Living with the Diagnosis

Lisa Mora, a contributor to Inspired Recovery (www.inspiredrecovery.com) and author of I am Lisa; I am not Bipolar shares what I believe to be a truly amazing insight:

“I understand what living with the diagnosis means. Note that I say “living with the diagnosis,” not “living with Bipolar disorder,” says Lisa “Believe me, there is a difference.”

“One implies living in a permanent state of disease, the other highlights a whole other set of problems that can arise from the stigma of being diagnosed mentally ill. And that stigma, that label of defective, the feeling of being branded and excluded, cuts so much deeper and hurts so much more than the classified symptoms of the actual disorder.

Manic episodes come and go. Depression lingers then passes. All states of emotional being are transient and fleeting but being bipolar becomes a permanent label. People look at you differently when they know. Getting upset over something that would annoy anyone can then be seen as a sign of your instability.”

I believe that sharing this often unheard, first-hand perspective has the greatest potential to increase awareness and understanding of mental illness as well as provide a potential guideline to wellness for other sufferers.

Lisa’s raw and honest distinction between “living with an illness” and “living with a diagnosis” is a concept that is rarely explored, but one that highlights an unfortunate trend in our society: the promotion and reinforcement of fear.

It is my personal belief that we are created by society and in turn society is shaped by us. Human beings at large have consistently demonstrated a tendency to foster and reinforce misguided judgments towards an issue, person or group of people whether or not they have any factual knowledge at all. Behavior that goes against the main thrust of what it is to be ‘normal’ has always been a taboo subject.

Lisa’s experience that people look at her differently when they knew calls the enormous power of our belief system (who we are and who we tell others we are) into sharp focus.

This stigmatization and distinction that Lisa points out is not only unhelpful to those who suffer but is actively counter-productive. I believe that the media and entertainment industries don’t help matters when they portray those with a mental illness as violent, unpredictable, psychotic and dangerous. Without sufficient and reliable awareness of what it means to have a mental illness, our society is left with the pre-conceived notion that mental illness or sufferers of mental illness are to be feared and shunned.

I believe that the only way to alleviate ignorance is to shine a light on it. The more we open up the facts around mental illness and the more people read and hear the truth behind people’s experiences with mental illness the smaller the cycle of ignorance and fear gets.

K