How do you tell someone new to your life that you have bipolar disorder?
When is the appropriate time?
How can you anticipate their reaction?
Let’s test out some ways:
1. I’m mentally ill.
2. It’s no big deal, but I’m currently on anti-psychotics. It doesn’t mean that I AM psychotic.
3. I am kinda bipolar… and when I say kinda I actually mean quite bipolar.
Like with a history of mania and depression.
It’s fun. But, not really fun. At all.
4. Let me disclose my medical history to you so that it’s all out in the open. Hospitalization #1…
5. I’ve spent 2 weeks in a psych ward. Anyway… So, how was your day?
6. Ever been manic? Yeah? Good times. Goooooooood times.
7. Have you ever been misdiagnosed with depression? No? Me neither… kind of.
8. I hate psychiatrists, don’t you?
9. Ever read the DSM and think… wait… this is TOTALLY ME?!
10. Let’s act out “Silver Linings Playbook”. I’ll be bipolar and you be yourself.
11. Have I told you about that time that I drove to the White House in a grandiose manic fashion and demanded to talk to the POTUS? No?
12. You think I’m fun now? Just wait until I’m manic!
13. I don’t drink alcohol. Not trying to mix up psychiatric meds and alcohol…
14. I’m not CRAZY or anything. I just have a history of exhibiting psychotic symptoms.
15. That awkward moment when a group of psychiatrists don’t know how to handle you. *Sigh*
16. Psychiatric unit nurses can be CRANKY.
17. Sometimes I feel like I am the personification of the entire DSM. It’s swell.
18. This one time I told my professor that I was pretty sure that I was a undiagnosed bipolar person.
They kind of freaked out.
19. I’ve been handcuffed before… multiple times, actually. As a patient. Not as a criminal.
20. Ever wake up to a roomful of doctors and med school students surrounding your bed? Isn’t it the worst?!
Wait for it…
The Calculating Mind 