Author: Dennis

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Personal Empowerment Creates A Better Future For All

I do not have a very typical approach to how I view the world, mental illness, and making my way through it. A significant departure is the quest for reducing stigma and encouraging a better social understanding. I don’t think it really matters nearly as much as is stated. There are so many people struggling for equality and understanding for several different reasons. Yet, when I look back through history, I have yet to find a single time period when that was actually a reality. I don’t think it is a reasonable, feasible goal. That is why a lot of my content, words, and ideas are focused around the individual. Elevating individuals who live with mental illness seems like it will be a more effective tactic.

For the past couple of years, I have been working as an internet marketer. I write content for business’s that are trying to get found on the internet. I have used many of those skills that I developed and learned from those marketers to bring you this website and blog. In the course of my work, I came to work for a man in the United Kingdom who was involved in marketing “forex” websites. Forex is short for foreign exchange, as in the foreign exchange currency market. It is the worldwide market where businesses, banks, individuals, and governments all go to change money to purchase what they need from international markets.

There is an entire industry of traders that make profit off of the differential in prices of currency. For example, if you look at the EURUSD (Euro/United States Dollar) pair, each Euro may be worth 1.2 dollars. I buy one Euro at $1.20 and the value of the Euro rises to $1.34. I then close my position. I have just made .14 cents of profit.

As I came to learn more about forex I realized what a huge opportunity it was for the mentally ill, the poor, and senior citizens trying to live off of nothing. A particular discipline within forex is known as technical trading. In technical trading, you analyze charts to look for patterns to spot high probability opportunities for a profitable trade. The pair might be in a clear uptrend or downtrend. The predictability is what technical forex traders use to make money.

Looking at the above example, 14 cents is nothing to write home about really. That is where the forex market differs from traditional investing. Currency is the most liquid asset in the world. Because of that, forex brokers (the people you make trades through) offer a high degree of leverage. At present I trade at a 50:1 leverage. For every 1 of my dollars, I am allowed to use up to 50 of theirs to trade with. So I can take 200 dollars and trade up to 10,000 dollars with it; with all the risks and rewards that come with that higher amount.

The forex market is open 5 days a week, 24 hours a day; which makes it perfect for people like me who can’t function well in a 9 to 5 traditional role. A trading plan with clear directions, how to profit and minimize losses, and the system a person uses for analysis provides a concrete reminder of the method we adhere to for profitability.

A large number of people do not look at investing or gambling in a way that is profitable. If you are playing blackjack and your goal is to get 21; you’re not going to ask for another card if you are sitting on 20. Why? The chances of you pulling an Ace from the deck are much, much lower than the dealer getting anything other than a 20 or a 21 to beat you. Will you always win? No. However, the cards totaling 20 have a much higher probability of being a winning hand for you than say a total of 7. If you get a 3 and a 4, you’re going to have to get at least two other appropriately numbered cards to be competitive. So you play on the 20 and withdraw on the 7 – maximizing potential gain while minimizing losses.

All of that comes back to my original point. You don’t need a college degree, to be good at math, or have a lot of money to make a reasonable profit on the forex market. A person simply needs to develop the understanding of what they are looking at and why they are doing what they are doing. I have spent the last several months teaching myself how with a minor amount of success.

My end-game goal is to take that which I have learned and turn it into a very easy to understand system that anyone can use. Through it, I want to enable individual elevation so that those people can create a better place for themselves and others in the world.

Why? Regardless of whether an adversary understands mental illness or not; that person will understand money. Money is power. If we are a bunch of paupers, how are we supposed to make any meaningful gains against political entities and insurance companies?

Striving for social understanding is all well and good, but what good is it if the policy makers can still just give us a pat on the head and send us on our way with empty promises? You know, exactly the same thing they do with women, minorities, the poor, disabled veterans, and everyone else whose rights are trampled on a constant basis.

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Thoughts On Mental Illness And Socialization

I feel privileged to have the opportunity to interact with a colorful host of personalities through the way I live my life. The launch of my Bipolar Manifesto served as a great platform to socialize and interact with people of like-mind, going through the same struggles, or looking for the same solutions. I have to say- it has been a difficult adjustment to what I’m used to.

