Bipolar Disorder

 How to Help Your Teenager With Learning Difficulties

We all know that the teen years are difficult. From growing pains to deciding their personal identity, it is easy to say that teens have a lot on their plate. However, teens with learning disorders have that times ten. Most parents notice the struggle happening, but squander at how to help their child.

I was introduced to a song the other day that hit home, and brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it. The song (with some lyrics below) touches on something that is not discussed in detail SHAME.

I cannot begin to tell you even 17 years after my Bipolar diagnosis the shame I still feel inside.

The definition below is just one of many that define shame;

Shame: (a) a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety (b) a condition of humiliating disgrace or repute.

 THE LONE TREE
PART 1

 Mental Health Awareness Week!

I AM NOT BIPOLAR!

How we define ourselves is perhaps far more important than we wish to believe and has far-reaching consequences.

 Laura SQ is Mrs Bipolarity. Outing herself as having bipolar disorder this year with determination to fight the stigma that comes with mental illness. Laura, herself was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2002 at the age of nineteen. She now proudly lives a stable life in Houston, with her husband and their three kids.

 Keep On Trying

Ten years ago a dear friend of mine gave me a little book during my very first hospital stay called Keep on Trying which is centered around a kitten. I have been reminded of that book in many different ways over the last year through two dear friends. It has inspired me to collect together what I have learned and received through their never-ending love and support to write my own Keep on Trying Poem in hopes to share what they have given me.

 I’ve been thinking a lot about my adolescence lately. This is partly because I’m continuing to delve into my past as I work on my memoir, and partly because both my children are now at ages at which I was battling bipolar pretty much single-handedly. It’s also the consequence of befriending several young people on Twitter and watching them go through struggles which feel all too familiar.

 Life before… Life After….and then After More

I was sitting around the other day thinking about how long it has been since I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 18 and all that has happened since then. It’s quite interesting because I seem to remember my first inpatient stay still so vividly, but I think I always will as I know many people who don’t forget their hospital stays no matter how long it has been.

How do I stop the slide?

Someone commented on the Scott Inside Out facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/scottinsideout2) a while ago that they’d like to know how to “stop the slide”. This is an excellent question! It refers the ability to stop from getting depressed when things are going downhill for you. In my experience, the ability to do this has a massive benefit to quality of life for those of us who have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

 Writing Angry