(No more) stigma stories: understanding bipolar, mental health, and finding community
In this episode, mental health experts talk about the importance of removing the stigma of mental health conditions and understanding mental illness.
Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The best thing I ever did for my mental health
was make sure I was surrounding myself with people I felt connected with. Start meditating. Not compromise on exercise.
And have I been perfect about it? Absolutely not. But I will say that when I'm sticking to regular exercise, whatever that movement is,
even if it's just a walk, that has been the best thing. Letting myself be free.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
We all experience shifts in our mood. Sometimes we're up. Sometimes we're down. But occasional mood changes in bipolar disorder
are very different. For most people, a shift in mood might last a few hours. But if you have bipolar disorder,
the shifts can last for days, even weeks. Often with huge changes in your behavior. These are called mood episodes and there are two main types.
Manic episodes are often characterized by extreme elation as if nothing can ever go wrong. You're high on life.
Or you may feel so wired and energized that it's actually uncomfortable and you feel like you have more energy than you know what to do with.
Depressive episodes are the opposite. You may feel extremely sad or hopeless. You may be unable to sleep or sleep too much.
You might even contemplate suicide. There are also episodes with both manic and depressive symptoms. These are called episodes with mixed features.
You might feel sad and empty and simultaneously feel intensely energized. In each case, bipolar mood episodes
can be seriously disruptive to your life. The type of bipolar disorder that you're diagnosed with is based in part on the type of episodes you experience.
Thankfully, you can live a full, healthy life with bipolar disorder. Each type is treatable, even the most severe forms, generally through a combination of psychotherapy
and medication. The first step to taking control of your bipolar disorder is to talk to your health care provider. Together you can develop a plan that works for you.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RWENSHAUN MILLER: None of my friends at school knew why I left school. They never knew that I was in the hospital. I was ashamed to even talk about it.
I was an athlete. I was popular. And I was a Black man. Those types of things are not things that we actually go through.
So I've been living with bipolar disorder for 14 years now. Even as a younger child, I had issues dealing with anger
and then also sleeping. We never really associated me not wanting to be bothered with people or me wanting
to stay in my room for extended periods of time as a symptom of depression. My initial break where I realized
that I needed some actual real help was my sophomore year in college. I suffered a knee injury playing football and I went through a period that had surgery.
I really was secluded in my room then because I never left my room, didn't go to class. That started that cycle of me having racing thoughts.
I didn't sleep for about two weeks. Over a matter of six weeks, that's when I lost about 25 pounds. My mom, she could tell that something was going on with me
just by my voice. They took me to the hospital. Initially when I got the diagnosis, receiving it from someone who don't necessarily look like you
or that you don't really trust, it kind of went in one ear and out the other. My first thing that was I couldn't be me. For men at a very young age, we tell them do not cry.
You can't show any type of emotion. It's a weakness for you to do that. Especially as Black men, you're a target
in so many different avenues. I'm going to go back to trying to do the same things that I was doing before to try to get by.
I self medicated with alcohol. I was going through a fifth of tequila every other day and I did that for over three years. At the time, though, I had my best grades
and I was holding down a full time job at the same time. No one were the wiser that something else was really wrong with me and I was tearing up inside.
I attempted suicide three times, attempted to overdose on pills twice, and the last time I put a gun on my head and pulled the trigger
and it jammed on me. That was my actual wake up call saying that I'm ready to accept that.
Once I started back treatment and understanding what bipolar disorder looked like for me, I wanted to share with others and learn what
the clinical aspect was like. That's what prompted me to go get my master's degree. But then also while I was in my master's degree program,
I started to read things and I was like, yo, this is not going to work with the population that I want to serve.
Because I know my people are not participating in a lot of research studies. I wanted to challenge it to actually
be inclusive of my people. My motto is be who you needed when you were younger. I needed someone that looked like me, someone
that was able to relate to me without even always verbally communicating. The individuals that I work with, man,
we're not even sitting in my office. We're playing basketball or we're in the gym working out or we're going to the park and creating an atmosphere where
they feel comfortable. Although you have this particular diagnosis, you can still be happy. [MUSIC PLAYING]
I felt like for a really long time when it came to treatment, I was a diagnosis and not an individual.
