Jay Griffiths asks if bipolar is really an illness (as does anyone who's got it). Illness is a condition that impairs normal functioning. "But in the foothills of mania, normal functioning is enhanced," she writes. -Sarah Wilson, First, We Make the Beast Beautiful Recently, I met an older woman who is in the depths [...]
From my experience and what I've heard, providers make assumptions too frequently which end up being false and getting in the way of proper treatment. What are some of these assumptions? I've listed 3, but there are certainly many more! One: All patients with a condition LOOK a certain way. Last summer, [...]
Below are some manic notes I made. Btw, purple scrubs are what the inpatient psych patients were told to change into upon admittance into the hospital/psych ER. Color: PURPLE Patient: I was wondering what purple stood for... I think it means we are "crazy." What does it mean to be the [...]
![[Guest Blog] Life After My First Bipolar Episode](https://calculatingmind.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/pexels-photo-1262972.jpeg?w=720)
Today, I feel normal… so normal that I might just cry. To someone who has no personal ties to a mood disorder, this statement may seem odd, even bizarre. Why would someone be so emotional about feeling just “okay”? Thank you Charlotte Underwood so much for letting me write a guest blog post for [...]
![You are my SUNSHINE [Blogger Award]!](https://calculatingmind.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/sunshine.jpg?w=705)
I got nominated by mental health blogger Fiona (@likeas_thewaves) for my first ever blog award! Woo-hoo! Thank you so much for this award! It is an honor! So, if you are a member of the blogging community, you may have heard of the Sunshine Blogger Award. If not, basically it is: The [...]
A few weeks ago, M3 TentTalk contacted me regarding a guest post opportunity for their new Starfish Stories series. The theme of the "Starfish Stories" posts is "we can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone"... so illustrate either how I have helped someone or how someone has helped me. Using that theme as my [...]
During college, at an organization's meeting during which I was doing a presentation on "bipolar disorder," I asked the listeners a series of questions at the end. Some of the students in the room were already aware that I had a bipolar diagnosis myself, but others were not. I knew that if I disclosed my [...]
Dear past in-patient psychiatrists, Imagine having your freedom stripped from you "for your own good." Imagine that consisting of: being handcuffed, placed in the back of a police car, locked in a psychiatric ward for a unspecified amount of time. Being in a psychiatric unit can feel so dehumanizing... In the psychiatric [...]
. Today, I feel normal… . Last night, I did not sleep too much or too little. My thoughts are not excruciatingly slow or shockingly fast. I feel motivated, but not in a grandiose “I am going to save the world” manner. I’m not socially isolated nor am I obnoxiously bombarding friends and family [...]
So many people have an oversimplified idea of what it is like to seek help for mental illness.
The Calculating Mind 