IamWHO's comments

When others blame your mental illness for every emotion you feel

07 Apr 2007 10:20 PM

When I was an adolescent, every time my mother was unhappy about something, my father blamed it on menopause. Being invalidated really depressed her. I am bipolar and reactions from people are a big source of stress for me. I don’t want anybody to know, because they start making all of these assumptions about me. I am trying to be more open about it, but keep suffering more consequences. Everything changes and the person starts reading into everything you say. People need to get past their fear and prejudice. Not all bipolar individuals go out and act crazy, picking fights with people. We aren’t all liars, hypochondriacs, promiscuous, or abusing drugs. But people’s perceptions often blind them from the truth. And when it comes from people close to us it is infuriating.