Thursday, 18 February 2010
Being Bipolar Part One
I'm sorry I haven't blogged much lately. I started blogging just over a year ago. I had the possible advantage of being slightly hypomanic at the time. In my book, I chronicled my life as affected by being Bipolar. I talked more about the extreme behaviour. Whenever I hear a sufferer talking about bipolar, they are always encouraged to describe the more extreme behaviours because it sexier somehow. Maybe it might sell more newspapers or magazines, or maybe get more listeners and viewers. I think it is more important to talk about the day to day struggle of sufferers, the search for hope, the search for wellness, stability and recovery. Recovery is the Holy Grail of the Mental Health system. Why does no one talk about it? Recovery is good for sufferers and reduces the burden on Health Services. Doctors seem to focus on stability but it is rare for anyone to monitor the road to recovery. You can't just stamp someone as "stable" and let them wander off into society. They will have issues such as getting back to work (if they are very lucky), combatting social isolation and living with the stigma of being mentally ill. Services such as resource cafes or drop-in centres are encouraged to offer a temporary place to go. There are few, if any, places to go once they are more "stable". I hope to talk more about the struggles of "stable" sufferers and my personal struggle to recovery.
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I am so tired of having to settle for stable, which in itself is elusive to me. The issues that you bring up concerning recovery are so important to keep in mind.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sheri... Watch out for parts Two to Eight... I finally found my focus.
ReplyDeletecoming to terms with that one myself, nobody seems to be able to define 'hypomanic' or 'normal', the problem is that the judgement is often made by people who have sought sanctuary in the mental health business and, similar to those in education are deeply threatened by anyone or thing that challenges their own narrow mindset: Recent personal example, my care-coordinator was here a couple of weeks ago and I saw him register with a little astonishment when I told him that I'd been awake half the night installing operating systems, radically reformatting the disk until everything. For goodness sake that's not a bp symptom - it's perfectly normal in the big bad world where people get paid large amounts of money for doing just that (I used to one of them). He's one of the good guys so he probably did not make a note on my case file. The system is predicated on stability in part at least because that's what its practioners crave so much for themselves?
ReplyDeletep.s. recovery is something of a misnomer as it implies 'cure' whereas the reality is all about learning to manage the condition, but hey, what do I know, I am officially mad anyway, see http://warriet.wordpress.com/
ReplyDeleteVery nicely written. My friend was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and it has not been easy for her. I've been trying to understand what this disorder is all about so I picked up a book called "bipolar bare". It's a memoir about a man who has lived with this his entire life. He writes about his struggle with extreme highs and lows but in the end he concludes that it is a blessing from God. I really had my eyes opened!
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