Online Bipolar Support provides useful
information about bipolar disorder or
bipolar depression, four different types, bipolar symptoms and bipolar treatment.
New Scholarship For Leaders of Bipolar Lives
Many bipolar people are very talented but fail to reach their full potential. By providing cash awards for students in higher education, scholarships for people with bipolar disorder give practical support to the bipolar community.
However, relatively few such scholarships exist, and it can be difficult to discover information about them. According to the donor of a newly established bipolar scholarship, “Bipolar disorder is in the news constantly right now. This has done a lot of good in terms of raising awareness and shattering some of the myths about bipolar. However, this new awareness needs to be matched by practical measures that encourage and support the bipolar community. Many people with bipolar disorder are highly gifted, but show a pattern of under achieving. Higher education seems like the right place to focus on. There is a definite shortage of higher education scholarships for consumers of mental health services.”
Some pharmaceutical companies that produce medications for treating bipolar offer scholarships, and a few others are available from private foundations. Some are also offered by private donors. Ideally, such scholarships would encourage research, reflection, and creativity in communicating important information about bipolar disorder.
A problem with some of the few scholarships available for consumers of mental health services is lack of privacy and stigma. Particularly welcome would be more scholarships that do not require detailed disclosure of any medical details, or publicity for the recipient. This trend seems to be changing, according to the organizer of one of the recently established new bipolar scholarships, “Too often, shame is attached to the bipolar label and we need to attract as many applicants as possible.”
Another exciting trend is the creation of scholarships that cater to the creativity of people with bipolar. For example, inviting submissions using multimedia formats and YouTube videos, as well as conventional essays.
The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) suggest students with bipolar disorder concentrate their search at the state and local level, as this is where the majority of scholarship opportunities exist. It is also a good idea to focus on the college the student wishes to attend, and apply for a broad range of scholarships, instead of just those relevant to consumers of mental health services. In this way they can talk about conquering bipolar in the context of a larger life story, instead of being defined by the bipolar label.
Some commentators fear that recent tragedies such as the campus shooting in Virginia will further marginalize students who are identified as having mental health issues. However, the reality is that bipolar students are more likely to be victims of violent crime than to commit such crimes.
Too many brilliant but bipolar individuals are not as fulfilled and productive as they could be, due to the disruption of mood episodes, but also because of frustration from lack of education and self actualization.
Today some excellent online guides to scholarships for students with bipolar disorder exist. Anyone who feels they may be eligible should research these opportunities and take advantage of the support on offer.
For additional information on the Bipolar Lives Scholarship, visit Bipolar Scholarships. Sarah Freeman is an attorney with manic-depressive illness, and webmaster of Bipolar Lives, one of the Internet’s leading sites on bipolar disorder. Bipolar Lives provides a unique blend of the latest research, effective bipolar management tools and techniques, and personal stories.
Have you Been Diagnosed as Being Bipolar?
Being diagnosed with an illness can often bring a sense of relief. It can help a person to make sense of the way they have been feeling for some time and draw a line under the frustration of not knowing what their condition was. At the same time though it can also bring up a whole host of new questions and worries, and this certainly happens when a person is diagnosed as being bipolar.
Bipolar disorder or disease as it is also known is a type of mood disorder that can send the bipolar person into manic highs and depressive lows. In between these periods, or episodes, the individual who is bipolar can feel totally normal and this is what can make having a diagnosis of bipolar disorder so hard to cope with.
Unfortunately being diagnosed with bipolar is seen as something as a stigma and this is due, in part to society not fully understanding the impact that being bipolar has on a person. Being diagnosed with bipolar is just the start of a long journey for a person who is striving to become well again and wants to function just like anyone else. It is all too easy to think that as soon as a person finds out they are bipolar all they have to do is to start taking their pills for the disease and this will miraculously cure them in no time. This assumption is wrong.
Instead being diagnosed with bipolar means that the person can now start to find what type of treatment will work the best for them and move forward with their lives. If you have had a recent diagnosis of bipolar you might have mixed feelings about what this will mean for your future so it is essential that you find out all you can about the condition.
