My name is Sarah, I am 30 years old. I am bipolar and BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder), but I don't let the "stigma" of that stop me. I tell EVERYONE I know about it. Not at first though. I tell them after they get to know me and when I do tell them they always say "But you seem so normal!" (All of my friends will gladly tell you I am oddly quirky, but not one of them would have ever fingered me for "acting" like what they thought a person with a "mental illness" would act like.)  At this point I tell them I am normal, I just have a few diseases in my brain that I was born with or that developed due to childhood circumstances that alter my behavior if I don't take medication for them. I explain to them that it's kind of like Diabetes, except in that instead of my endocrine and digestive systems being affected it's my nervous system and neurotransmitters that are affected, etc... (I realize it's a bit more complicated than that and no one really knows exactly what  causes a person to be bipolar, but it gets the point across.) I haven't had anyone that has gotten to know me first, "freak out", if you will, when I told them. Maybe that speaks for the maturity of the people I associate with or maybe it is the way I approach it. I am NOT ashamed and I don't act like it! I don't treat it like it is a shameful secret to be kept. I don't treat it like a big deal. I just kind of say it. I usually bring it up when I talk about why I opted for adoption when I became pregnant. (Another thing I am not ashamed of. I have a beautiful little boy with great parents who take better care of him than I can due to my illness.)   A brain illness is what makes me who I am. It is what makes me uniquely me, along with other things, but you understand where I'm coming from. Give people time to warm up to you before you try to break the "Stigma" if you go at them right away you are just going to confirm to them the "stigma" you're trying to break because the only information you are giving them about yourself is that you have a brain illness and are, therefore, reinforcing the cycle. I learned this lesson the hard way many years ago before NKM2. Ease them into it and they will bring others along for the ride, too. Remember, a drop in a lake makes ripples. It's up to you whether the ripples are positive or negative. Good luck out there!

Tags: Stigma Bipolar BPD Borderline Personality Disorder

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