Tag: mental health charities
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Taking part in bipolar research

In pre-Internet times, when first diagnosed, I read avidly about bipolar and my main source was Pendulum, the quarterly magazine of the Manic Depressive Fellowship (now Bipolar UK), which featured: Research comes in different guises and covers a range of hypotheses – medication, heredity, life, psychology and practical daily life – all things that can…
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The pandemic – they think it’s all over

In case you are not aware, people with bipolar disorder were classified as one of the priority groups during early phases of lockdown. Looking back I’m hazy on all the privileges or penalties this conferred, early vaccination for sure and exemption for some from mask wearing, but not much else. I know that for some…
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The agony and ecstasy of psychosis

Content warning: some descriptions of psychotic delusions may distress 9th May 2022 sees the beginning of Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK and my contribution is following up on a previous post about my experience of psychosis because I think it is a topic, the detail of which is not widely written about, so…
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Recovering from psychosis

I have experienced six psychoses in my thirty years of a bipolar life, each one different from the last and each with its own dominant theme. To my well self, these episodes can be shocking even when I can’t remember all the details, and making sense of them is quite hard. I’ve yet to meet…
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Down the line – was my bipolar inherited?

My great grandmother died in the early twentieth century (I’m not exactly sure of the date) but when Grandad was young, maybe eleven or twelve. His step mum preferred girls, so Grandad and his younger brother were sent away to naval boarding school while their sister remained at home. I remember a creased studio photo…