Capturing the Highs and Lows of Bipolar Disorder Through Photography

Through documentary as well as collaborative, interpretive portraiture, Matthieu Zellweger aims to capture the experiences of people with the condition.

 Sam: Living with Bipolar Disorder

Photographer Maddie Davis visualizes the ups and downs of manic episodes, depression and handling mental illness with Sam Pfeiffer.

 The Never-Ending Fight to Find the Right Treatment for My Bipolar Disorder Has Left Me Numb

It's always hard to find the right treatment for mental health issues like mine. It's even harder in Indonesia, where even admitting you have a problem is taboo.

 The Problem With How We Treat Bipolar Disorder

I don’t think there is a particular point at which I can say I became depressed. My illness was insidious, gradual and inexorable. I had a preview of depression in high school, when I spent a couple of years wearing all black, rimming my eyes in kohl and sliding against the walls in the hallways, hoping that no one would notice me. But back then I didn’t think it was a very serious problem.

Patient Voices: Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition affecting around 60 million people worldwide that causes unusual and sudden shifts in mood and energy. What is it like to have bipolar disorder? How do you balance the mental ups and downs of this disease? Here, in their own words, are the stories of five men and women living with this condition.

What’s Up With Bipolar Disorder?

Bipolar Disorder, called divine madness in ancient times, enters the era of genomics, proteomics and 21st century medicine. But the most important treatments remain surprisingly old-fashioned...

7 Things People With Bipolar Disorder Want You To Know

We spoke to three people living with the mental illness about what they would like others to know.

Bipolar Disorder Ravages the Brain's Self-Control Regions

Researchers have mapped the disorder for the first time.

Bipolar disorder: blogs and personal stories

By talking openly, our bloggers hope to increase understanding around mental health, break stereotypes and take the taboo out of something that – like physical health – affects us all.

Bipolar treatment can be improved – by focusing less on antidepressants and more on lithium

Bipolar disorder is a serious condition of mood and behaviour that affects one in 50 people globally. Sufferers swing between episodes of mania (feeling high and overactive) and depression (feeling low, lethargic and hopeless). Sadly, it is estimated that as many as one in ten people with bipolar disorder will die by suicide.

Coming Out as Bipolar in Modern Love and Reliving It on TV

In 2008, Terri Cheney went public about her mental illness. The essay led to a new career as a writer and an episode of the ‘Modern Love’ television series starring Anne Hathaway.

Does the moon affect bipolar disorder?

Scientists had already known that sleep disturbances are a part of bipolar disorder. Depression is associated with excessive sleep, and mania with hardly any. But what Wehr’s study showed was that sleep wasn’t just a symptom of the illness — it was part of the cause.

Explainer: what is bipolar disorder?

While mania is the signature characteristic of bipolar disorder, people with bipolar disorder are more often depressed than manic — one of the reasons that the condition is often misdiagnosed. Research shows 40% of people who ultimately receive a diagnosis of bipolar disorder are initially misdiagnosed with major depression.

How I Overcame Bipolar II (And Saved My Own Life)

If you are in the dumps about a mental illness, please do not give up. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I know it may seem hopeless at times---it may seem like a darkness that never ends. But you can get through it. In fact, you might just be at the beginning of the final corner before the road turns to health, freedom and happiness. Please, do not give up. You can do this.

How Smartphone Apps Can Treat Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia

Timlin was diagnosed with rapid-cycling bipolar disorder, a mental illness characterized by four or more manic or depressive episodes a year. Some episodes, he says, can last as long as eight weeks. "Being bipolar is like jumping out of an airplane knowing you don't have a parachute on," he says. "You know you're going to be hurt, but the high is so euphoric that it's worth the risk. You can deal with the consequences later." With his Android phone, he hopes to deal with these moments in other ways.

Intelligence, creativity and bipolar disorder may share underlying genetics

Study linking high childhood IQ with bipolar traits later in life suggests that mood disorders may be the genetic price we pay for intelligence and creativity.

Managing bipolar disorder without medication

Research, such as the recent review, seems to be pointing to the ineffectiveness of medication for most people with a bipolar diagnosis, we would argue that services could better use their resources by working with patients in a collaborative way, helping them identify and supporting them in implementing whichever strategies (which might include or exclude medication) work best for them personally in managing their moods and helping them live fulfilling lives.

Seeking Better Ways to Treat the Lows of Bipolar Disorder

Researchers work to understand the difference between bipolar disorder and regular depression.

Shooting Pills at Bipolar Disorder

A third of patients who go to the hospital for bipolar I disorder are on four (or more) psychiatric medications—despite a lack of evidence that's a good idea. This highlights the complexity of the disease and the need for more science.

This Is How It Feels to Have Bipolar II

The manic phases of bipolar 1 and bipolar II are different, and treatment doesn’t mean the symptoms go away.

What Does It Feel Like to Have Bipolar Disorder?

How it “feels” to be bipolar naturally varies widely from person to person, just as how it feels to be sane must, so I should emphasize that this answer is how it feels for me alone. Most bipolar people will have significant variations in their experiences.

When I Knew I Had Bipolar Disorder

If you happen to have a mental illness, that does not distract from your beauty, but rather it is one part of you that exists. Keep fighting and, most importantly, keep being WHO YOU ARE. I know I will.

Why I Keep My Bipolar Disorder Secret at Work

“I mentioned the ADHD part of my diagnosis to a colleague, and her response was ‘Whatever, you just love taking Adderall.’”

‘I Don’t Believe in God, but I Believe in Lithium’

My 20-year struggle with bipolar disorder.