Finding Solidarity Among Peers With Bipolar Can Be Life Saving

This blog will mention suicide. If you are having suicidal thoughts or suicidal ideations it could be triggering for you. Please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline for support at 1-800-273-8255.

People who are diagnosed with bipolar disorder are thirty times more likely to commit suicide, according to a study published in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment. Bipolar disorder can come in two forms, bipolar I and bipolar II. Both forms of bipolar include the rotating experience of depression and mania for extended periods of time. Switching between depressive and manic episodes can be emotionally exhausting especially when, during the experience of one, you have to cope with actions taken during the other. High likelihoods of impulsivity, substance abuse, and co-occurring disorders can make having bipolar disorder a challenge.

Living with a mental illness of any kind, bipolar disorder included, can be an isolating experience for people. Though there are millions of people around the world who struggle with mental illness like bipolar but they can be separated by thousands of miles, silence about their struggles, and a pervasive stigma about mental illness. The outspoken voice mental illness is finding today on blog sites, lifestyle sites, and social media is new. Bringing more awareness to the experience of living with mental illness and recovering from it is changing the way the world views mental illnesses like bipolar. It is also bringing people with mental illness together, which, for people with bipolar, can be a revolutionary change.

For Huffington Post, one contributor who lives with bipolar describes one of his first times encountering another person with bipolar and the effect it had on his life. He writes, “When bipolar people meet, we find an immigrant intimacy, a solidarity. We share a suffering and a thrill.” Describing himself and his peers as “refugees” he explains the importance of finding like-minded people with the same struggles, the same challenges, and when they recover, the same accomplishments. “So we have a common loneliness,” he explains, “the struggle to get past ourselves. The shame of having to try.”

You are not alone in your struggles with bipolar and co-occurring substance use disorder. If you are in need of treatment, help is available. Enlightened Recovery Solutions offers compassionate therapy in a comfortable and soothing environment encouraging human connection and empowerment. Our harmonious approach to treatment fuses clinical with alternative to heal the spirit in addition to the body and the mind. For information on our programs and services, call us today at 833-801-5483.