Why You Need to Talk to People About Your Bipolar Disorder

You're going to need to talk to people about your bipolar disorder. It doesn't matter what stage of the illness you are in -- just after bipolar diagnosis, deep into bipolar treatment or in remission -- you need other people to know about your mental illness. So let's talk about why you need to talk to people about your bipolar and how to do it.

People Don't Want to Talk to Others About Bipolar Disorder

I know a lot of people try to avoid talking to people about their bipolar disorder. It's a deep subject and you don't know how people are going to react -- this makes talking about it very scary. I understand this.

Some other people have tried to talk about their mental illness only to be met with prejudice, dislike, disbelief and other negative things and unhelpful. This, of course, deters any future communication.

All that being said, talking about bipolar disorder is still really important.

Why Talk to People About Your Bipolar Disorder?

This is actually really simple -- no person is an island. We are social creatures by nature and we need the support of others in anything major that we do. Not everyone has to support us in everything, of course, but some support really is needed, especially when you're dealing with an illness that can kill you. You need a backstop. You need a hand to hold. And even if you've managed before now without those things, at some point in the future, I promise you will need support. It's the nature of climbing such a cliff -- you need someone to holler "on blay" when you need it.

But in addition to emotional support, you'll need physical support sometimes too. You'll need someone to be your emergency contact. You might need someone to visit you in the hospital. You might need someone to pick up your medication one day. You might even need someone to sit in your appointments with you and help you talk to your doctor. These are important things that you can only get after you talk to someone about your bipolar disorder.

And even if emotional support and physical support doesn't appeal to you, consider this: it's horrible to lie, even through omission, all the time. If you have to present your face as if you aren't sick to people all the time, it is exhausting and unnecessary if you're honest about your illness with people.

How to Talk to People About Your Bipolar Disorder

But, of course, when you decide to talk to people about your bipolar disorder, you can't just do so willy-nilly and expect great results. In this video, I talk about two big rules that come into play when you talk to others about your bipolar disorder. They're simple to remember but very important.

Why do you talk to people about your bipolar disorder?