By: Shruti Jha
The misconstrued image of mental health social media has created have drastically impacted the meaning of bringing awareness to these issues. What’s the first thing that people think of when they hear the phrase “mental health”? Depression, anxiety, self-care, and while these things are important when talking about mental health, there is a wide range of disorders and illnesses that deserve to be talked about as well. One of the most commonly misunderstood disorders is bipolar disorder.
What is Bipolar Disorder?
Bipolar disorder as defined by the National Institute of Mental Health is “a mental disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, concentration, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.
Symptoms
This disorder causes extreme mood swings such as emotional highs, mania and hypomania, or extreme lows, depression. When you’re depressed it may feel like everything is hopeless, you feel sad all the time, and you lose interest in most activities. Mania is the opposite where you feel euphoric, full of energy or irritable for no reason. More information for specific symptoms with different episodes can be found on the picture on the right.
Living with a Bipolar Disorder
Living with bipolar disorder means hating yourself for things you can’t control, hiding your disorder from loved ones and strangers to make yourself “normal”. It means having family members with anxiety and depression that can’t empathize with you and may not always be understanding. It means seeing people post cutesy infographics and self-posts that only cater to specific mental illnesses, and some of the tips listed can actually be unhelpful with those that have bipolar disorders. It means listening to people say that they’re there for you and understand what you’re going through but not following through when the “ugly” symptoms come out. Its having your complex symptoms labelled as toxic, attention-seeking, manipulative, abusive and scary. Its going through manic and depression episodes and feeling horrible afterwards for how you treated your loved ones. It feels isolating and suffocating and with the lack of support system can only further exacerbates the problem.
Misconceptions About Bipolar Disorders
An infographic created by the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance debunk the commonly placed myths surrounding bipolar disorders:
What to Do if You or a Loved One Has a Bipolar Disorder
If you relate to several of the symptoms please go see a doctor to gain more information on whether or not you may have this disorder. A doctor will be able to set up a plan to help you understand your symptoms better and give you medication that can make the episodes more manageable. If you are a loved one of someone who has a bipolar disorder the best course of action you can take is to make sure they know they can count on you. Having a strong support system is one hardest things to manage, but being there and not making them feel inferior or bad for having this disorder is the best thing you can do. They are still a loved one no matter what their diagnosis is.