As a High-Functioning Autistic, I am not a social person by nature. Human interactions are governed by so many gray areas. There’s always doubts, considerations, and a myriad of other external factors. My mind does not function in gray areas. There is only black and white. On the positive side, I know that it is easier for me to make difficult decisions. It’s either going to be right or wrong, and I won’t know that until I gather as much information as possible then make that decision.

On the negative side, it’s significantly disrupted my ability to generally socialize and forge even casual friendships. If I ask someone how they are doing, it’s because I genuinely want to know. If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t ask. Black and white. Even at past employers I typically got along with my coworkers the same way. I generally clicked with one or two people and then talked to no one else in an even remotely casual sense. To put it in perspective, I worked next to a woman full-time at Wal-Mart for a good two years before she found out I had a son. When asked why I never said anything about him, my only answer was ‘nobody asked’.

As I was contemplating how I wanted to approach what I had to say with my website and work, it quickly became apparent that was a skill-set I was going to have to work on. Who would have guessed that helping people would require interacting with them?! News to me. Someone should have warned me!

Frankly, I feel it is the root cause of one of my primary shortcomings. I have all the patience in the world for someone genuinely struggling, who is trying and experiencing set-backs, or that is trying to understand what is going on in their mind. On the other hand, I have absolutely no patience for people that sort of shuffle around the issue and refuse to acknowledge there might be a problem.

The very first therapist, and the man who diagnosed me, had been working with Bipolars for about 20 years. In one session he mentioned how much he disliked sessions that did not go anywhere. Apparently, one of his other patients had been coming to see him for six months and refused to acknowledge any issue or work he had to do to get his mind under control. It was at that point that I realized I could never be a traditional therapist.

I would have kicked him out after about a month and told him, “You know what- come back when you’re ready to get well. Rock bottom was good enough for me, it’s good enough for you too.”

My diagnosis was the best day of my life. It meant that I wasn’t just a worthless failure of a human being who couldn’t keep anything together for an extended period of time. I had an illness that needed addressed. If I did that, then maybe I could actually enjoy my life for a change. Diagnosis gave me many things; including hope and a purpose.

I’m still not perfectly well. I still make Bipolar decisions sometimes. One thing I strive never to do is waste another person’s time. I will never have the same style of social skills or tolerances that are generally expected. And I’m alright with that. That black and white thought process is what enabled me to literally throw the doors open on every dark thing I’ve done because of my mind.

I’ve been told it’s brave, courageous, and inspirational. I can see why some people would think so. But I don’t view it that way. I view it as a way to make the pain and suffering worthwhile. Because honestly; what’s the worst that can happen? I lose a 25th or so job? I end up abusing myself in bad ways? I might be socially and emotionally isolated? People might think I’m strange or weird?! Oh noes! Whatever shall I do?! That’s only been my life for the last 32 years or so!

Be happy with yourself, dear reader. Even if you can’t find peace or anything positive; there is no better way to gain wisdom and understanding than through suffering. That could very well be quite valuable to you later on.

Or, as an image macro on Facebook so eloquently put it- “Let your past make you better, not bitter.”

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Multiple Mental Illnesses With A Mood Disorder

I’d like to thank my Facebook followers for the suggestions for blog posts on content they would like to see. Doug provided a great idea to discuss multiple diagnoses in the form of Bipolar Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder. I did some research on the subject, including the article he provided, and I have decided it would be a disservice for me to attempt to speak about that experience. A very large part of what I do here, on Facebook, and on my website is based through experience. However, Doug’s suggestion did jog an idea in my mind that I haven’t put forward yet in regards to multiple diagnoses. It is at this point that I would like to remind you that this is only a theory, but one I’ve formulated through observation over the past 17 years or so.

Multiple mental illness in a person is not uncommon. Some mental illnesses have components of others in them; such as people with PTSD with a Depression component. That creates an even more unique situation when they get combined in a single person. Bipolar Disorder affects each person with it in ways that are personal to them and their mentality. Medical professionals attempt to treat based off of loose interpretations of the symptoms. A depressed person may not be suicidal while another is. They both meet the criteria for depression, just differently.

