I’m tired of the media only showing bipolar people as psychopathic killers.

I’m tired of people who don’t even know me that well saying, “you need to fix yourself before you start life coaching.” Uh, bipolar isn’t just some easy fix. It’s something that I will continue to work on for the rest of my life. And I will be a damn good life coach even though I have the new age plague that is bipolar that no one wants to talk about.

I’m tired of seeing, when I google bipolar, one of the first results that come up is: are bipolar people capable of love? Are bipolar people dangerous? Or that 90 percent of people that are in relationships with someone diagnosed with bipolar end in divorce. Or when you tell someone you have bipolar and they seem to be cool with it, till you start showing symptoms and they are out of there.

I’m tired of neurotypical people telling me, “just think positively and all your problems will be fixed,” or, “you are what you attract.” So in this scenario, I attracted bipolar? Yeah, you need a different line and some knowledge about how bipolar works for someone like me.

Other examples:

“Everyone gets sad.”
“Everyone has bad days, you just gotta push through.”
“Stop putting your art to this page. It’s too dark.” (Translation: you talk too much about bipolar and it makes me uncomfortable.) 
“Some days are rough as f*ck, other days are easier.”
“Did you take your meds?”

Or people getting bipolar mixed up with schizophrenia or DID (formally know as multiple personality disorder). Or “we should’ve ended the relationship when you were diagnosed.” Yea, ummm you don’t get it. My brain is actually different than your brain. You have no clue what I have been through, or how many times I’ve been to hell and back, and what I’ve learned in the process.

And let’s talk about psych wards and suicide attempts that happen, but no one will talk about it—even when you’re stuck in the suicide ward, they don’t talk about it. We color instead. Let’s talk about the difference between bipolar 1 and bipolar 2.

Let’s talk about mania. There’s euphoric mania and dysphoric mania (or some call it a mixed state when you show signs of depression even in a manic state). Yeah, there are different kinds of mania. It’s not all euphoria and feeling like superman. For me, mania is worse than depression.

How about we do some research? How about you ask me about these things instead of sweeping them under the rug? I want some realness when it comes to bipolar. I want someone who cares enough to ask about my symptoms. I deserve someone who is willing to do some research and ask me the hard questions about my illness.

I want bipolar to stop being stigmatized. I want all mental illnesses to stop being stigmatized. Let’s actually talk about this stuff.

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