I have Bipolar disorder, a couple days ago, I got a copy of my Oregon State Hospital records. I learned that I was kept in  Washington County jail for  6 weeks after being arrested on 5/29/08 for reckless driving. I was finally transferred to Oregon State Hospital. My doctors wrote, that due to being without the benefit of psychiatric medication for so long, it likely contributed to it taking so long to recover. It took 5 months. I was required to pay OSH $89,000 for my care. I became so ill in jail, that when I reached OSH, I was incoherent, delusional, having auditory hallucinations, moving nonsensically. I was put on emergency medicine. I began to respond after 8 days. I never dreamed as an attorney, who graduated at the top of her class, that I would be treated like a caged animal, in a jail cell, while jailers watched me become sicker and sicker each day before finally transferring me for treatment.

I WANT TO DO SOMETHING TO HELP CHANGE THIS PROCESS.

Bipolar disorder is one of the best things to ever happen to me. Yes, it was a struggle for about 3 years before I got on the right medication and got my symptoms under control. But after that, I discovered that a healthy mind with bipolar disorder can be a genius mind. Most of the great creative geniuses of all time had bipolar disorder. A lot of them lived crazy lives because there were no meds or diagnoses back then. I don’t want to brag but let me tell you what I have done since my diagnosis. I graduated law school. I created one of the world’s top 500 apps. I have become one of the leading artists under 40 in the world, exhibiting next to Picasso, and now I am in the final interview at arguably the most prestigious company in the world. 10 years ago I was very suicidal, even put a gun in my mouth. But let me tell you, if you just take your meds, do regular counseling, and avoid self medicating, you have the potential to do any of the things I have done OR MORE!

In 2004 my life changed. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I was twenty years old at the time, and I was a good student. I began feeling depressed and having memory issues. My grades began to slip. I knew something was wrong. I did a little research, and I concluded that I must have bipolar disorder. Mental illness runs in my family so I wasn’t scared to go to the mental health facility to seek help. Sure enough, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It has been a difficult twelve years. I have had many jobs. I have acted erratic and gone years without working due to depression. I’m thirty-two now, and I am on a cocktail of medication that is beginning to work. Hopefully, I’ll be working soon. Remember to never give up hope.

My doctor described my diagnosis to me in this way: I’m a 78 RPM person trying to function in a 33 1/3 world. For you baby boomers, you’ll know what I mean. If you’re younger than a baby boomer and don’t understand the analogy, ask your parents to explain it to you.

When I’m manic, I’m like the energizer bunny. Always going. Creating something. Wanting something. 

Right after I got diagnosed, I jumped into crafts and started making these little wooden window seats.

I didn’t create one or two, or a few. I created dozens. And dozens. And boxes full. I obsessed over getting every single wooden window seat in the Tampa area so I could make something out of it. Then I wanted a puppy. (Thank goodness my husband saw fit to tell me no at that time) Then I jumped into soap making. I made pounds and pounds of soap. (All of this is in less than a week.)

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This year has been the year I’ve really worked on my recovery and my overall mental health. From a very young age I was depressed, fascinated with death and constantly anxious. I developed major body image issues as a child that turned into an eating disorder. I grew up with a biological father who was an addict, alcoholic, abusive and mentally ill with Bipolar Disorder.

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I am a 30-year-old female with bipolar disorder and I am here to share my story of living with this mental health condition.

By the age of 16 years old, I had probably been diagnosed with every mental illness out there and taken every medication possible. It wasn’t until I was 24 years old and in early recovery from addiction, that I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It took me a long time to accept the fact that I had this diagnosis. No one understood what I was dealing with. I never knew if I would wake up happy or depressed. I did tons and tons of research on bipolar disorder and found that it is partially genetic, so I decided to do some digging and look into my family. I found out that my great grandmother had died by suicide at the age of 24. My father had told me he didn’t want me to know because he blamed himself for my mental illness.

I look back, and always ask, “why me?” I feel like I was hit with the stick that gave me a mental health condition and a substance abuse disorder. Being one of three girls, I always felt like the black sheep of my family. I was always messing up and getting into trouble, especially when I would become manic. To me, mania is an outer body experience and I loved the feeling. In a matter of two weeks I spent over $20,000 because of my mania.

I have learned that bipolar disorder is not my life—it’s just part of who I am. I am not shy about it and I do public speaking about my illness. Now at the age of 30, I am a licensed master social worker working with individuals with mental health conditions. Mental illness is not something we can help and education is the key factor in getting others to understand what we are dealing with. I am finally stable on my medication and am doing the best I have been in a long time.

Even though my life isn’t where I thought it would be, coming to terms with my bipolar disorder was a major accomplishment. Don’t get me wrong—I still have my ups and downs and I still have a lot of symptoms that are very difficult to manage. NAMI is such an amazing organization with everything they do and I want to thank NAMI for always providing services and educational material to better help understand and deal with bipolar disorder.

Remember, you are not your mental illness, it is just a part of you. Stay strong and don’t stop fighting.

Some of you think Allison Strong is strong, but I hurt and bleed, just like you. I’ve actually bled alot this week.

I’ve had bipolar disorder for 26 years. I tried to commit suicide as a small child by drinking alcohol. Obviously it didn’t work. For the first ten years after I was diagnosed I had a high profile career as a major market alternative disc jockey and nationally published music journalist.

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My name is Chris Biehn and I graduated from high school in June. I am sharing with you my story of vulnerability with bipolar disorder. This is one of the biggest decisions of my life to share these intimate details with you. I ask that you keep an open mind. Mental health is misunderstood and discriminated against yet it affects millions of people everyday in dramatic ways. I believe that there is a power in being vulnerable and a need to promote advocacy for mental illnesses. Please listen to my message and if I can broaden one person’s perspective on bipolar disorder and mental health I will have accomplished my mission. Listen. Learn. Accept. 

For Liberty,
Chris Biehn, age 18

I have Bipolar Disorder, Type II. I’ve never been shy about it. I always try to be open about it because I believe in having conversations about mental health. I have the second type of Bipolar, so I get hypomanic instead of manic, which means the episode of mania is much less severe.  I also get severely depressed. 

I was diagnosed when I was 20 years-old. I consider myself lucky because I got to learn at an early age what was making me miserable instead of having to wait years for the correct diagnosis. I was first diagnosed as having depression, but during my second hospital stay (out of 6 total, I might add), it was discovered that I had Bipolar Disorder.  So there it is.

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Hi my name is Samantha Brown and for the past eight years I have been struggling with mental health issues. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder around the age of 21 and became less independent and felt hopeless. Finally my mom got me some help through a program. They gave me help with some support but the program said I needed more than just ssi disability. So I became even more depressed. Finally I started to meet with my family doctor and they to also told me I needed some more help. Finally I came across a mental health program through the Albany department of mental health and the court system in Albany NY. At first didn’t want to do it but I’m glad I did because I can now have my independence back. I’m on some great medication and I’m able to be more responsible even though I may have a little way to go in my mental life. Im almost there.