It will reflect badly on me posting this and it’s against my better judgment but oh well.
I managed to get myself into a fight on my Livejournal last night, which started with my saying I didn’t like wearing my sleeves up (obvious reasons) and ended with abuse being thrown at me, variously calling me a slut and a prostitute and saying I wasn’t bipolar.
I think you have answered your own question to be honest, if you hate your scars then a) why cut such a easy to see and hard to hide place, b) why carry on cutting why not keep fighting to get the help to find healthier ways, and if they don’t help keep on fighting.
If you are saying ‘on show for the cause’ it is not a case of scars being on show for the cause but when you start to accept and love yourself you will start to see yourself thru the eyes others see you thru and see that you can be both liked and loved for who you are not what you may think of yourself, the 2 are very different.
as a good friend of mine sings in one of his many songs ‘once you see yourself as a victim and live just to survive, you loose sight of all your hopes and dreams but they’re for why your alive, but don’t you ever give in cos we can never give up or forever we’l be living as victims of the world that we live in’
No you can’t change the world but you can try and change how the world is for you and for you personally as if you keep waiting for someone else to change it for you, you will be waiting a very long time.
If your not prepared to do anything for change then why did you try and make yourself into a martyr for the cause of Bipolar? If you hate the scrutanity of what it created perhaps should of thought harder before becoming what you now claim to hate when only a few well not even that long ago you were wanting to to change things
Don’t try and put this you shifting of opinion on things down to Bipolar as to be blunt as a fellow bp survivor and one of many other things I can’t stand it when anyone blames anything upon their diagnoses.
So either try and do something proactive to change how you are seen or get the help you need and deserve.
Strangers don’t bite, well unless you ask politly, and if they have nowt better to do than stare at your scars that says more about them than it does you.
it takes more than being on a med for not very long to decide ‘oo I’m ok I don’t need them’ I have been in the middle ground for well since the summer of 2005 when it comes to my moods BUT I know that if I was to stop my meds then it would to be blunt be a stupid thing to do as clearly they must be doing something for me to be 2 years of stability, which I am not prepared to jepordise by stopping my meds, even then if I was to stop them well have the thoiughts of stopping them I would get the advice of my gp and all as they have medical experience whereas I only have survivor experience and hey anyone can use and misuse the internet, afterall you can’t believe everything you read online now can you!? but maybe you can!? I dunno.
If they give you a stern warning and it put the fear of shit into you then find a psych team that work with their clients as aposed to bully them into submission, that is unless you get kicks out of being spoken to and threatened by psych workers.
if you are uncomfortable about your looks and body then make a effort to gain the help and therapy to enable yourself to slowly like yourself and in time to love yourself, dig out the magic wand from the cereal box I offered earlier on this evening.
I have a lot of other differences as they aren’t problems as I refuse to enable them to have the power to become a problem other than the few I listed above, the point I am trying to make is the whole world has our own issues but it is how we work with those differences and issues that counts,
again I will say this that I believe you deliberatly choose what parts of you are accessable by others online, anyone can vent online but they can also choose who if anyone can be privilidged to help them with their ventings.
All I am trying to do is point out to you how I have ’seen’ your issues as you describe them to those of us who read what you say, afterall the internet is rather crap in one way as you can’t tell what tone someone means something in,
sigh then again they can’t tell what tone you were to of read their reply in either so it is swings and roundabouts
You have though blamed others a fair bit over the last few months, and I know I bit my tongue at the time but I may as well say it now, your posts begging for money for your rent to be paid by others in the cyber world for you are to be blunt both bullying and manipulative, not to mention head fuck games, incredibily devious and sick, you gained money from people and then it some how was able to be by you transfered from paypal to your bank with no wait in days that it would take anyone else, and then everything was solved till the next time you bullied and manipulated others.
