Personal Accounts

Do you live with bipolar disorder and would like to share your story to be posted to our website? Your story will help bust the stigma that keeps people from getting care and perpetuates misunderstanding about those affected by bipolar disorder. 

If you are interested in sharing your story, please email Rachel Bresnahan at [email protected]. Thank you!

When we reduce the stigma about bipolar illness, we can talk about it and our friends, families, and co-workers can be more in tune with us, helping us to manage the disease.

3 Poems

The Lightest Metal, I Am Irrational, Quaker Gardens

Read this article.

A Q&A: Why I Participate in Research

"I participate in this research with the hope that one day we will find a way to make a simple diagnosis and create a successful treatment plan in a matter of weeks rather than years!"

Read this article.

Blackbird Dreams by Meg LeDuc

"Close to midnight, I approach the Michigan-Ohio border, headlights flashing around me like starry pinpricks in the vast, dark tunnel along southbound I-75."

Read this essay.

Balance

"My name is Mark and I am currently managing bipolar disorder. I would love to help everyone be healthier and happier but I’ve come to the conclusion that everyone is different and the best place to get started is with yourself."

Read this article.

Be Healed. Be Empowered. Be Set Free. 

Sheree writes about her mental health journey on her blog and shares resources on her website. 

Read this article.

Bipolar: (My) Duality dance with my devil

"You do not have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body." - C.S. Lewis

Read this article.

Bipolar Distress

"It seems like forever and a day ago when I started being a participant in the Longitudinal Study. I have done several other studies since then. Participating in these studies helps me and also makes me feel like a contributor of something bigger than myself."

Read this article.

Collection of Poems by Kristine N.

Kristine wrote some beautiful poems about mania, suicide and healing from depression

Read this article.

For the Good of All

"At the very foundational level, research and the understanding of bipolar illness is what will lead to greater acceptance in the end. I’m proud to say I was part of it."

Read this article. 

Golden Ratio

"I open my eyes, and instantly my brain ignites. I gain peak momentum by the first step out of bed. Surges of motivation sling me from dancing like a worm ninja to meditating in a headstand."

Read this article. 

How to Cope with Feeling Depressed When Going Through A Divorce

"Learning how to cope when you’re feeling depressed because you’re going through a divorce is an important part of successfully getting through it all."

Read this article. 

I know that, without acceptance, healing cannot begin

"Having a diagnosis was HUGE for me. I could finally understand what I was going through."

Read this article.

It Happened to Me: I Needed a Social Worker and Then I Became One

"I only cared about the mentally ill in theory, until I was institutionalized myself."

Read this article.

Labels & Contexts

"They all call me a high-functioning bipolar. “They” are psychiatrists, psychologists, doctors, and researchers; the people who make the labels."

Read this article.

Living with Anxiety and a Love of Music

"During the rehearsal process I was so anxiety-ridden that there were weeks I couldn’t even will myself to get in the car -- the dread was so real – and this was something I LOVED doing!."

Read this article.

Off to the Races

"Fired with mania, I got into my car and drove, and drove--and when the gas was empty, I found myself in mid-Wisconsin."

Read this article.

Perfect Knowledge Casts Out Fear

"The road to stability has been long and arduous, but worth it."

Read this article.

Poems by Laura G.

Laura wrote stunning poems

Read this article.

Run Against the Wind

"The final visit my family had been invited to join me. It was then that the doctor explained his diagnosis: bipolar disorder – or manic depression."

Read this article.

Weathering the Storms

"Gus is truly my “little miracle,” and now, three years later, he is my Psychiatric Service Dog."

Read this article. 

Welcome to My Mania

"...If I feel this way because of my illness, then to it, I’m forever in debt..."

Read the collection of poems. 

Why I Participate in Research

"When I think about the course of my life and my experience in this world, I believe that nothing has affected me more profoundly than bipolar disorder." 

Read this article. 

Why I Participate in Research and What I Have Gained

"(...) She asked me, “Do you see yourself as mentally ill?” “I see myself as a poet” was my reply."

Read this article.