Contact me now at (255) 352-6258 or complete my booking form to secure your appointment today.
On this World Bipolar Day, I thought I’d focus on some of the most popular posts that tell people what they need to know about bipolar disorder. These are posts that thousands have searched for and read spanning seven years. And what’s more is I think these posts are bipolar myth-busting. Share one or more on social media to help bust bipolar myths (not to mention stigma).
Even just this general information about bipolar disorder busts bipolar myths. It’s time that people know what bipolar really is.
People picture extreme, movie-like depictions of highs in bipolar disorder. Bust the myths around bipolar hypomania.
Bipolar depression isn’t necessarily what people think it is. Bust these myths.
But let’s not forget, there is hope for those with bipolar disorder.
When I run into people on World Bipolar Day I tend to tell them a fact or two about bipolar disorder and that’s what these articles are about. These articles are about taking a minute to recognize what bipolar disorder really is and not what Hollywood or the movies say it is. It’s all of our responsibility, whether you have bipolar or not, to educated other about the facts.
Image by Flickr user: Steven Depolo.
Natasha Tracy is an award-winning writer, speaker, advocate, and consultant from the Pacific Northwest. She has been living with bipolar disorder for 26 years and has written more than 2000 articles on the subject.
Find more of Natasha’s work in her acclaimed book: "Lost Marbles: Insights into My Life with Depression & Bipolar" on Amazon.
Connect with Natasha at the social media links below.
Shopping for someone with a mental illness can feel tricky—you want a gift that actually helps, not just more clutter. This guide walks you through 15 thoughtful, low-pressure mental health gifts that offer real comfort, reduce stress, and say, “I see you and I’m here,” during the holidays and all year.
I’m never going to call bipolar pain a “gift.” Most days, I just want it to stop. But emotional and even physical pain aren’t always random torture—they’re often trying to tell us something. This piece digs into what your pain might be saying, how to listen, and how that can make living with it just a little easier.
World Mental Health Day, 2025: The U.S. is rolling back mental-health care. Parity is paused, 988 LGBTQ+ services were cut, and clinics face funding hits. Here’s exactly what changed and how it harms people with mental illness.
Subscribe to my monthly newsletter to get the latest from Bipolar Burble, Breaking Bipolar, my vlogs at bpHope, my masterclasses, and other useful tidbits -- plus get a FREE eBook on coping skills.
I am happy to report that I am off all antidepressants which I have been using for more than 20 years. For more than 7 months now I am taking the Truehope multivitamins replacements +Omega 3+Vitamin D3+Faith in God who created me and He knows best. I am still trying different dosage but for sure no antidepressants.
You left out the blog with the suicidal scale thing… ya know, of 0-10 I think and what each rank means.. in patient speak
I still, refer to it.. this many years later
no, no clinical person does and I’ve had one or two give me a one eyebrow raise when I’ve mentioned it…
but it truly does speak to this bipolar struggler’s experience when suicidal… or not necessarily, wanting to die… just wanting the pain of life to cease
it also gives those without bipolar or mental illness, as a whole.. a idea as to why we feel it and where we land on it and why it is what it is…
Hello Natasha,
I just found your blog and I’m looking forward to more posts you.
Hello Ms. Tracy,
Have you ever had to wean off of a benodiazepine? I am doing that now and I feel horrible x 1000….aside from Zoloft, this is so much worse.
If you or anyone else has these terrible symptoms, please let me know.
God bless,
Wayne A. Woodward
Hi Natasha,
Here in the US it’s also National Turkey Soup Day! Talk about stiff competition. My post sharing World Bipolar day will be taking full comedic advantage of this.
~Patrick
for some reason i didn’t comment on the “antipsychotics for depression” post when it ran, but i’d like to get this off my chest now: it’s a bad bunch of drugs. despite what the cost-minimizing bean-counters say, despite how well the molecules turn “difficult” patients into “manageable” vegetables. now i realize that your experience may be different than mine. even thalidomide seems to be staging a bit of a comeback lately. your mileage may vary. but for this here lifelong bipolar, the phenothiazines and all their modern cousins are just a bunch of bug killers. remember, a brain is a wonderful beautiful fragile complex delicate organ: it’s a bad idea, spraying it with raid.
Hi Michael,
I completely understand your perspective on antipsychotics. I spent years hating them and lord knows I have the weight gain to prove it.
But it’s a bad idea to write off an entire class of drugs because of someone’s bad experiences. Now I’m on a very low dose of an antipsychotic (in a cocktail) and it helps a great deal.
My point is, even me, who hates them viciously, can’t write them off entirely because sometimes they are the only thing that works.
(PS, I would suggest I am not a vegetable.)
– Natasha Tracy
Hi Michael,
First, let me state that I am an RN with BPI. I believe you’re correct about most phenothiazines. They are mostly an older outmoded form of treatment with some horrific side effects when used in large doses, or for too long – I’ve pretty much only seen their use in this current era due to a patient’s financial constraints, i.e., ppl. without insurance who cannot afford to pay for the newer atypical antipsychotics.
However, I’ve seen incredibly good effects from many of the newer atypical antipsychotics, both in small doses as an adjunct to other meds in BPI and II, in larger dosages for full blown manic psychosis (including my own son’s treatment,) and in tiny doses for the agitation and stress sometimes associated with early dementia in the elderly population. I have also benefited from short-term use of Abilify for a terrible, non-stop ruminating depression over the stress of a once good, sibling relationship that had turned emotionally abusive towards me. Generally, I’m a huge fan of Lithium for the manic phase of BPI.
All that being said…we really are all snowflakes when it comes to the treatment of bipolar disorders, and there is no one treatment plan for all of us – individualized plans are so important when treating this illness.
And you are also correct about the human brain – it’s not just the wonderfully complex and fragile organ you described – it’s the quintessential organ that makes us human. The essence of who we are lies within that three pound structure. It must be treated with utmost care. However, I don’t think treating the structural and functional anomalies that go hand and hand with episodic decompensation is akin to spraying the brain with raid. The brain does go awry with this illness, and it needs treatment just like any other organ system that undergoes pathological changes.
It sounds like you’ve had some bad experiences with phenothiazines – that’s understandable. I wish you better health and peace, today on World Bipolar Day, in your future treatment plans, and your overall life.