As my partner and I both said last night when I read your post outloud (as I tend to read everything I read online outloud as I find it easier to absorb) what sort of job would pay �12 a hour to someone who isn’t qualified, espeically in Camden, well unless you were being paid to lay on your back for the money!
hate to say this but I judged based on facts, and last time I checked my GIRLFRIEND is not male as you dared to claim on your reply to me/us on your journal so I suggest you learn to read first before talking a pile of wank, then again you clearly enjoy typing shit all day only downside is the BBC haven’t realised just yet, but they will soon enough and when they do boy shall I chuckle wiht amuzment to myself and I am sure my gf, so enjoy your life, remain fucked up and when you come back in a few years adn say ‘my g-d you were right and I was just a misguided attention seeking slut who enjoys fuckign iwht media when they should be concentrating on positive examples to be role models insteading putting the already mentally unstable at more risk by a lying girl wiht borderline pd at worse’ I will sit here and remind you that you were and probably will always remain a statistic and name that I am sure will become engulfed in the psych system for just a few years, then again they could lock you up for your own protection then the world wouldn’t have to tell you home truths that you don’t want to hear then when they are heard you to say that they are being said as mean, grow up turd, then again you are shorter than me and that takes some doing bya adult and realise the world owes you nowt and you owe it everything, and once you realise that and do some actual grafting as aposed to being paid for sleeping around be sure to let me know!
These are the words of a self-confessed bipolar “survivor” who is apparently “stable” (Hm). Because she is a “survivor” and I am a “sufferer”, this makes me a victim whereas she is somehow liberated.
I haven’t told one lie connected to my illness or the events of the past few years or what I was up to in my life. She said I was a “devious, sick, manipulative bully” for asking for help online. I asked for help after quite a lot of people asked me to.
And of course, because she has it so much worse than me, I don’t have bipolar disorder. Four psychiatrists have lied to me. Since I was fifteen I’ve been lied to. All these medications, all this treatment, is for nothing. I must tell the doctors that they were wrong. Thing is, every time I have done, they’ve reiterated to me that I am manic depressive.
I’m including this stuff in this post for two reasons:
1) To show you some of the hilarious abuse I get day by day (for every one nice e-mail I get about the site, I get one nasty one)
2) To illustrate a strange one-up-man-ship that does dwell in certain people; people who have utterly defined themselves and their worth by their illness.
Have you ever come across these kinds of attitudes? I have, on forums and things, but it’s absolutely baffling to me. Why do you want to be worse than someone?
There’s also the matter of “positive language”. Calling yourself a “survivor” rather than a sufferer. (I use neither, I don’t “suffer” from mental illness but survivor sounds utterly wanky and should be the enclaves of people who have had terrible things happen to them and who are still here and lovely). Does positive language really change anything? I guess it can be empowering. I do appreciate the value of language but I would feel somehow like a fraud using the term “survivor” when it comes to myself. I don’t have a problem with the term in general, I’d just never use it to describe myself. No-one hurtme, I haven’t been in a war. I just am, and when I’m better, I’ll be “recovering”. Like a mania addict.
My problem is that my manic depression, self-harm, body problems and anxiety are not big deals to me. I don’t feel like I was cursed and am being punished, I don’t feel as though my soul is tumultuous. I regard myself as someone who is unwell, but may not be unwell someday. When the day comes of my being well again, I won’t feel as though I have survived anything. There wouldn’t be a sense of victory. It will just be continuing to live, carefully.
I suppose I could have “survived” my messed up childhood and my father’s subsequent death, I could have survived Vicky’s suicide and my terrible existence in Belfast, but again, I don’t feel as if any of those events were so horrible to me that I survived them. Traumatic, painful, excuriatingly painful they were, but part of life to me and I don’t feel special somehow in coming through it.
Likewise, I don’t feel as though I need to represent anybody. My blog and my own thoughts and feelings are here to solely represent myself. If people find it helpful, well, that is what I want, but I have never claimed to speak for anybody else. People’s experiences vary greatly- the right is only mine to discuss my own experiences.