The combination of multiple mental illnesses in a person will create something that is almost entirely unique to them. Thus, it will be harder to find a treatment that will work properly for the person due to that interaction.

That brings me to my theory: I wonder if people with multiple diagnoses may benefit from focusing on getting any mood disorder under control first. Not because it is any more important than the others, but the way a mood disorder like Bipolar Disorder or depression affects your baseline thinking. It alters your perception of the world around you, in turn, your mind reacts to what it perceives as opposed to what actually is.

As an example; I did not find out about high-functioning autism until my son was diagnosed with it. Going back and reading about it to understand it was like reading a biography. I feel that I am a very high functional autistic because I lack many of the interpersonal functions that are typical for a normal mind. There is also the autistic focuses, the inability to convert emotion to words, logical to a fault, inability to read people naturally, and several other things. It takes a lot of energy for me to function in a social way because I have to think about all the things that other people do subconsciously. As I looked back on my life, I began to see certain patterns and interactions in the ways that Bipolar Disorder and the HFA meshed for me.

The one great fear I have in my life is completely losing touch with reality in a Bipolar unwell period. If my mind ventures too far out- there is only hate, rage, loathing, and despair. There is no love, there is no kindness, no understanding, no vestiges of positivity at all. At that point I become Mr. Hyde to my normal Dr. Jeckyll. Due to the HFA, I have a hard time connecting and empathizing with people in a natural way. I feel that if I really rocketed out of control, the combination of all that negativity with my inability to empathize with others would probably result in a newscast ending with “… and police killed the suspect in the ensuing shootout.”

Let’s cut back to the mood disorder for just a moment. It affects how you interpret things:

– I drop a glass of water and break it.
*Manic: Fuck that goddamn glass! No dustpan? I’ll just clean it up with my hands.
*Depressed: I can’t believe I dropped a glass of water. Can’t even do that right.

The reality of the situation is – a glass of water was dropped. That’s it. A mood disorder skews the situation into extremes. It stains all of the information that comes into your mind before your mind has a chance to really interpret it. The tainted information is already being fed into a mentally ill mind that will skew it even further out of perspective. Sort of like putting a second bullhorn in front of a first bullhorn.

Assume that our example person is Bipolar and Schizophrenic. They are driving along and notice in their rear view mirror that the same car has been behind them for three different turns. The information is processed and skewed as potentially threatening by Bipolar Disorder then sent into the conscious mind where Schizophrenic thought processes could continue to stretch it and spin it out of control.

But what if that person had a good medication regiment for the Bipolar side of their struggle? A mood stabilizer would prevent the Bipolar side of their mind from pulling the situation too far out of proportion before it gets fed into the active mind where Schizophrenia will now contribute to playing with it.

I think this thought process may be applicable for a lot of people. If a person’s perception is at least somewhat healthy, then the circumstances going on around them won’t enter their active mind in an already spun state. The schizophrenia will still have an impact; but which would be better for it to spin? “There’s a car behind me that’s been there for a while. That’s odd. I don’t like that.” or “That son of a bitch is fucking following me. I know it.”

I’m inclined to think the second one is more likely to escalate out of control.

Thus, it seems to me that getting the gateway, perception altering Disorder under control will make all the other things in the person’s mind more manageable. That is not to suggest that everything else should be ignored. It just may be a more effective starting point for the person with two, four, or more mental illnesses with a mood disorder.

I’m curious to hear other peoples’ thoughts on this idea. Feel free to comment!

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Managing Bipolar Disorder Through The Major Stresses Of Life

There are a few very common stressors in a majority of lives. Marriage, changing careers, and moving all rank near the top. These stresses can be enough to rocket a Bipolar mind into unwellness in fairly short order. I do not feel it is a reasonable goal to completely eliminate any and all chance of swinging unwell when dealing with a lot of stress. It’s just not possible. The Bipolar would have to be on top of their mood management 100% of the time plus interpret every indicator correctly. That’s just not going to happen.

What we can do is develop an understanding of how stresses correlate with Bipolar Disorder unwellness. I’ll use moving as an example. “Moving is stressful.” Okay, but why?

