May 27th, 2010 
admin As most of us who are knowledgeable about mental disorders know, bipolar disorder is one of the least understood mood disturbances among the general population. This makes things, of course, all the more difficult in dealing with the disorder if you happen to have it.
Since I have a strong family history of varying degrees of the bipolar disorder spectrum, I’ve spent much time observing the disorder in action. As someone recently diagnosed with the much tamer version of the disorder–cyclothymia–I have a smaller understanding of what it’s like.
While nothing can replace the care and supervision of a medical professional in addition to medication if you happen to need it, I think attitude is a very important in regulating mood instability. Of course, it’s easier said than done. But what I’ve found from my observations of both friends and family members who happen to struggle with mood disorders is what I call the Bipolar Disorder Catch 22.
Acceptance is the first step in coming to terms with a mood disorder, or even simply depression. That is often the most difficult obstacle to overcome. It’s hard to reconcile with the fact that you are different, and that you need outside help. But at the same time, it is an easy trap to fall into the other extreme–an acceptance that is so deep that you allow your disorder to define who you are.
This other end of the attitude spectrum I see everywhere, and it is not merely limited to those diagnosed with mental illnesses. Allowing only one aspect of your life to play such a large role in identity construction that it effectively chokes the rest of your thinking can be self-defeating.
How is one to overcome this quandary, then? There aren’t any straight answers, of course. This is because life’s toughest questions never have clear-cut solutions. I’ve found the best way to overcome this existential dilemma is to constantly remind yourself of it. You are not only a disorder, just as you are not only a mother, or a daughter, or even a simply your work position. A source of inspiration from which I often draw to confront this double-think problem is a couple of lines from Walt Whitman’s poem, “Song of Myself”:
“Do I contradict myself?
Very well then, I contradict myself.
(I am large. I contain multitudes.)”
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This guest post is contributed by Kitty Holman, who writes on the topics of Nursing Schools . She welcomes your comments at her email Id kitty.holman20@gmail.com.
***This is a guest post. The views and ideas expressed in this post are not necessarily the same as the author of this site. Please direct any comments or questions to the author of the post at kitty.holman20.gmail.com.
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