Monthly Archives: September 2010

What You Can Do For Mental Illness Awareness Week

September 30, 2010 / by / Breaking Bipolar

Next week is Mental Illness Awareness Week in Canada and the US. It’s our week to get out, speak up and be heard. It’s our week not to be ashamed of our illness or the illness of our loved ones. … Continue reading →

How am I? I’m crazy; how are you?

September 27, 2010 / by / Breaking Bipolar

How are you? This is one of the most disingenuous, lie-provoking, overused sentences in the English language. How are you? We say it to fill time and pretend that we care about people whom we obviously don’t. As no one … Continue reading →

How Do I Convince My Friend To Get Help For Bipolar Disorder?

September 23, 2010 / by / Breaking Bipolar

It is often the case that those around a person with bipolar disorder spot the disorder before the person themselves does. That’s pretty understandable as our actions are always louder from the outside. Not to mention our brain, which is … Continue reading →

My Irrational Bipolar Brain Makes Me Hate Myself

September 21, 2010 / by / Breaking Bipolar

Kate White, our anxiety blogger here at HealthyPlace asked the question: what does a mental illness feel like? Well, that’s a big question. I’ve been writing for years to answer it. In today’s bipolar video though, I expose one facet … Continue reading →

Medication Non-Compliance

September 20, 2010 / by / Breaking Bipolar

One night in 2007, I started a new antipsychotic. It was to be taken at dinner time. I did as told and took it at the universal dinnertime of 6 pm. By 7 pm, I had mostly lost touch with … Continue reading →

Your Bipolar is Not My Bipolar and That’s OK

September 16, 2010 / by / Breaking Bipolar

We’re all different. There is something fundamentally true about this statement. Red hair, black hair, blue eyes, brown eyes, cat lover, dog lover – see, all different and most of us are mature enough to think that’s OK. But with … Continue reading →

Stability in Bipolar Disorder Requires Routine

September 13, 2010 / by / Breaking Bipolar

Bipolar disorder, by its very nature, is not routine. People become manic unexpectedly and people get depressed unexpectedly. And during depression or mania, people become even more erratic in all areas of their lives. So if bipolar disorder exists outside … Continue reading →

Seven Biggest Myths About Bipolar Disorder

September 10, 2010 / by / Breaking Bipolar

Ah myths, we love them, don’t we? Friday the 13th is unlucky, Canadians live in igloos and drinking Coke and eating Pop Rocks will make your stomach explode. (Your stomach might not, but your pancreas is another matter.) People buy … Continue reading →

Stop Minimizing Mental Illness: Worst Things to Say

September 7, 2010 / by / Breaking Bipolar

I feel, sometimes, that I am at war with the mentally-well world. This isn’t to say that many of them aren’t lovely or that I have a desire to harm anyone, but I do feel embroiled. And it’s mostly because … Continue reading →

Walking on Eggshells Around A Person With Bipolar Disorder

September 2, 2010 / by / Breaking Bipolar

Recently I was contacted by someone (let’s call her Ms. X) who wanted to end a friendship with a bipolar person and asked me how to do it with the least harm possible. I talked with Ms. X and it … Continue reading →