I’ve got all this stuff I have to get packed. I only have until this date to do it. I have to get my utilities switched over. I have to ensure I can do something with my perishables if direct transport isn’t an option. Is my former residence in good enough shape to get my deposit back? I might have lost my job or been foreclosed on thus driving the stress factor through the roof.

All those things piled up can push someone manic or it can be so much it crashes them into a nonfunctional depression. It’s easier to understand from a depressive standpoint that a person could look at all of those things and just start to shut down. A Bipolar’s manic side can actually start moving when they are put in a position that forces aggressive, high-stress thought processes. For example, there have been several times that the “Fight or Flight” response has pushed me into a hypomania. When that response kicks in, your body is kicked into a hyper alert state to ensure survival. There are a number of physiological changes that occur in Fight or Flight that also occurs in mania.

In all cases, I believe that the best way to approach staying well through these stresses is to break things down into manageable portions. Sit down with some index cards and write a task that needs to get done on individual cards. Draw a card, keep it with you, and set out to finish that task. Keeping the card with you is going to provide an easily accessible physical focus. While you work on that detail, you want to avoid letting your mind wander about all of the other things you need to do. If you find yourself drifting- stop, read the card again, and recenter your mind on that task. Push all the other thoughts trying to interfere away.

I realize this is probably advice you have heard before. For a Bipolar, it really is a great approach. Unwell periods get moving like a train. They are slow to start but once they build steam they are much harder to stop. Thus, we have a tangible reminder of what we need to get done in our pocket for when our mind starts drifting off. We limit how much time we spend dwelling on this massive task that just seems so insurmountable. Instead we chip away at its base, piece by manageable piece; until it is no longer perceived to be an insurmountable task.

If at all possible, leave yourself enough time to actually do everything without needing to cram it into a single weekend of moving. That may not be feasible for most but I have seen on a number of occasions where a person knew they were moving in a year and waited until a month before they were due to leave to start organizing their packing.

Exerting a greater control over the circumstances that can drive your unwell periods will help you keep them in check. By minimizing those, we can minimize the impact those stresses will have on our mind.

This type of mental management is very effective in minimizing unwell swings. It is difficult to do, but the more you practice the easier it will be.

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Mental Illness or Personality Quirk?

It is difficult to get every person in your life on the same page with what mental illness actually is. Most of the occasions where I have been discussing the subject with someone who didn’t understand mental illness, they did not even know how to define it. Being able to define the difference between mental illness and a personality quirk can help open the door to understanding.

All mental illnesses are bound by a truth that is applicable across the board: a mental illness is a persistent condition that negatively impacts a person’s ability to maintain their life.

That may sound like oversimplification and to an extent it is. It’s meant to be simple so normals can wrap their minds about what it means. It is one thing to have some off days and be down in the dumps. It’s quite another to be morbidly depressed for three years, avoiding interpersonal contact, losing a job, not bathing or taking care of oneself, and eating sporadically.

I always stress that there is no simple answer or cookie cutter behavior when it comes to a mental illness. It always varies from person to person – that’s why the DSM criteria is fairly vague and is meant to be used in conjunction with a trained person examining the individual’s life. It isn’t enough to just look at the DSM and go “oh I have this because I have these symptoms”.

People on both sides of the fence seem to think that is how it works. It causes a lot of problems for the unwell trying to enable the people close to them to understand what makes the difference.

The following example is one I like to use to help convey the difference.

For the period of about three years, I managed to hold a job with Wal-Mart. There was a stint for about a year that I was a cashier. I was drastically unwell for reasons that I no longer remember, but I decided to try to work anyway. The very first customers I had were two bubbly, happy women. The one woman decided to get me to “cheer up and provide good service” by insisting I smile and look at the day in a brighter way!

I grit my teeth, tried to ignore it, answer their questions promptly and get the transaction over with. And then she started to mock what I was saying in a silly drawn out voice which sent me from morbidly depressed to the upper reaches of hypomania in about half a second.

My mind was just flooded with images of picking up the canned ham on the conveyor belt and beating her face in until it was featureless and toothless. Every word that came out of her mouth pushed me closer and closer. I ended up having to signal for a manager and walk out of the store to avoid assaulting her.