I don’t have the desire to pretend here that I am a strong “survivor” of mental illness. I’m nowhere near recovered and still at the mercy of manias and depressions and times of crippling insecurity.
I don’t feel as awful as I did yesterday. Funnily enough, this scrap focused my attention long enough to quieten my head down somewhat and I felt better for a while. I’m still having trouble with Lithium (threw up twice last night) but I’ll get used to it again. I should have my blood levels taken, you are right, so I’ll arrange it.
How sad that this is my last free weekend before starting my new job as a prostitute! Sorry, council worker. I’m looking forward to it but absolutely petrified. I was reading Bipolar Works yesterday and giggling at the “Tell me about your career” question. My CV is exactly as she described, a disjointed, fragmented series of fixed term contracts and temp jobs varying in senority and salary alongside episodes of illness.
There’s nothing like your first day at work to make you feel five years old again. Shuffling awkwardly in your cheap shoes while you blanche at the more expensive labels people wear. No idea where to sit, eyes wide open hoping to make a new best friend…
Out of curiosity, how many of you are holding down jobs at the moment?
Filed under: weird crazy people
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Wow. That’s just – words fail me.
Yes, I’ve experienced this. A few years ago, I was coming off a particularly nasty kind of psychotropic medication (one of the few times where I’ll ever refer to myself as a ’survivor’ of something), getting support along the way from some wonderful people on an invaluable forum. I say “some”, because the negativity and one-upmanship from some of the others was just unbelievable. Someone who had xyz symptom would iterate that nobody could possibly know how bad it was, because they’d only had abc symptom, etc etc, repeat ad-nauseum. I don’t go there any more; the negativity damn near destroyed me, and I’m sure it was destroying them.
Another thing that baffles me: the condition I have is cyclical – it comes in peaks and troughs. Sometimes of a weekly nature, sometimes monthly, sometimes even daily or hourly. During the peaks, where I may be working and doing quite well and getting out now and again, I get quite a lot of “Well, you’re getting out, so you can’t be ill. You can’t be as bad as me. You’re making it up.”
Yeah, yeah, ok. Whatever. I don’t understand it. I had a friend once who delighted in engaging publicly in ‘whose life is the worst?’ competitions. Whatever was happening for me, she always had to go one better. Or worse. It’s really bizarre. Anyway.
With regard to the job issue – I hold them down, but in a periodic way. Like you, it seems, my CV over the past few years is a mishmash of temping and short term contracts, because it seems easier to work around this that way. Again, due to the peaks/troughs nature of this, I may have a few good months where I work work work until I drop, possibly to make up for the times where I can’t. Then it catches up with me and I either get to a point where I can’t get out the door and get fired, or pre-empt it and run away from it all before it comes to that, because that somehow seems more dignified. Or something.
It’s frustrating, and I’d love to reach that point of stability where I could just, well, get a job without worrying about it.
Good luck with the new job. I’m hunting at the moment, and dreading that first-day thing.
thanks for the edit
I recently started a job in the voluntary sector…first full time job in about 7 years, and I’m loving it. Its making me feel almost sane. Doing something that feels worthwhile, and focusing on people who are worse off, or giving up their lives to help others, it seems to be doing me a lot of good.
I don’t even mind the getting up in the morning, which has always been an issue before.
And Sundays don’t have that feeling of creeping dread as they always did…
I feel, I don’t know, something almost not-unhappy about it. But I’m half scared to say the H word. It all goes wrong then doesn’t it?
As for your livejournal friend…well, its the price you pay for letting the general public into your life. The worlds full of ignorant asswipes. Don’t worry about it, or waste time trying to defend yourself. The effort of getting annoyed is not worth it on people like that. Save it for important stuff, like making food, and getting out of bed.
People who act like that have obviously got their own special problems. They take their anger out on the world. Don;t feed them. Just ignore them. They are ill too. They can’t help themselves also.
