Managing and Coping Takes a Lot of Energy

Whatever we decide to call it, those of us who suffer from depression or bipolar disorder can spend a lot of our energy managing and coping with our symptoms. At “Diary of a Bipolar”, Philly Girl in Missouri gave some examples of how she had learned to cope and manage. She would send herself [...]

Hiding from Other People

The other day I was talking with an acquaintance who suffers from Bipolar Disorder type II, among other illnesses. When she told me she had bipolar disorder she lowered her voice because it was like sharing a dark secret.

So I told her that I have suffered from chronic and severe depression and had been misdiagnosed [...]

Mental Health System Needs A Lot of Help

Over at NakedMedicine.com, Dr. Rob posted about how the mental health system - especially the State mental health system - is a scary place to be.
Dr. Rob’s article touched upon several salient points that affect patients who suffer from mental illness:

Many primary care doctors and family doctors have to become “amateur psychiatrists” now
People may still [...]

Depression Story and Hope from Ireland

Ann* from Ireland fell into a deep depression after losing her husband of almost 40 years. In describing her experience to reporter Cróna Esler of Western People, Ann said that “every single day was a struggle.”
Unlike many of us who have suffered from depression most of our lives, Ann’s depression was triggered by a profound [...]

Abbreviations: BP or BPD

Thanks to Mom Interrupted over at Mercurialmindbipolarblog for commenting on my last post and for pointing out that BPD also stands for “Borderline Personality Disorder”!
I’ve used the BP abbreviation to mean “bipolar disorder” in the past, and BPD to mean “borderline personality disorder.”
But I used BPD when reading Courtney’s blog post (see my previous entry) [...]

Bipolar Disorder Blogs?

I was so surprised to read that Courtney over at Progressive U didn’t find many blogs by those with bipolar disorder!
I don’t know if this website qualifies as a “Bipolar Disorder Blog” since I now cover a range of mental health issues that I really care about, for example:

Bipolar disorder (because I was originally misdiagnosed [...]

Personal Stories About Bipolar Disorder Calls Attention to Illness

Mary and Doug belong to New York City’s Bipolar Disorder Support Group. Both suffered from bipolar disorder and described early onset of their illnesses. For Doug, the highs were followed by crashing lows in his severe form of bipolar disorder that ultimately landed him in a hospital. Mary credited her religion with her not following [...]

Insurance Policies Often Set Up Patients to Fail

Dennis Romboy and Lucinda Dillon Kinkead’s article, “Struggle for control: Mental-health care coverage is lacking” gives us a glimpse of how our view of mental illness as “something different from physical illness” spills over to our healthcare system.
For insurance companies, coverage policies give mixed signals to patients. Often, that signal is, “You’d get coverage if [...]