Now, let’s compare that to a “quirk”. A cashier could get upset or irritated with problem customers. That’s normal. They may argue or be brusque with them. You don’t typically see a 6’5”, 350 pound man contemplating jumping a cash register to beat in someone’s face with a canned ham because his brain told him it would do far more damage faster than a hand. It was even more out of character because I have never raised a hand in anger to a woman in my life.

At that point in time, all sanity departed and was displaced by the hypomanic shrieks in my mind to level her. It was a drastic indication of Bipolar Disorder making a very negative impact on my ability to conduct business and maintain employment. Definitely not a quirk. By showing the people you are trying to communicate with the difference between a “quirk” and what you deal with, you can help them see the severity of the situation in a clearer light.

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Should I Keep My Disorder To Myself Or Open Up About It?

This post is for Nancy Love, and the people like her struggling whether or not to open up about living with mental illness to the people around them.

I want to preface this post by saying that this decision is about no one other than the Bipolar contemplating it. No matter what you do in life, you will never make everyone happy with your decisions. The best you can hope for is to do what is right for you and the people closest to you. Deciding to step forward and say “Yes, I live with Bipolar Disorder” will have ramifications. Some people will be curious, others may avoid you, still more will say “Yeah, we already knew that.” because they understood what they were looking at a long time ago. Be prepared for the worst case scenario.

The government body known as the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) estimates that 1 in 4 people live with a mental illness, diagnosed or not. We are not rare, we are simply not talked about. That is not a new thing. Through the course of humanity, the mentally ill have been tortured, experimented on, exorcised, and eradicated all because we function differently. We are not bound by race, religion, creed, or belief. How many crusades for equal rights and acknowledgment has their been for race, sex, religion, and any other number of things? Still we are invisible.

How many people know that as late as the 1970’s, the mentally ill were shoveled into institutions and forced to exist with less funding per person than was allotted for circus animals? An exposed institution by name of Pennhurst featured a program where if a patient bit once, an attempted correction was made. Any more times after that and the facility would pull all of their teeth. The insane were housed with the mentally retarded with all the glorifying ramifications that come with putting a predator with prey. This happened because we, the mentally ill, the 1 in 4, were ultimately invisible to society.

I am not happy that I am Bipolar and a High-Functioning Autistic. It’s exhausting, tiring, and disconcerting to never know how I may feel 15 minutes from now. All it takes is one trigger to ramp me off into a completely unrelated direction. However, I am happy with myself. I am proud that I have been able to make it as far as I have without succeeding at killing myself. I am proud that I can use this knowledge for other peoples’ benefit.

I choose not to suffer in silence or be invisible to the world. Being open about who I am is part of the way I pursue my wellness. Yes, I cross paths with a number of people that do not want to understand or care. However there is always someone who is going through the same kinds of things I did that needs to hear they can make it through. It may be a complete stranger, coworker, friend, or family member. That makes putting up with the strange looks and ignorance completely worth it to me.

In the course of this post I have discussed heavily about why I decided on the approach that I did. That is what you need to do. Look inside and see what is right for -you-. Not for the feelings of other people, not for the road that will be easy; but for whatever route will allow you to be happy with who you are and at peace with what you live with. A lot of people suffered and died to give us the freedom to express ourselves yet we constantly spend time trying to unnecessarily tap dance around feelings.

We cannot shoulder the burden of everyone else and expect to find any peace of mind in a world that does not want to acknowledge our existence.

Take some time to look inside. How do you feel about it? Will this help you reach a more comfortable place with yourself? Do you actually owe anything to the people you are worried about alienating? Are you at a stable enough place that you can handle some rough waters if there is fall out? Can you handle if some of the people you thought were your friends suddenly disappear?

The only other peoples’ feelings I would take into account is a spouse and immediate family. My personal feelings is that everyone else can either deal with it or walk. There are plenty of other worthwhile people in the world.

On the plus side, you’ll find out pretty quick which people in your life actually care about you.

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The Goals of Bipolar Manifesto

I have a very different goal in mind for my Bipolar Manifesto website, Facebook and Google+ presence, and this blog in particular. The past couple of years I have spent quite a lot of time reading blogs and information. I embarked on a quest to know as much as I possibly could about living life with Bipolar Disorder. In my reading I have come across a few poignant truths that I would like to pass on to you.

