Category: mental illness issues

Trying to Control You By Not Listening to ‘No’ — ‘No’ and Boundaries

Some people try to control us. Some people try to control us for altruistic reasons, and others for darker reasons. Either way, though, I think most of us would prefer not to be controlled by another person. But it can be hard to tell when someone subtly tries to control you. One thing I learned many years ago, though, is that if someone doesn’t listen to you when you say, “no,” they are trying to control you — whether they realize it or not.

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Bipolar Depression — Stop Telling Me to ‘Cry It Out’

I have a lot of experience with bipolar depression, and I hate it when people tell me to “cry it out.” I find this one of the most useless pieces of advice you can give a person who’s upset, particularly one that’s already crying. It’s built on the idea that you can cry out a sorrow of some sort as if there’s a beginning, middle and end. Well, I can’t comment for people without bipolar disorder, but for people with bipolar depression, “crying it out” isn’t an option.

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Treatment Without Consent and AOT Needed for Those with Lack of Mental Illness Awareness – A True Story

Bipolar Burble blog welcomes Lynn Nanos, a mobile emergency psychiatric social worker from Massachusetts. She writes about one patient’s experience with psychosis and the need for treatment without consent and assisted outpatient treatment (AOT).

I evaluate many patients with serious mental illness who lack awareness of being ill. Those who don’t understand they are ill, those who don’t have insight, are unlikely to initiate outpatient treatment. Here’s a story of one man who needed treatment without consent for his own safety.

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Why Don’t Doctors Listen to People with Bipolar Disorder?

Doctors often don’t listen to people with bipolar disorder or other mental illnesses. In fact, most people with bipolar disorder know, the instant a doctor sees “bipolar disorder” on your chart, you’re screwed. Now, don’t get me wrong, not every doctor is the same, and I have had some doctors treat me with the same care I suspect they would offer anyone else. That said, on the whole, doctors don’t listen to people with bipolar disorder. Here’s why, and here’s how to fight it.

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Let’s Build Bipolar Pride Instead of Ending Bipolar Stigma

Today’s guest post is by Curtis Hier. He is a 34-year public school teacher with bipolar I disorder. Today, Curtis discusses how we should strive for bipolar pride over just ending bipolar stigma.

Literature calling for an end to mental illness stigma has been abundant for the past 20 years, to little effect. It has been abundant online, too. End the Stigma was a popular blog with 36.4 K Twitter followers and 42,609 Facebook likes. The blog apparently had more than 17,000 hits. As a new bipolar blogger, I can only hope to reach stats like that.

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Mental Health Privilege — What Is It? Do You Have It?

There is such a thing as mental health privilege. Most people, by now, know what racial privilege is — it’s the idea that some races (namely, caucasian, in North America) enjoy certain privileges that other races do not. Racial privilege is due to prejudice and discrimination against those of a different race. Simply put, with my white skin, my life does not experience the same barriers as someone with dark skin might. Well, health privilege and mental health privilege exist too. These privileges are enjoyed by those with good health.

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Myths About Bipolar and Brilliance, Genius — We’re Just People and That’s Okay

There’s a myth that people with bipolar disorder are brilliant. There’s a myth that people with bipolar disorder are geniuses. There’s a myth that bipolar disorder has made us “special.” None of this is true. People with bipolar disorder are just people with an illness. And like any other person battling any other illness, the illness may affect us, even greatly, but it does not define us entirely. People with bipolar disorder are just regular people and that’s okay.

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When Suicide Is Welcomed By a Website — Pro-Suicide Sites

There are websites that welcome suicide. Sure, they say they’re “pro-choice” when it comes to suicide, but, really, they’re welcoming the choice of suicide. And I think that when a site is welcoming of suicide, it is encouraging of suicide as well. When everyone on a site is suicidal and pressing forward towards suicide, it’s hard not to see it as a viable option, especially if you’re depressed or in distress already. I’m not sure I have an answer to the existence of pro-suicide sites, but I do have some information for their visitors.

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What Is a Serious Mental Illness? Why Does It Matter?

I talk about serious mental illness a lot, but I have failed to answer the specific question, what is a serious mental illness. Today I’m going to do that. I’m also going to talk about why it’s important to separate those with a serious mental illness and not just lump everyone with a mental illness together. As a person with bipolar disorder, a serious mental illness, I do feel strongly about this.

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I write a three-time Web Health Award winning column for HealthyPlace called Breaking Bipolar.

Also, find my writings on The Huffington Post and my work for BPHope (BP Magazine).

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