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What It’s Really Like Living with Bipolar Disorder
As of 2019, 0.53% of people in the world are bipolar, according to a study from the World Health Organization. I am one of them. Living with bipolar disorder isn’t easy. Scholarly journals document the symptoms and struggles that come with this disorder, but they’re far from accurate. Common...
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Bipolar Disorder in Older Adults: Symptoms, Cognitive Impact, and Supportive Activities
Bipolar disorder in older adults is often underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed as dementia, early Alzheimer’s disease, or even normal age-related cognitive decline (Brown et al., 2011). It is important to distinguish older age bipolar disorder from these diagnoses because treatments and medications are...
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No One Forgotten: Sharing Love with Hospitalized Mental Health Patients
The psych ward can be an unbearably lonely place. We’re often alone with our thoughts and reflections on relapses, struggles, disappointments, and hopelessness. I know. I’ve been there. I’ve suffered from severe bipolar I disorder with psychosis for over 25 years. Mental health crises landed...
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Overcoming Self-Stigma in Bipolar Disorder: A Targeted Intervention for an Urgent Problem
For many with bipolar disorder, as well as other mental health conditions, stigma remains a real and regular burden in everyday life. In addition to the stressors and difficulties of the condition, the experience of stigma can lead to a host of deleterious outcomes including lower self-esteem,...
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A Family Member’s Journey into the Depths of Bipolar Disorder
Only a few short years before leaving his cat and clothes in the covered alleyway, next to the dumpster behind the deli on 2nd Avenue, Bob was an accomplished plastics engineer. His parents, brother and sister were living back east, and his favorite aunts, an uncle and cousin lived a couple of...
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Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Share Genetic Roots
A trio of genome-wide studies—collectively the largest to date—have pinpointed a vast array of genetic variation that cumulatively may account for at least one third of the genetic risk for schizophrenia. One of the studies traced schizophrenia and in part, to the same chromosomal...
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Finding My Voice
I was one of those folks who couldn’t decide what they wanted to be when they grew up. I knew that I wanted to do something that would give back to the community, but I couldn’t seem to find my voice. Never in a million years did I think that, one day, I’d be helping those living with mood...