– The “natural remedy” industry is more full of crap than the pharmaceutical industry.
There is a sea of propaganda about “the power of natural cures” and “what big pharm doesn’t want you to know” available on the internet. These people are actually worse than pharmaceutical companies because they are exploiting fear to shill their snake oil.

I cannot tell you what will and will not work for you. NOBODY can. Your brain chemistry is as unique to you as a fingerprint. “Natural” remedies have just as much of a chance of working for you as manufactured ones. The only way you’ll know is if you try it yourself.

– A majority of the people that complain about “big pharm” have no idea how they work.
Quick, how do new drugs get developed? How do pharmaceutical companies make their money? A pharmaceutical manufacturer spends a ton of money up front to develop a particular drug with absolutely no guarantee that they will be successful. If they are successful, they are awarded a few year patent so they can make their money back and attempt to turn a profit. The patent expires and then generics can go into production. In many cases, the drug ends up working for something entirely unrelated. Viagra started off as a cancer medication.

What does that mean to the consumer? The idea that keeping people perpetually sick to make money is entirely counterproductive to their business model. Yes, prices are terrible and it never seems like doctors know what they are talking about. Prices are terrible because of insurance companies not because of pharmaceuticals. Medical science has always been inexact- ALWAYS. You cannot apply one cookie-cutter solution to everyone and have success. That is exactly what doctors are forced to do in the interest of time and minimizing potential malpractice suits.

– There are no easy answers; never have been, never will be.
Thus I come to the goal for my body of work within Bipolar Manifesto. I’m not here to provide you the same regurgitated garbage you can find all over the internet. My entire focus for Bipolar wellness is empowering people to make their own decisions, think for themselves, and understand what constitutes success. If you want to try natural remedies, great! If you want to go a pharmaceutical approach, great! If you think therapy is useless and psychiatrists suck, more power to you!

My personal opinions and beliefs are irrelevant, as are many of the propagandists trying to shill their crap. The truly important things are to embrace fact and reality to find your wellness.

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Sympathy Not Pity

What does the phrase “I’m sorry” mean to you? Whenever I relate something difficult I have gone through or the way mental illness affects me to a normal, I inevitably get an “I’m sorry” at some point. I’ll be perfectly honest with you, it used to infuriate me. I would think, ‘I don’t need your fucking pity! I’m stronger because of this shit, it doesn’t make me weaker!’ It was actually a comedy article that caused me to reevaluate that view. The writer’s point was that in most cases, the sentiment wasn’t “I feel sorry for you.” It was more along the lines of “I’m sorry you went through that because there’s nothing else I can say.”

I wrongfully equated “I’m sorry” to pity. Looking back, I realize that the person was just trying to show sympathy and understanding that I had gone through some difficulties while not necessarily deserving them. What else is there for the listener to say?

I’m a little disappointed in myself that it took so many years for me to reach that understanding. I always try to put myself in the shoes of other people before making judgments or decisions. I think the subject matter was just too close to home for me to detach enough to put myself in that person’s place. It has fundamentally changed the way I handle interactions with normals.

A phrase I like to say is “I have sympathy but not pity.” Pity, to me, is something that is reserved for the truly oppressed and disadvantaged. It is for the people that are no longer capable of helping themselves. Even then, my pity disappears if they are offered assistance and refuse to work on their situation. I’ve never met a person that lived with Bipolar Disorder or Depression that I’ve pitied. I sympathize with their struggles and losses as they’ve tried to live with it. But I don’t pity them. There are hundreds of paths to wellness, you just need to keep trying until you find the right one.

I really advise you to analyze your view of the phrase “I’m sorry”. Does it make you angry? Sad? Make you want to seal off more? Are any of those reactions rationally proportionate to the person saying it to you? I know in my case, it was not. It was infuriating enough to almost be a manic trigger. That is certainly not a good way to maintain friendships and relationships with other people. It was also entirely my responsibility to change the way I viewed and reacted to that phrase as opposed to attempting to change the way everyone else viewed it. So yeah, I guess I was being kind of an asshole.