As for the money donating…its one thing I’ve found about mentalists…they stick together and support each other. I’ve gone out of my way to help fellow mentals, and vice versa. We understand what it’s like to face down that black pit. Its a good thing you have friends around who can get you to actually ask for help. Thats hard enough to do without someone with anger issues getting all het up about it for some reason clearly tangled up in their own psyche.
Yeah, that sounded really stable. When I’m stable, the last thing I do is start flamewars.
Also, good luck with your job!
ah, i see the person you’ve scrapped with on LJ is still up to their old tricks … you dealt with it well though. one piece of advice i would give however – don’t feed the trolls
) any attention for them is good attention …
re: the term “survivor” – being a political type, i like to use it for the sense of political/collective identity it gives me. i’m sure some people around the user/survivor movement look at me funny when they see someone in their mid-20s identifying as a survivor, but i’ve been in the system since my early teens so i figure i’m entitled ;o)
and yes, i’m holding down a job … had this one for a few years now, although i’ve had a couple of big periods of sick leave along the way. it probably helps that i work for a user group.
good luck with the new job
Wow, that was some rant. Judging by the spelling errors they must have typed it using their forehead.
I believe I’m right in saying that the term “survivor” is in very common usage within the mental health system. You see people referred to as “mental health service users/survivors”.
There’s a UK survivors discussion group. It used to be very good but has gone down hill since a load of people left following a dispute. The dispute was a bit like that scene from Monty Python’s The Life Of Brian where the group are keen to stress that they are the People’s Popular Front of Judea, not the Popular People’s Front of Judea: wreckers! splitters!
I find it hard to refer to myself as a survivor as it seems so self-dramatising. But then again maybe I’d have a different point of view if I’d been forced to have ect or drug treatment that I didn’t agree with.
I think you are going to get abuse while you run this blog. Some of it will be envy – a lot of people would like to be making films with the BBC and doing stuff for Mental Health Media.
the dispute on uksurvivors was a little more serious than that tony, it got very personal and hurt a lot of people (including many people who i respect and admire). the uk survivor movement is a small place, & the after effects of that dispute are still being felt at a national level. but hey, at least it gave you some monty python style amusement …
(sorry for hijacking comments, just needed to get that off my chest. going now)
Seaneen this chick has got some serious issues beyond BP. Kinda reminds me of the type of arguments I would get in with an EX friend. She was such a psycho about how I just needed to be more “postive” and everything would be fine. Give me a break.
I almost doubt this chick has BP. if she had been thru a real depressive episode she would know that being positive about things is not going to fix the problem, nor is it even possible at times.
some people just want you to “get over it” and be a “survivor” -( like them. ha ha! I guess being a bitch and a know it all is really what we all should strive for.) And they think that they have all the answers. Oh if you would just do everything the way they want and just see it the way they see it you could be just as happy as they are. So happy and secure in yourself in fact that you could go around the internet and spend your time trying to invalidate others experiences and points of view.
Wow! the wisdom these people share.
Sorry you had to deal with all that crap nonesense.
That sort of abuse is the reason I don’t keep a blog anywhere but MG, where only members can read it. MG is full of people who don’t have to one-up you on thier suffering and porject thier own BS issues onto you, so it’s safe and supportive. (for the time being).
I couldn’t immagine the shit I would get if I were to air even half of my issues on the net -open to all. All I do know is I wouldn’t be able to take it so well. though a good argument with a dumbass can sometimes be therapuetic.
AS for the job thing. I have been working for my dad for the past four years. cept for a short misadventure to Oklahoma with some idiot I was in love with.
My dad is good about giving me time off when I need it though i try not to need it.
the situation in the past year though has made me have to be tougher with myself. there really has been no one else to work at the rug business and my dad is already too buisy trying to keep his architectural firm afloat. So i have been pushing myself thru. Though I have been pretty stable for the past seven months or so. If I hadn’t gotten some stability I don’t think I could have held it together.
Even with the relative stability i still have taken more sick days than any other employer would have put up with.
