but I fight back. I get out of bed, I have coffee, I write and so on. And at the end of the day, I look back and see how productive I was. I find this metric very important. It turns out it’s the depression that makes me judge my productivity very harshly.
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Can people with serious mental illnesses recover? That’s the question. It depends on your definition of “recovery” of course, but we’ll get to that in a minute. “Recovery” is now the goal when it comes to mental illnesses and, if your doctor is anything like the one I had when I was diagnosed, he will have told you that you will recover. But I’m not sure that recovery isn’t a myth for those with serious mental illness. Read one for more about not recovering from serious mental illness.
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