Bipolar disorder can be treated in two main ways – with drugs which are prescribed specifically to the individual based on their own needs and the severity of their bipolar disorder and psychosocial treatments. Lithium is often used as it works very well as a mood stabiliser and there are different strengths of this available for doctors to prescribe for people diagnosed as being bipolar. Lamotrigine is also used if the patient has severe episodes of depression as this can help to alleviate the symptoms and further stabilise the mood. There is currently a strong debate over whether or not antidepressants should be used to treat those people who are bipolar as they have been known to be a trigger for depressive episodes, so it is quite unlikely that these would be prescribed.
Psychosocial treatments can come in the form of cognitive behaviour therapies and similar as these work at the core of bipolar disease and help to highlight emotional triggers for a sufferer. In fact many people believe that when used in conjunction with the correct drugs psychosocial therapy can make a big difference to the quality of life for a person who is bipolar.
Why Most People With Agoraphobia Take A Year Or More To Start Recovery
Understanding agoraphobia is the first step toward recovery. However, the average person with agoraphobia takes at least one full year to get diagnosed and even longer to learn enough about agoraphobia to start recovering.
Here are four reasons why:
1) Most people don’t know what is wrong with them at first. The symptoms of agoraphobia, especially during panic attacks, feel like those of a physical illness. For example, when you are hyperventilating it is easy to suspect something is wrong with your lungs. When your heart is racing it is easy to think something is wrong with your heart. When you are sick at your stomach day after day it is easy to think something is wrong with your digestive system. Plus, one symptom of agoraphobia is to “scan” your body for physical symptoms and worry about every little twinge as if it may be a major life-threatening illness.
2) Many doctors don’t know how to diagnose agoraphobia. People with agoraphobia commonly visit a succession of doctors trying to find a diagnosis. Most doctors will listen to physical complaints and run tests. They will report that the tests are negative, but often fail to suggest the presence of agoraphobia due to a lack of training. Doctors who can tell that your symptoms are caused by a panic attack may still not be able to tell what type of anxiety disorder you have or provide information about it.
3) Most people go through a period of denial. If finally faced with a diagnosis of a psychological disorder like agoraphobia, the human reaction is to throw up defenses and deny it. Most of us don’t think of ourselves as the type of person who would have a “mental problem” or “psychological disorder.” Psychological problems carry a stigma in society that physical illnesses and injuries do not.
The average person tends to consider a psychological disorder as personal weakness or lack of will power. People are more likely to treat a psychological disorder like agoraphobia as your fault than they would in the case of a physical illness or injury. If you were diagnosed with cancer, no one would stand over your bed during chemotherapy and question your will power, work ethic, or desire to go to work or school. But try having agoraphobia. People will do exactly that. Since no one wants to be viewed that way, it is hard for most people to admit to anyone they have agoraphobia.
4) Most people are reluctant to seek treatment for a psychological disorder because of the stigma. Even people who are able to admit to themselves that they have a psychological disorder might still have trouble admitting it to anyone else. It’s hard enough to try to explain irrational fear and panic attacks to your friends and family, and even harder to seek out professional help.
A word to the wise – the best course of action to take if you start experiencing panic attacks or the symptoms of agoraphobia is:
- See a doctor to rule out medical problems.
- Consult a mental health professional to get a diagnosis and/or begin treatment.
- Learn everything you can about your disorder.
Knowledge is the first step to recovery and the sooner you get started on your recovery from agoraphobia the faster it will be.
On the flip side, the longer it takes you to get diagnosed and admit that you have a disorder – the more agoraphobia has a chance to take root, and the more difficult your recovery may be.
If you suspect that you or someone you know might have agoraphobia, don’t take a year to start learning everything you can about it. Start today.
Stephen Price is a recovered agoraphobic who has started a website to help others who suffer from agoraphobia. Since his recovery he has earned masters degrees in counseling and psychology and published original research on anxiety.
