I’ve written a lot about the difficulties with having bipolar disorder. Today, I want to talk about one of the most positive aspects: how it affects our creativity. Bipolar disorder gives us wonderful connections between ideas, many of which can be very insightful. It gives us a passion for beauty that expresses itself artistically. This positive aspect is not without its challenges, but when focused, can be an exciting part of our lives. Continue reading →

I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of people with bipolar disorder, and one thing that I’ve really noticed is the way that bipolar disorder affects people in very different ways. The difference isn’t simply the difference between types like bipolar I and bipolar II. It also isn’t just the difference between people themselves. Rather, bipolar disorder really differs in the way that it manifests itself in people’s lives. Continue reading →

Please do not use the following article for self-diagnosis or the diagnosis of others. We cannot diagnose ourselves. It is intended instead for information and to provide useful subject matter to discuss with a psychiatrist or therapist.

One of the most common questions I face in my bipolar Meetup group is the difference between bipolar 1 disorder and bipolar 2 disorder. I have written up list of all bipolar symptoms, but I thought I’d write a post that deals with the specific symptoms that differentiate bipolar 1 and bipolar 2, so that there can be a handy resource available for understanding the specific differences. Continue reading →

One of the more common debates among people with bipolar disorder is whether or not we should consider bipolar disorder something external to us, like a disease that we have, or whether we should consider bipolar disorder internal to ourselves, as something we are. I don’t think anyone would say that it is something we are as a whole, except in some sense of political identity, but that is a concept that hasn’t really caught on among people with mental illnesses (for the better, I think). Continue reading →