It's All in Your Head ... And Other Thoughtless Things Said!
This person took it upon himself to diagnose me based on his faulty interpretation of one article I had written. Worse, he appears to dismiss the suffering of anyone who is not made homeless by manic depression. Yet we all know there are many people who have bipolar disorder who [i]are[/i] able to hold jobs, have families, live outwardly "normal" lives. They may have Bipolar I, Bipolar II, cyclothymia or another variant. And there are many who may seem "normal" most of the time who still suffer within themselves, whose lives are periodically interrupted by episodes, who perhaps don't speak to anyone else of their difficulties. They may be "high functioning" - but they are still saddled with bipolar disorder. The narrow-minded attitude of the man who sent me this email displays the unfortunate tendency of the public to believe that there is only one kind of bipolar disorder - the most severe kind. In fact, the bipolar spectrum extends a long way from that particular pole.
Comments
I have been coming to this site a long time because it has a lot of great information. One thing I could do without, however, are the annoying/whiny journal posts that often appear. I just wonder whether the author knows what bipolar disorder really is, because the description of her symptoms that she writes/whines about sounds absolutely nothing like it.
I don’t want to sound really rude, but I agree with what that person said in the email.
I don’t agree with Jennifer, the first to comment on this article.
Everyone at this site has the right to write out what they are feeling. If you don’t like to read the journal type posts then don’t read them. You have a choice in the matter.
When someone writes out their feelings and what is going on in their life, in their head, etc., it’s very real for them and they are reaching out for support. They are NOT “whining.”
This article was VERY good. I’ve been through so many of the senerios that are listed. It *does* hurt when someone is rude enough to say such tactless things.
I say learn more about the disorder and then put your brain in gear before you start your mouth.