If it were not for my dad having this business I would probably have been bouncing from job to job myself.
Hope this new job works out for you.
Hi survivorworker
I am genuinely sorry if I caused offense. Rereading the comment I acknowledge that it was very flippant. I was just being my usual cynical old self.
[...] Reading “I’m More Bipolar Than You” “Mad” or “Bad”? How To Be Anathema To Employers Mental Health Coalition Welcomes the New [...]
survivor? I dont use that word. I am a woman with bi-polar disorder. I try to live the best I can in spite of it. Thats how I describe myself. I am a mother and a grandmother and a partner and a friend. survivor? no. That is a word for maybe rape victims or victims or child abuse or molestation or something. I simply have an illness. A nasty one but I dont feel that word applies to me and I cant imagine using it. I have not considered myself a victim so ….. At any rate, that person had some issues I would say. What need would she have to berate you and put you down like that? Who is she to overule doctors? I wouldnt take anything she said to heart hun. It came from her problems not yours. I do not work. I am disabled and live on a pension. I am rapid cycling bi-polar 2 and fall into sudden and severe depression complete with public crying spells. This makes holding a job difficult to say the least.
It’s more like remission. You’re either experiancing symptoms, or in remission. I never even knew people used the term “survivor” in relation to mental illness. Maybe it’s empowering or makes people feel more instrumental in their recovery. Who knows?
When people play the “I’m more ill than you” card, I don’t contest it. I don’t know why anyone would want to play top trumps in that regard. But there does seem to be a lot of it about. I’d love to know what you think motivates these people because I’m at a loss.
And I just don’t get that girls martyr comments. You write a blog on what it’s like to be a service user. I second the above: don’t feed trolls (they must have been).
As for the crap which ends up in your inbox, I’m sure even some of the great people of history had their critics. And being mentally interesting makes you a shit magnet in general.
Wishing you luck RE: job x
I don’t think I’ve ever called myself a sufferer, and I’ve certainly never called myself a survivor of bipolar disorder. The only language thing I tend to avoid is saying I ‘am’ bipolar. It’s already taken over my life, I don’t want it to become my identity as well (that’s if it hasn’t already).
It’s not really on the same scale, but I had a friend at school who was very keen on one-up man ship. It was when i was really started to break down. At the same time she was having boyfriend problems, and a woman who was little more than a careers advisor decided she was depressed, a label which my friend absolutely loved, presumably because she wasn’t experiencing the actual pain that depression brings. Any time I would try to talk to her about how I was feeling, she would just try to out do me, which was very upsetting because for someone with depression she was doing pretty good (I don’t mean to make that sound like ‘I was worse so mattered more’, I just hate the bandying around of the word depression. It seems to cover any time anyone feels abit down these days). I ended up having to leave school, but it wasn’t until I was hospitalized that she stop acting this way. I haven’t been in contact with her since, and I think this may be down to me ‘winning’, though I certainly don’t feel like I did.
I’ve never worker properly. I tried once volunteering in a charity shop. It was a MIND shop, so I hoped I’d get a bit of understanding in there, and as I had to put medical conditions on there they knew about the BD. When I was there I was given nothing to do and pretty much just left to sit there on my own. I felt completely useless and ending up leaving after an hour or so in tears. i was completely hysterical after and felt an idiot for having to tried to do something like that. It’s a shame because it could have been good for me, however I don’t think the women there had much of an idea about the charity they worked for and the kind of people it deals with. They never rang me or anything after that. I think they were relieved to have me gone, as I was just pretty odd. I guess maybe some people own like to help from a distance, without actually meeting any nasty crazies :p
I’d love to have a job one day. I dream of sitting quietly in the corner of some office and doing filing. Thankfully, with my benefits and Luke’s wages, I don’t have to work, though it would really help us out, and we’ll probably never get our own home otherwise unless Luke had some massive payrise. I’d like to have some structure to my life, and something to say when people ask me what I ‘do’. At the moment, I know I’m not ready for it, and it would only make me sicker, and I’m thankful that I have the choice to not work until I’m well enough. Frankly, I think nobody who is mentally ill should have to work until they’re well enough, especially because of what the stress and probability of losing their job can mean for the persons mental health.
