If your mania does not reach the point of psychosis, and your depressive episodes aren't debilitating or suicidal, good for you. Many sufferers of bipolar disorder are not so fortunate. To say that "it is only a negative thing if you allow it to be" is flippant and naive.
You are absolutely correct. To imply that would be incredibly naive. Especially if the assumption that I have not reached those extremes were correct.
I would in no way assume that my approach is a blanket solution for anyone or everyone. To the contrary, it is not a solution (I said I have not beaten it, and I may never well), but this post is my personal experience for dealing with an "illness" that has been very challenging in my life. I can only account for the factors of my experiences which luckily were functional enough for this approach to do some good.
Those factors did indeed include a lot of debilitating and suicide episodes during my teen years but I chose not to write about suicide because it's a much deeper subject and somewhat detracts from the point I hoped to make. But in the interested of full disclosure, yes I had struggled with suicide daily until I changed my thinking.
The reason I said "it's only a negative thing if you allow it to be" is that when I stopped thinking of it as "suffering" I found the core catalyst for change that allowed me to dismiss suicide as an option and maintain that rationale until I could apply other measures and stabilize my situation longer term.
At it's core the illness affects your rationale by way of your moods and I feel it's important to address the fact that someone who is "suffering" implicitly has a negative perspective and will continue to suffer without positivity.
I'm so tired of this stern, condescending tone towards depressives. But it's not just arrogant, it's disempowering, a remnant of the days when eccentrics were locked up and given shock treatment.
I know at least two people who are managing their own bipolar as an adult, with very similar stories to the OP's. Often it's the very realization that you are responsible for your thoughts, emotions, and actions, not your parents, your doctor, or The Disease, that turns in the tide in a disorder of the mind. At the right moment, this belief will cause a stronger self to emerge.
And yet, the mere mention of taking control of your mind will get people up in arms. This is Serious Business, they say. Well, lots of things in life are, and the right approach is usually to step up and take charge with a healthy dose of optimism.
I'm so tired of this stern, condescending tone towards depressives.
Is it not stern and condescending to tell a depressive, "Buck up! It's all in your head. You just need a positive attitude"?
The OP has expanded thoughtfully on his intent, so I'm not saying that this is his view. But it remains the view of many others. I would agree with what I think is your point, that the opposite extreme is just as harmful: that this is a disease that requires passive submission to treatment by others, an idea that is indeed arrogant and disempowering.
