Toughest Bipolar Question

I love "giving back." Through the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) In Our Own Voice Program (IOOV), I am finally able to do that. My main goals, through telling my story are to put a face on mental illness, and give hope for recovery from it.

Too many people are still afraid of those of us who have a mental illness. People fear what they don't understand. One of the ways NAMI fights this is through education. I look at my IOOV presentations as a way of educating people, so that they can see that yes, I have a mental illness, but that I am in recovery, and have the disorder managed very well with treatment.

It's important to me that the general public sees me as a regular person first, and a person with a mental illness second.

I always arrive early at my IOOV presentations, so I can meet and greet some of the attendees. They shake my hand, talk awhile, and then most of them are surprised to find that I'm actually the speaker! I've had many people tell me that if they hadn't heard me speak, they never would have even known I have bipolar disorder.

During the presentation there is an opportunity for questions from the audience. Invariably, I am asked the same question from other people with bipolar disorder - "What is the best medication for bipolar disorder?" It is one of the hardest questions to answer, but I answer it the same way every time.

"The best bipolar medication? Well, everyone is different, so what works for one person may not work for another. The best medication for each person is the one that works the best for them. Working with my psychiatrist, it took awhile to find the right combination of medication to give me the greatest stability."

I find that after that, other questions are easier to answer. The hardest part is keeping "you" statements out of the answers I give. But I just remember that I'm there to tell my story, and to promote NAMI, not to give any advice to the audience.

If they ask for an opinion, I usually just start with, "In my experience..." And I have found that those three key words keep me in "I statements" only.

I love doing IOOV presentations, and helping the general public gain knowledge of mental illness that they didn't have before, and encouragement for recovery to those consumers who might be in the audience.

I am so very grateful today to be stable and to be a good example for recovery. If I can give hope to just one person, then it is worth it.

God bless,
Michele