BP Blog: Coming Out As Bipolar
In today's post for BP Magazine's Bipolar Blog I talk about how after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I started to recognized disordered behavior in others as well, realizing that due to the mental health stigma, most would rather be labeled as unpredictable flakes, jerks or "different" rather than have people know they were afflicted with a mental disorder, then face ridicule and discrimination. I wrote: "I imagine it must be hard to live that lie, but as long as there's a stigma, celebrities will claim "exhaustion" or even drug addiction before they'll admit to the mental illness behind it all. Yet being sick should discount anyone's work, anyone's personality, anyone's career. You aren't less for simply having to overcome something more."
Danielle Belton | 1 Comment | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article | tagged BP Magazine, bipolar disorder, mental illness, the snob 
Reader Comments (1)
Strangely I wrote a post on my blog on the subject of bipolar stigma today. My view is somewhat different to the one expressed in the above post.
I quote the first paragraph of my post on the subject. "Manic depressive episodes and mental health stigma are still alive many people would say. Personally, I do not think the situation is anywhere near as bad as it used to be. I do accept that mental health stigma does exist. However, my belief is that it is nowhere near as strong as it was when I was diagnosed with bipolar type 1 way back in 1982. Today I see friends experiencing manic episodes and major depressive episodes without being stigmatized".
You might like to read the full post.