Bipolar Disorder - No Exit

Bipolar Disorder - 2.3 Million Afflicted
Of the approximate 2.3 million adults in the US diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (NAMI), about half are in treatment in any given year. An unknown number of children under the age of 15 also suffer from Bipolar Disorder. The dollar figure put on the cost of this illness annually is $7.6 billion dollars. Hope is greater now for the person with Bipolar Disorder than in any other era in history.

Bipolar Disorder - No Exit
Once a mental illness surfaces, there is no surgery which will take it away, no pill which will erase it permanently. It is not a flu nor a faulty heart valve fixed with antibiotics or organ replacement. Worse, it will not be ignored. Mental illness affects your behavior. Deeper yet, it affects your attitude towards yourself and colors others. Try turning back time to before it manifests. How do you unthink a thought or correct someone else’s? Once you’ve walked, how do you go back to crawling? You don’t. In a world where all things are possible, where miraculous inventions and miracle cures are commonplace, my mental illness, which has ruled me so completely for 34 years, remains constant.

True, there are remissions through medication. My attitude may change as I cope with my diagnosis of bipolar disorder over time, becoming better at dealing with my symptoms. Yet, these thoughts beg the issue, for once one is diagnosed with mental illness, there is no turning back. This is as true now as it was 34 years ago when I was first diagnosed. Some are not as lucky. They suffer a lifetime with no respite. Like fairy tales of old, it is not so easy to get the genie back in the bottle.