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Announced annually on March 30, World Bipolar Day (WBD) is a global advocacy initiative aimed at encouraging global education, open discussion and improved sensitivity to bipolar disorder.
From 1 to 2% of the British population is bipolar throughout their lives and recent research suggests that 5% of them are in the bipolar spectrum.
A serious mental illness characterized by significant mood swings including manic highs and depressions, with the majority of bipolar individuals experiencing alternating episodes of mania and depression.
The services offered to the affected people vary from one country to another in Europe. In this spirit, Euronews has talked to people all over the continent about their experiences of the disease.
"I found out that I was bipolar in 2004, after 10 years of repeated misdiagnosis, during which I became more and more mentally ill, isolated and unemployable," said James.
"I ended up treating myself with marijuana for my escape. This resulted in drug-induced psychosis, which made me very vulnerable, open to abuse and exploitation.
"I was severed for the first time during this psychosis, released too early and sunk into psychotic depression.
"In October 2004, I jumped out of the second floor window and landed on my head, suffered traumatic injuries and was very lucky to survive, and was seriously disfigured by the attempt. Suicide, deeply depressed and determined to hang me free from the psychiatric unit, although I was diagnosed with bipolar.
"There was a slight sense of relief because I suspected the disease for some time and that explained a lot.In 2006, I had a cosmetic surgery that largely corrected my disfigurement and I was able to start to volunteer.
"I am married and my wife supports me a lot.We now have an 18 month old daughter.I have a small group of friends who know my diagnosis and who also support me, as well as my colleagues from Bipolar UK. .
"Despite the trauma that I have suffered and will never fully recover, I consider my bipolar as a positive factor, without all my experiences I would not be able to do my peer support work. with the high standards that I set myself. " . "
James works as a Peer Support Officer at Bipolar UK.
"I was 15 and it was the last day of school," Ozlem said. "I did not manage to get a letter of recommendation for receiving the highest marks of one point, which resulted in a stressful, sleepless night for me.
"By showing signs of depression, my family took me to a psychiatrist and shortly thereafter I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, with which I have been living for 33 years.
"A few years ago, I created an badociation where I try to educate the community about the disease and build bridges between patients, families and badociations. activities aimed at preventing bipolar people from being stigmatized in society. "
"In June 1990, I woke up one day and thought that my wife wanted to kill me, with the help of her lover and my daughter.It was a panic attack," Donato said. "I panicked, I ran away for a few days and ended up at the psychiatrist's house.
"My family and friends wanted to know what was going on, so after a few months, I was diagnosed with" bipolar with lack of affection and mixed manic episodes. "I trusted even if what psychiatrists and specialists have written workers can further weaken the vulnerable.
"For 20 years I followed the pharmaceutical path, the relationship between my body and my soul broke down and my emotions triumphed, I did not think my wife was trying to kill me this time, but I was unable to kill parts of my body. " life that I did not like.
"I got married at 18 and I have a 45 year old daughter, but we have no relationship anymore. After breaking so many things, I can look back without feeling anger and trying to realize my dreams.
"I am now a mediator, a trade unionist, I found myself doing what I love, I do not try to save lives, but I want to make sure that people do not feel Bipolars are powerful machines, sometimes feel that they can save the world with their energy, at other times they fall deeply into depression.
"For 20 years, I tried to turn off my light with medication, but when I quit smoking, I finally overcame my" inner tsunami. "It is also important not to judge, because in the Everyday life, it is common for us to feel judged all the time.We are only the tip of the iceberg in a sick world that can not find a cure for its disease. "
Donato works as a mediator in support groups with the NGO On The Road Again.
"At age 24, I was going through a period of euphoria and I decided to leave my company in the hands of someone else and go to another island. Alarmed by my sudden change of behavior, my friends called my family, who came to pick me up, posting such an obvious case of manic-depressive psychosis that I was diagnosed in a phone call, although the doctors did not tell me have not said it before my hospitalization.
"When the doctor told me that I had bipolar disorder, it was difficult to integrate.This happens to us all: you are a person like everyone else and you suddenly become a person suffering from mental disorders.
"My family did not respond well to the time nor in the years following my diagnosis, I chose to distance myself from them because I feel that They blame me for my trouble and that they think I do not know how to care for it. " myself.
"But this is not the case – over the years and medication changes, which have limited side effects, I have gone through long periods of stability.These have not been interrupted only by periods of intense stress, such as the death of my mother or my divorce.I have my tricks and we are learning to live with the disease.
