Written by Hannah Blum, author of The Truth About Broken: The Unfixed Version of Self-Love It’s the topic we are afraid to talk about, but when it comes to the mental health conversation, it’s the number one thing we should be recognizing. We left one group of people out of the discussion, people with mental illness. The … Continue reading The Wellness Movement’s Shaming of People With Mental Illness
Written by Hannah Blum, author of The Truth About Broken: The Unfixed Version of Self-Love It was no surprise that my phone was ringing off the hook after Episode 3 of the Amazon Prime Series, Modern Love, came out. I am a woman living with bipolar disorder, and ironically I talk about dating with mental … Continue reading 6 Things The Show ‘Modern Love’ Got Right When Portraying Bipolar Disorder
Written by Hannah Blum, author of The Truth About Broken: The Unfixed Version of Self-Love Self-harm is not something I talk about often, however, it is part of my past and my journey living with bipolar disorder. I can tell you that it was not a cry for help. No one noticed, and the majority of those … Continue reading A Creative Alternative to Self-Harm That Works
I jumped from the couch spilling cereal all over my shirt reaching for my computer both excited and in disbelief when I saw my moms text message, “Must check out this restaurant-Van Gogh is Bipolar!” A small restaurant located in the Philippines named after Vincent van Gogh and designed to capture features of a bipolar mind.
These are the stories of people living with bipolar disorder that get left out of the mainstream media. These are the stories that could one day create a much larger platform for individuals living with mental illness to feel empowered by what makes them different. I have spent the last couple days gathering information about this restaurant, but to start for those of you who are curious about Van Gogh’s connection to bipolar disorder let me explain. Continue reading “‘Van Gogh Is Bipolar’ Cafe: How a Restaurant Explores and Empowers People with Bipolar”
This past May, I was fortunate enough to go to a Mental Health Influencer Summitt in sunny San Diego, California. It gave me the opportunity to meet advocates from all over the US. This is where I met Katie Dale, author of the blog, Bipolar Brave: Power, Love & Sound Mind. Katie is beautiful, and her genuine spirit and open mind make you feel so comfortable around her. Katie is diagnosed with bipolar 1 disorder and started her blog to raise awareness about mental health. Katie’s story is very unique, being that she is open about bipolar disorder and her strong faith in God. This is something you do not see often. I reached out to her for an interview and luckily she was gracious enough to answer some of my questions. Continue reading “Keeping Faith and Living with Bipolar: An Interview with ‘Bipolar Brave’ Author Katie Dale”
Treatment plans for mental health care differ from situation to situation. In some cases, it calls for therapy and in other cases medication is needed. When depression or severe emotional behavior begins to affect your daily life, work, and relationships, it is time to seek help. We all want to end up at the same place, but some need to take a different route to the intersection of happy and healthy. There is no shame in that. The following are the statements that I hear made continuously about why people fear taking meds for the head.
Continue reading “5 Reasons Why People Are Afraid to Take Meds for the Head”
Remember the infamous Julia Stiles’s speech at the end of the movie, 10 Things I Hate About You? When she reveals to Heath Ledger the pain he’s caused her, “I hate the way you talk to me and the way you cut your hair…” While reading this post, think about stigma as if I am revealing my feelings in the same way as Stiles. Ledger was a good guy, but stigma not so much.
Continue reading “10 Things I Hate About The Stigma of Mental Illness”
It was six years ago that I had my first major episode with bipolar disorder while in College. I was living with a group of girls who this story is about. In the last month before I withdrew from school, I kept my struggle hidden from others, especially myself. Two days before I left, my parents were called by two of my friends. They told them that I was falling apart. Day by day I was getting worse. They realized they couldn’t help me, and decided not to tell the other girls. I do not like to talk about the pain of the past. However, a few days ago I learned that sometimes it is necessary to walk down memory lane, no matter how dark the road is…
Continue reading “Then & Now: A Story About Friendship and Mental Illness”
The first man who had his heart broken by me was my father. One day the little girl who danced to the beat of her drum was laying in a hospital bed, withering away. My father has always kept me safe, but there was one person he could not shield me from, and that person was me. Continue reading “Dear Dad: A Letter From Your Daughter With Bipolar”
If you are looking for me to say how much I hate my life with bipolar 2 disorder, you will not find it in this post. It does not define me, but it is a significant part of who I am. If you erase bipolar, you erase me as a whole. I am never going to live without it, and I want to give others a taste of my reality. I do not place pressure on myself to be perfect. I am honest. This is my mind; this is my journey. Here is a little bit of what it is like to live in the mind of a woman diagnosed with bipolar 2 disorder.
Continue reading “Inside the Mind of a Woman With Bipolar Disorder”
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