When I’m ready is likely I’ll either start with permitted work which can be arranged through Incapacity Benfit, or I’ll go through an organization called Workwise who help the mentally ill get back into work. From a Google, Workwise seems to be up and running in a few places other than Halifax, but it doesn’t seem to be nationwide, which is a shame.
I wouldn’t call myself a “survivor.” To me, it implies a certain smugness, like “Oh what a terrible life I’ve had.” It also drags up the past I’ve dealt with in therapy (7 years of it thanks) and now I want to live my life without more fucking labels. I just want to be a human being, not a survivor of something horrible in the woodshed.
Why do I have to call myself a survivor? I’m still here, aren’t I? Alive and definitely kicking.
Seaneen, you don’t have to justify yourself to someone who got out of bed on the wrong side of the secure unit. God, she doesn’t even deserve the title of mentalist!
P.S. I’m a temp. The longest job I’ve held down is my newspaper column and that’s because I can write it from under my duvet.
As an aside, the rather odious Lea who has been commenting on your LJ was a well known troll on a few forums I have been known to frequent.
And she caused a load of shite there, and it seems to be becoming a habit.
I’ve heard much of the ‘Im more mental than you’ stuff from several people. It’s like that game you play when you go ‘I went to the shops and I bought’ and you remember stuff you buy. Instead, it’s a mental health variation. ‘I went to the psychiatrist and he said…I had’
I’ve worked full time without any significant breaks since 2004. Which, funnily enough, was when I started to understand and work with my BP and try and hold down some kind of symbiotic relationship with it. Prior to that I had been on and off since uni. Seems to have worked thus far. Is so hard though. I don’t like to go on about it, but it’s probably about 50% harder for me to do menial things than it is for some other folks. I get home at 5pm and need to collapse on the sofa or sleep for at least an hour before I can function again. And there are days when I DRAG my arse into work, unable to be sure that I’ll last the day. But if I didn’t do it then I’d have no money. And I’d have to move back in with my folks. And I’d spiral down again and become sicker than I’ve ever been.
Work helps keep me sane. When I’m in front of a class I CANNOT be bipolar. It’s the only time I feel free from it. You literally cannot concentrate on anything except the kids in front of you and keeping them occupied. The time flies by. I expect it’s similar for musicians, writers etc. The release.
Don’t feel the need to justify yourself to anyone. The girl clearly has issues in her situation that SHE is unable to deal with without projecting them onto others.
If you writing a blog causing her such angst, as so many have said why oh why is she is she interested in reading it and why if its such a disgrace to her, does she feel the need to go to such lengths to argue w/ its content?
Perhaps it is her that is attempting to save the world, play the martyr. There is nothing worse than those who claim to be saying things because through experience they’ve learnt better when it in some cases- in this case – its more that a person cant accept the fact that you re way of dealing is different to theirs.. She seems very upset that you work with the BBC at times. Insecurity is really said isn’t it?
If all they have to through at you is personal inslult based on massive exerbations of the truth- truth you have a the strength of character to tell- then this person does not deserve another of your thoughts.
Instead her time may be better spent taking an english course( specalising in grammar ) and gain further experience of the mental health system.
Keep writing, don’t be detered by the opinions of a few, the way you write obiously hits a nerve within people and makes them think.
It helps you and others. If people feel so adverse to what you do and how you do it, let them switch it off.
You weren’t the one reduced to petty insinuations on livejournal, she came out looking like a person picking a fight w/ someone online whom they never could otherwise. A very ill person who has yet to admit to themselves the state they are inand seek real help and thus must attempt to shout down those who have and are.
Envy too, has been known to breed contempt.
xx
Right now I am working as a teacher but part of me questions how much longer I can keep that up.
