The Scarlet Letter of Mental Illness: De-stigmatizing Bipolar Disorder

This article is written from the perspective of one who has Bipolar Disorder. It focuses on misunderstandings of Bipolar Disorder, on the fact that it is the person who has the disorder who is most affected by it, and on the struggles but also the benefits of having this and other disorders. It calls upon educators to challenge the stigmas associated with mental illness, noting that while statistically the majority of people suffer from milder forms of Bipolar, the most extreme forms and symptoms of the disorder are popularized as the norm. Such misunderstandings not only cause people to be unfairly stigmatized, but also result in faulty mainstream diagnostic criteria that screen out people with milder forms of the disorder, keeping them from getting treatment.