I have recently formed a group on LinkedIn for professionals with Bipolar. Fighting Stigma is just one of many reasons for this effort.
Group Description
Bipolar Professional Network: Bipolar, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a condition that causes unusually extreme shifts in a person’s mood, energy and cognitive ability, often leading to great accomplishment.
http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/141918/5A7C2F62DC6C
Having lost a job when my boss found out I had bipolar, I'm not ready to "out" myself professionally just yet. However, I'd really like to start building a tsunami of us within bipolar home. We're where the gay rights movement was in the early 1950s ... it's still entirely legitimate to stigmatize us, to unemploy us, etc. But it's going to take some accumulation of visible numbers to change that. I think it's worth reading John D'Emilio's history on that movement to get some understanding of the process of how we're likely to move from marginalization to mainstream.
MHA is trying to do that by legitimizing depression (so now you have pretty obvious bipolars acknowledging they're depressed ...). NAMI has StigmaBusters, but they seem to mostly give kudos and complaints to the media. Plus they do have an elementary school curriculum. SAMHSA is targeting young adults with television advertising urging them to take care of their friends ... results to be seen.
Anyhow, I've subscribed to your posts. I'm posting as The Lady Behind the Mask and getting a pretty good amount of initial response. Best wishes for your efforts.
The Lady Behind the Mask
I'm with you. I can't let others know. Taking anti-depressants seems to be common these days but Bipolar even Bipolar II is not accepted in society.
I can't seem to get my meds right. I'm a lawyer. I'm not practicing right now.
I feel alone because of my secret. Kay Redfield Jamison did it, but that is
because her field is psychiatry and her coworkers tended to stigmatize it less.
She wrote "The Unquiet Mind" about her own bipolar experience as a practicing
psychiatrist. Good luck.
I am currently eligible for reinstatement of my license to practice in New York State. I am enthusiastic about sharing my story and hearing from professionals with similair experiences. It is my hope that with greater awareness and appropriate mentoring young professionals afflicted with these and other disabilities can come to understand and overcome these obstacles to professional growth and development. I am logging on to my linkedin account now, and looking forward to expounding on my own experience as well as hearing from all of you!
My husband is a biploar doctor who is in the process of reinstating his liscense in Utah. WE have been married 29 years and have 9 kids. His recent manic episode was quite a set back in his carreer. How do you cope? Are you often depressed? Are you working while waiting for liscense?
Kathy - wife of biploar professional
I have BP1. I've always been an overacheiver and "success" by my family and American cultural standards. However, I could never understand why I always felt ...what's are words? Empty and alone. That psychic emotional and gutteral pain that never seems to go away. I like to refer to it as Dexter does, my "Dark Passager".
I've had a lucrative career in media sales that I blew up due to my mis-diagnosed and untreated BP. I have begun to get back in the groove. However, my poor choices, inappropiate behavior and mania made me as popular as Casey Anthony. My former colleagues and clients (many of whom I made much $ or help get promoted) won't return phone calls, unfriended me on FB or will not return messages on Linked In.
I am so ashamed and wish I could have a 'DO OVER'!
My goal is to start over. Thank you for starting this page and your group on linked in. I have already asked to join. I membership is pending.
best,
susan
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Exxelebnt effirt to make a group of proffesionals. i would lihe join it
ashokpatil8341