Bipolar Disorder

Negative attitude towards people with different mental health problems is an issue that has existed for a very long time. These attitudes include discrimination in any possible way, such as in housing, the work place, education as well as being rejected by their friends or even by their own family members. It is a shame that despite of all the public service campaigns to make mental illness look like any other illness and the efforts of people with mental conditions going public about their own problem the stigma attached to mental illness still remains.

Many psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia can be hidden once the person recovers. Allowing them to pass as normal without anyone finding out about them. However, once people find out about their condition they become the target of some of the worst discrimination and very toxic stereotypes. On the other hand, there are people with disorders that cannot be hidden. For example, people who suffer from bipolar disorder cannot hide their condition. Bipolar disorder is a psychiatric condition that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, and the ability to carry out daily task (Price & Marzani-Nissen, 2012). Bipolar disorder is a health condition like diabetes or asthma, and not a personal flaw as many people who lack of information and understanding about the illness assume.  For people with bipolar disorder, oversensitivity to rejection or criticism occurs more often during depressive or mixed episodes than during maniac episodes. Patients always state that their feelings are hurt very easily and that it is very difficult for them to distinguish between real rejection or criticism and their own cognitive distortions (DJ, SR, S, MW, & GS, 2005).

In addition, stigmatization of individuals with this disorder has been observed across the world and it is associated with many factors, such as stress, problems in relationships, and limitations on socials participation. Family members of people with bipolar disorder state that the social stigma of this mental disorder extends to them, because they feel isolated, ignored and sometimes criticized by other family members and society as a whole (Finch, 2007). People with this disorder are challenged doubly. On the one hand, they struggle with the disabilities from the disease and on the other hand, they are victims of prejudice and stereotypes that results from the misconception about this mental disorder. Individuals with this disorder usually feel like they are bad, weak, and feel some degree of guilt and shame as consequence of their instable situation.  In order for them to minimize stereotypes and social rejection toward them, they have to tell people about their disorder, even though, that sometimes is the hardest thing to do for them because the only coping strategy they have to avoid rejection is to not tell anyone about their condition or withdraw themselves from any social interaction. Therefore, people with this mental disorder are deprived from many things including satisfactory health care, good jobs, safe housing, things that are part of what defines a good and stable life.

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