"However, the stigma is still very present: I am a pharmacist and I can not tell people that I have bipolar disorder.I know people do not understand and that they would lose confidence in me. Society still needs to be made aware of my disorder. "
"I had my first depressive episode at age 15," Yuliya said. "I was constantly depressed, it was hard for me to wake up in the morning, I woke up with tantrums, it became harder to communicate with people, I could not to concentrate, I was shaking all the time.
"I learned that I had bipolar disorder last summer. Before that, I had an anxiety disorder, but I noticed that I do not have a stable mood: it's up or I feel very bad.
"At first, I went to see different doctors and they said that I just did not like and that I prescribed antidepressants.In the spring of last year, my condition started. to deteriorate, I started falling into prolonged hypomania, mood a little too high, but not yet mania.
"At that time, I was too active, I did not sleep much, I wanted to constantly do something, I left all the money in the stores, too much to eat … If in an episode depressed, I slept 12 hours without enough sleep, in hypomania I slept for six hours and I felt good.
"It was weird and it was exhausting.
"It is difficult for people with BAR to ask for help, especially if it is neither St. Petersburg nor Moscow.In Ryazan, psychiatry is bad.None of my five doctors could not The old generation of psychiatrists do not diagnose bipolar disorder.
"Sometimes I can fall in love with parents, have lightning and mood swings, then some things may seem very serious to me and I can offend some insignificant things." Have trouble mastering the information.
"With BAR, as with other diseases, a diet is needed.For example, lack of sleep can result in a depressive episode, that's what I've done for myself." J & # 39; try to adhere to the diet, I sleep normally.Exercise and meditation help me a lot.
"My family and friends are aware of my diagnosis and support me.Mum gives money for treatment, although she does not quite understand the essence of this disorder.It thinks that if I drink pills, everything should be perfect and there should be no mood swings, but in general, they understand me.
"I'm not hiding, but I only speak with people willing to face that.Later ago, I wrote articles on bipolar surgery, but I was confronted to a lack of understanding on the part of people with a normal psyche I realized that the inhabitants of my city are not yet ready for this.
I understand that these people did not succeed, they did not feel it. In addition, our culture is felt and I calmly identify with it. The most important thing for me is that my environment understands me. And I think that little by little the stigmatization of the bar will pbad.
"My first bipolar incident occurred at the age of 18, while I was studying in a medical school," said Ashley, not her real name. "I had a big drop, I was afraid to go out of my home, a demotivated social phobia started.As I did not understand what was going on, I could not continue my studies and I was leaving l & # 39; university.
"Then my moods began to wobble.I have long tried to find myself, I have changed many types of activities: I have tried to learn different trades, I have I managed to live in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Novosibirsk … every manic phase started when I left somewhere and started from scratch.
"I had suspicions of bipolar disorder well before the official diagnosis.I was officially diagnosed last year in the summer.A suicide attempt last summer was a serious factor for getting medical care.
"My condition worsened after my move to the Sverdlovsk region in 2017. These are the typical symptoms of the depressive phase when you can not get up in the morning and you do not want to do anything. total loss of the meaning of life, I stayed in that state for six months and ended up thinking that if I can not get out of it, maybe I should not be at all right here.
"My partner gave me the idea that something must be done about it because it's not normal.
"When I did not know about my illness, the manic phases seemed to me to be a sort of superpower, it seemed to me that I was so different from others and that I understood better that I could be better. so cool to be.
"You start doing things that did not interest you before, you meet new people, and if you evaluate it objectively, you spend too much on your body.
"At that time, I had enough to sleep for three or four hours, and sleep was also restless. Your brain is running constantly.
"Slow people start to get upset, and if my ideas were resistant, I reacted aggressively, you simply can not see or evaluate the situation objectively.
"I managed to get a break by starting to take drugs. When the antidepressants started to work, I realized that I was in a neutral state and that is what a normal person feels. For me, it was such a revelation that I thought. : how come I lived almost 28 years of my life without knowing how people can function normally?
"The people I work with do not know about my illness, I'm not ready to talk about it now, although, of course, there is a desire to open up, but we have strongly stigmatized mental disorders. whether the person is open, society is always closed, unfortunately.
"My partner knows it naturally, he monitors my condition, helps me to follow him, I'm very grateful to him, there were difficulties with the parents, all my drops and my movements were perceived negatively, he was n & # 39; There was what was happening, but the problem is now solved: During the official diagnosis, my parents announced that they supported me.
"Now, I'm getting ready again for my admission to my university from where I was expelled due to illness."
For more information on Bipolar Disorder, visit the Bipolar UK website.
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