This might be long...

My Pdoc is looking to move intoa newer office.

The Real Estate lady took hi to look at an office he really liked , and was very interested in it.

Real Estate lady was hesitant....Pdoc asked her what her hesitation was ?

Real Estate lady thought it would be dangerous to have a Psychiatric Practice next to a Pediatrition

Pdoc looked at her and was appalled

Yeah, we live with false assumptions about who and what we are everywhere

I was going to add my personal "hardest part" but ya already named it!

I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell
:)

I think feeling isolated is the worst part for me. I feel like no one truly understands how I feel. Except for here of course. I don't know what I would do without my friends here at DS

OMG debbie, thats terrible! I can't believe that.

That is very sad that the real estate person was so narrow-minded, many ppl with psychiatric issues are wonderful and loving parents.


My bi-polar has never made me unfit to be a supportive parent to my 4 year old and I know many other ppl that are able to support and care for their children despite their disorders. I think its all lack of educations the public receives on psychiatric disorders that causes narrow mindedness.

The social stigman--in my workplace it's a joking matter. At least until I get a gullet full then crack a joke back that leaves them bleeding at the jugular. Lesson to be learned: don't poke the lion til you're sure there's a cage. This Bipolar doesn't play nice when mad.

I want to be honest with everyone about my illness and encounter support and understanding. In a dream world, right?

I can't even date because I'd have to hide a very real and important part of my life, and the stress of doing that is more than I could deal with.

I've seen so many guys express shock and horror at the idea of dating a woman with BP - they use the word "bipolar" as some kind of slur - something to avoid at all costs.

Yeah, unfortunately we have a hard time being open about it-- people do judge and go on stereotypes. But as far as dating, you just might find someone who can deal with it. I recommend not revealing it right away before they get to know you though. Wait a while first.

And I no longer reveal my illness at work. Too risky.

I encounter an attitude of "everyone is moody sometimes, doesn't mean you're bipolar". This is from my closest friends and family years after my diagnosis. The hardest part for me is disbelief. They all shrug it off like it's a headache. People like that just don't get it.

Don't mention it at work unless you have major issues with missing days due to your BP.

The stigma wouldn't be so bad if movies, books and tv didn't emphasize the worst or rarest aspects of BP. Hang in there, we all deal with society's skewed view of BP.

I hate the stigma associated with not just bp, but any mental health problems people may have. I am lucky that non of my friends or family buy into the stigma, and most people in my social circle now know a little more about bp and I hope this would stop them stigmatising against anyone else.

yes social stigma sucks. I feel like I live two lives sometimes , always hiding the fact that I am BP. Sometimes I just want to shout out to the world that I am BP, but am afraid of the consequences, Once I posted a like on a BP site on FB and watched my friends drop off. go figure , I guess they don't want a BP friend.

your right on it friend!!!

I hear you heretic. I don't have the answer but suffer the same issues.

I am now in a relationship with a man with mental health issues of his own and he knew I was bipolar before we got together. It has its own problems but at least stigma is not one of them.

Only other time I had a problem was telling someone on the second date, he said he had to take some time to decide if he wanted to date someone with bipolar, turns out he decided to take the risk. The rejection and damage was already done by him saying that though, and I never felt the same about him and ended it soon after.

I agree with the others, don't reveal too soon, though it is a huge burden hiding a big part of ourselves, and stressful trying to be normal all the time when we are not.

Sometimes I feel I tie myself in knots trying to hide my illness from the real world and pretending to be normal. Such stress.

This is a section out of some writing I'm doing right now:

"There is also a gross lack of understand on behalf of what it means to be a patient with Bipolar Disorder. We are perceived to be violent, on a hair trigger, and even to have multiple personalities, which is actually an out dated name for Dissociative Identity Disorder, a totally different illness. The truth of the matter is that in the vast amount of cases, the person with Bipolar Disorder is most likely to cause harm to one person: themselves.

In popular media, such as reality shows, participants often refer to themselves or others as Bipolar, presumably in most cases without having a psychiatric diagnosis of the illness. It appears contestants use the tag of being Bipolar to excuse bad behaviour and to make themselves edgy and thus gain the upper hand in programs where the more outrageous the perception of individuals, the more likely they are to succeed in the competition.

This manages to concurrently stigmatize the illness, belittle the seriousness of the illness and make it appear it is a behavioural trait rather than a serious, life threatening illness that takes lives."


That real estate agent is breaking Anti-Discrimmination laws as well as being a an f'ing cow. To infer that as a generalisaton, children would be at risk of harm or peodophilia because people are going to see a psych is actually creepy in itself. I hope the psych gave her a serve,