Depression and Bipolar Disorder

I want to write about these mental illnesses here because I am aware that many young people suffer from these and I don’t want them to feel ashamed or embarrassed about them. I would also urge adults to respect the power of the illness in young people. By “respect the power of the illnesses”, I mean, take them seriously. Don’t try to joke them away or ignore them. With depression and bipolar disorder you need the right balance of compassion and encouragement. You need to accept the illness and you need to fight it. You need to learn to live with it and you need to do what you can to get out of it. I have bipolar disorder now and have had it or depression since I was fourteen. I write this now because more young people are reading this journal and some of them have depression or bipolar disorder and I want to tell them that with treatment you can survive these illnesses and be happy. And its okay to be happy. I don’t ever want a young person to think that being depressed or bipolar comes with the territory of being a writer. You must not romanticize these illnesses anymore than you would romanticize, say, diabetes. Having these illnesses will not make you a better writer or a more sensitive human being. The fact that many writers have depression or bipolar disorder and the fact that many kill themselves does not make them special in any way. It is harder to live with depression or bipolar disorder than it is to kill yourself. Trust me on that one. If you are depressed or manic, know that this is not a good state to be. Hold on. Seek help. If you know someone who is sick, be there in the way he or she wants you to be there at this particular time even if its not the way you would prefer to be there. But you may have to insert yourself into his or her life in unwanted ways if need be. There are many, many places where you can go to get advice about symptoms etcetera. This is not one of them. All I want to do is say, if you somehow ended up here because you like to write and you also suffer from depression or bipolar disorder, then please seek help and get help as I have done and am doing. You can still write and write well when your illness is controlled by proper treatment.