INTERVIEWER: Dr. Sportelli, I'd love if you could talk a little bit about treatment options and sort of walk us through what some of the options are
and how they range. DOMENICK SPORTELLI: When someone's in acute mania, we need to slow that down. And we do have some psychopharmacology ways
to do that. And pretty much the gold standard at this point is a mood stabilizer. The other option would be a group of medications
called antipsychotics. And I know they're called antipsychotics, but they do help with bipolar quite a bit. These medicines also can bring down that manic episode
and give you a firmer footing and a foundation to work on the other aspects of your life. The pills, the medication helps.
There is no doubt that it helps. But you have to change your lifestyle. We know that exercise helps when you're in a depressive phase.
20 or 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise each day. Getting outside. Having family support and peer support
and surrounding yourself with the right people who are educated about bipolar disorder works. So we do have a lot of options.
HANNAH BLUM: The treatment that has worked for me is getting on medication. But that journey getting to medication took way too long.
So part of my treatment and the way in which I work with my doctors, it's really a collaboration
where I have a voice. For treatment options, medication, I experimented. I was very assertive with my doctors.
If I wasn't feeling it, I went back in. And if I didn't feel that they were seeing me and listening
to me, I found someone else. And now I have found that team and it's great. One of the biggest things for treatment
is peer support and support groups. I go to support groups three times a week. And I need my people.
And they're a reflection to me, because we have this bond. And when you can see other individuals like you that
talk about it, that is really what has helped me on my journey and accepting it and getting
and staying on medications. But then again, of course, also lifestyle and all of that. But I think that community is something
that is part of treatment and that's pivotal to your success as someone living with a mental illness.
Right. MIKE LARDI: Unlike Hannah, I was not forward about my choice in health care and physician
early on. I was very passive about that early on. I didn't have the capacity to be in my own corner for that.
I lucked out and I got reassigned to a doctor who really was on top of it, cared a ton,
was willing to explore things, ask questions. And I'll tell you, one thing I learned from interacting with her is that you just have to arrive
at a place in your mind. And again, this is that mindset where you need to believe and actually act as though you
are your doctor's best patient. You pay attention. If something's not working, you communicate. You try, try, try and you just keep it all moving.
You always keep the appointments booked. You always touch base. If you're not going to make it, you always book the next appointment. It's so beneficial to put that effort into that relationship,
because it's going to trickle down into everything else. [MUSIC PLAYING]
Some people you got to love from a distance and some people, you got to love them right out the door. [MUSIC PLAYING]
How do we navigate and move in the world? And how do we take our mask off and where do we do it?
And one of the things that we talk about in the book and Courtney, you and I, talk about personally
is that we have to have a tribe. The whole world is not going to embrace us.
First of all, it doesn't deserve our sacred stories. That's number one. And even if they want to know it, the truth of the matter
is we must find and create a tribe, a small tribe of people
who we can tell our whole stories to. Everybody doesn't need to be in your inner circle.
You can't take everybody with you. Everybody's not going to be able to-- you can't travel with everybody.
And that's a life lesson. My wife and I always say there's some things they're
going to learn, they're going to get in the house. But there's some things they're gonna get out in that world. And hopefully those lessons don't take them down a pathway
that they can't recover from. And I think what you're also saying is that some relationships are lifetime,
but we need to check the expiration date. We need to check, just like we do on medication and on food,
there are relationships. And that can even be with immediate family. If someone isn't good for us, it doesn't mean
we hate them or they hate us. But there is a journey of deciding who it is that belongs around our table, in our Ear
COURTNEY VANCE: None of this is a quick fix. It doesn't start at all. It just gets worse if we don't talk about it.
mental health behavior
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