That person’s response was just bizarre. I mean, I’ve seen that sort of behaviour before, but it always shocks me.
As for work- I guess I’ve been sort of lucky that I’ve been at uni while I was really unstable- a couple of deferrals, a fail, and a few temp jobs- it doesn’t look that odd from the outside. I’ve also been very fortunate to have access to enough money to afford private psychiatric care, as the public system where I am is horribly under-resourced. I’m about to start my first post-degree job, which hopefully I will be able to maintain (but who knows right now, eh?).
The major concern for me is that my psychiatrist wants me to come *off* lithium, as he believes I should be able to remain stable on lamotrigine alone, whereas I don’t want to take the risk when I’m just starting out in work…
Good luck with your new job!
no worries tony, i appreciate the apology & i guess from the outside it would have all seemed a bit ridiculous. no offence caused – just wanted to point out that it was more than just a petty squabble over semantics.
Barely making it through school but getting some relief from mania/depression because of 600mgs of Lithium a day.
I had to explain to administration why I was alternately missing weeks of class at a time, or so engrossed in the lectures and debates that I was getting into physical confrontations with other students.
Whoopie! Bipolar blows.
i’ve been back in work since finally winning over those ‘backward thinking knowledge lacking’ folks in occupational health in december 06.
i’m a nurse (albeit medical) i like being in work, not only cos it means i can eat and pay bills and socialise, but also it beats being left all day with my ‘hyperactive never shuts up stupid’ head.
its not an easy environment to be in when your intrusive thoughts are on your back, but thus far i have always ignored them
Wow .. no one deserves that kind of nonsense ..
love the comment on typing with forehead … presumably this goes with thinking out of one’s arse? hehe
I do call myself a survivor. Of both the appalling childhood I had and the “Mental Health System” which tried to tell me I was making it up.
There is another movement of “Survivors” that is much more widely accepted amongst (knowing) victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse than the label in the Mental Health context and worn as an appropriate badge:
“I AM A SURVIVOR”
… but then I really did survivie some rough sh** so I can say that.
At some stage however in one’s recovery there is a neccessary transit to becoming a “THRIVER” – one who has really put it all in the past and no longer suffers negative effects of any kind.
hehe I’ve seen that “I’m more bipolar than you” thing a number of times, in a number of venues. Whoopdeedoo to them. Who cares? (Aside from them, apparently.) We have what we have. We deal with it the way we deal with it. Good, bad, or ugly.
There will always be loud, obnoxious people, both online and offline. Some of them are bipolar and some are just loud and obnoxious. I don’t much care which the case is. I just avoid the loud and obnoxious. Deleting them from your life, if you can (handy feature of LJ!), is a pretty good idea.
And yeah, I’m working, but not at a job; I have my own business. I nearly tanked it in my last lengthy mixed episode, but to my amazement both it and I survived. I guess I’m a survivor in that sense. hehe
Hang in there
hi-
i am suprised at the negativity of the comments on this post. I have not taken the time to have a look at this forum, but in my experience internet forums are abusive at the best of times (when written by the “sane”). Surely someone describeds themselves a “survivor” of the mental health system because they are either convinced that they have been given permanent brain damage by a legally enforcable system… or have been sexually abused by staff or patients. Obviously if you refute the damaging effects of medications this will make little sense to you. Sounds to me that the abuse this bipolar person was handing out, is been conflated with the basic point they were making, perhaps a little more understanding/ sympathy is required. Somehow i expect a slew of negative and derogatory comments about what i have said here, perhaps we all need to lighten up ?
I admire what you’re doing and hope to start doing something similar soon. Having read the comments from last night it is really clear that this girl is unwell. Hope you don’t take it on board and hope she finds peace.
[...] JX said on my previous post: [...]
[...] But I tend to stay out of it because there is a bizarre competitiveness in mental disorders. I’ve touched on this subject before. I’ve received a fair few e-mails to the tune of, “You don’t know anything [...]