When it comes to bipolar disorder, what people don’t understand greatly outweighs what people do understand.
The internet is filled with posts titled, “What I wish the world knew about…,” filled in with something that, while seemingly common, is actually quite misunderstood. (For example, “What I wish the world knew about being on food stamps.”)
I love reading these articles because what I thought I knew to be true turns out to be not true at all. I’ve found that I only knew half the story or believed a stereotype or wasn’t aware of a key fact, and that changed my perspective.
So what do I wish the world knew about bipolar disorder?
If I wanted to be a smart aleck — and I can be at times — I’d boil it down to 25 words: I wish most people knew any actual fact about bipolar that wasn’t based on something they saw on TV.
I do understand that wouldn’t be very helpful, though. So here goes:
Bipolar Depression and Mania Aren’t Equally Split
The basic definition of bipolar disorder is alternating between mood extremes: the lows of depression and the elevation of hypomania or mania. This leads many people to believe that depression and hypo/mania come in equal parts. In other words, if a person is depressed for two weeks, then he or she gets two weeks of mania.
That isn’t true at all. It’s possible to be depressed for months, then on a high for two days, then right back to depressed for two months. There’s no biological meter that ensures depression and mania get equal time.
Bipolar Treatments Don’t Work Overnight
Treatments for bipolar disorder don’t just take time to work — they take a lot of time to work. From the day I was diagnosed to the day I really felt like I had a handle on my disorder was every bit of four years.
It takes a lot more than a few days or few weeks to find the correct treatment regimen. The medications need to be taken on a schedule over the long term. They are maintenance drugs, not “take as needed” drugs like aspirin.
One episode of Homeland showed CIA officer Carrie Mathison starting to have symptoms of her bipolar disorder. She goes to the medicine cabinet, takes two pills, and a few hours later, she’s better. Her symptoms aren’t gone, though, so later in the day, she goes back and takes two more pills.
This isn’t a correct portrayal of being on psychiatric medication. It’s barely the correct portrayal of having a headache.
And this says nothing about the time it takes in therapy to master coping skills, recognize any limitations we might have, and just learn how to go about living with a chronic illness day in and day out.
Bipolar disorder is a serious illness with a 15 percent fatality rate. It isn’t a colorful personality trait. It only makes sense that something this serious would take a significant amount of time to recover from.
Not Everyone With Bipolar Is the Same
There is a lot of talk in the mental health community about how we aren’t our labels. Everyone with a bipolar 1 diagnosis has episodes of mania, but each of us experiences moods differently. The way our moods cycle in and out is different. My mania takes me to different places than yours.
How we feel about what’s happening is also very different, just as two people watching the same movie can have varied reactions. Even if we have the same symptoms, we won’t respond to them in the same way.
Once you decide that an illness, any illness, defines a person, you have taken a piece of their humanity away. Their lives, in your mind, become more about their illness and less about them. You can see how that would be a devastating blow to anyone, and why the world should know that isn’t true.
UPDATED: Originally posted June 16, 2015