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Stigma: Usually A Worthwhile Fight

I was recently sent an article arguing the “offensiveness” in linking certain patterns and beliefs to mental health. The subject was a paranoid schizophrenic painter by name of Martin Ramirez. A curator suggested certain symbolism in his art denoted a “more sane and less mentally ill part of Ramirez”. Apparently, this was some indicator of a greater problem in perception of the man.

This raises a significant question to me. Who actually cares about this kind of thing? The article does suggest the sentence could have been taken out of context- which it was. It was some curator trying to comment on the unique work of Ramirez while acknowledging what drove his thought processes. He wasn’t a psychologist. The curator didn’t struggle with his own mental health. That is apparent by his comment.

The article goes on to state that it is a perfect example of the kind of attitudes we experience on a daily basis in our private and professional lives. Demanding that degree of understanding from normals is as futile as bailing out the Pacific with a thimble. Even the people we are closest to in our lives often do not fully understand why we do what we do or what we think what we do. How are we to expect society to do that on a whole? They cannot. It’s impossible.

Normals can play an ancillary role in the struggle for understanding and social acceptance but it is ultimately up to we, the mentally ill. Our path is no different than that of the Civil Rights movements that have occurred throughout this country’s history. The only difference is our bond crosses race, sex, orientation, and faith.

We as a whole should focus on picking ourselves and others that are mentally ill up. Why? The more of us that are well and able to show through action that we are deserving to not be treated like a sideshow the greater impact there will be. Would it not be better to see Senators or Representatives that have fought with and learned to manage their mental illness? Would those kind of people not be more inclined to push for more effective protection against the jackals in the insurance industry? Would that not offer more hope to people that they could get well?

Fighting stigma is important- if it matters. I understand that people lose careers, families, and their sense of self every day because of mental illness. I feel for you. I really do. But the battle for Political Correctness will only provide the illusion of progress.

Don’t believe me? Then why are so many women still paid far less in the same position with the same education and experience as a man? Why did it take Congress 30 years to repeal sentencing parameters being five times longer for the same amount of crack-cocaine than regular cocaine? A crack rock is to cocaine powder what ice is to liquid water; they‘re the same thing. The only difference was crack was the drug of the poor and minorities while cocaine continues to be the drug of the middle to upper class.

There is no perfect equality and there never will be. Someone will always be under foot, oppressed, and fighting. Does that mean we should not stand up for ourselves against the tide? Absolutely not!

It does mean we should pay more attention to which battles are worth fighting. Focus on the battles that will allow us to conduct our lives in a way that is gainful and meaningful to us. I’m not interested in the illusion of equality and opportunity that so many people have in this country. I’m interested in real opportunity for the mentally ill, women, minorities, and anyone else deserving.

Opening our own avenues of opportunity will bring equality and understanding.

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Announcing My Bipolar Manifesto

I’m going to take this opportunity to shamelessly promote my new website Bipolar Manifesto. Grimm’s Bipolar Bantering will be shifted to its new home on that domain. The website I hope to build into a useful utility for the supporters of/and survivors of of Depression and Bipolar Disorder.

To do that, I’m taking a starkly different approach than what I’ve seen all over the internet. I’m really not using the website itself to highlight my own struggles other than using them as examples. I also do not want to subject the reader to the same regurgitated DSM/Clinical material they will find all over the internet.

Essentially, my goal is to provide information that I would have found really useful myself when I went through similar circumstances. At present, I have pages up on coming to terms with living with this crap, pieces towards facilitating understanding that normals can relate to, as well as the things I’ve determined to be most important in the pursuit of wellness.

I am presently working on my first (hopefully of many) e-Booklet based around preserving Friendships and Relationships while dealing with the erratic nature of the Disorder. In it, I’m providing strategies for preservation to minimize the fall out of unwell period in addition to some resources that can be provided to loved ones to help them understand what the mentally ill person in their life is going through.

I welcome anyone that cares to stop by or join me on Bipolar Manifesto’s Facebook Page. I’ll be more than happy to answer questions or provide any insight for people that need it while walking this difficult path.

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