My Best Investment? Educating Myself about Bipolar.

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By Julie Whitehead

Last Updated: 3 Apr 2020

Hands down, the most important step I’ve taken in managing bipolar has been educating myself about this brain-based disorder.

Knowledge Is Power

When I was first diagnosed with bipolar I disorder in 2006, I knew only enough to be scared of what was happening to me. Looking at the limited information available online at the time, I knew the textbook definition—that it meant my moods swing from depression to mania. But I wanted more … more information, stories, facts, explanations.

I headed to the local bookstore for answers, and I amassed a library of books on bipolar disorder—some simple and readable, some biographies that were relatable, and other books so dense with scientific facts you could use them as doorstops! But I devoured them all, in an effort to understand bipolar and how best to combat it.

I learned so much through my reading and self-education that I believe it has been the single most important thing I could have done for myself in managing the disorder itself. Here are the main areas of study where I saw the greatest benefit:

#1 Treatment Options

After all of my reading, I felt better educated when it was time to choose the best course of treatment. I went with drug therapy and talk therapy as my main modalities of treatment. You have cancer? You get chemo, drugs strong enough to control the cancer, and you deal with the side effects. You have a brain disorder caused by an imbalance of brain chemicals? You take medications to counteract those imbalances, I gathered from my reading.

Talk therapy was important to my continued education in the ways of bipolar, in that it gave me an objective knowledgeable observer to bounce my thoughts off of. Someone who could tell me when I was veering into mania and when my depression was lying to me.

My reading brought out the importance of having a trained counselor at my side while navigating the disease.

#2 Varied Symptoms

From reading case studies by psychiatrists to reading personal memoirs of people who had walked this path before me, I saw how irritability, euphoria, spending sprees, and obsessions were symptoms of mania. I learned the statistics about depression, suicidality, and people lost to the disorder from families’ testimonies and scientists who worried about the rise in bipolar behaviors across the world. Now I know what to watch out for.

#3 Practicalities of Living with Bipolar

Time and time again, bipolar snuck up on me. But after each round, from my continued self-education, I had learned so much more about how to manage symptoms and recognize triggers. I learned that dates could be trigger points for symptoms to manifest—mine are the months between February and May—a period of time that includes my youngest daughter’s birthday, spring break, and Mother’s Day, dates loaded with so much stress that I learned to take good care of myself in those particularly hard times.

#4 How Bipolar Can Manifest on a Spectrum

New research helped me make sense of various episodes I had experienced in my life.

I had experienced episodes of mild mania, mixed episodes, depression, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), premenstrual depressive disorder (PMDD), perinatal depression, and, finally, psychosis. The latter morphed into a full-blown manic episode that threatened my life.

Each type of episode had its own complex of symptoms, and from my reading, I learned to recognize these symptoms and how they apply to my own life. This increased my understanding of how my bipolar manifests.

Education about Bipolar & Feeling Prepared

In recent years, I have been able to stop incipient episodes in their tracks! How? By seeing that they were coming.

Just last week, I started experiencing rapid cycling of my moods—depression and sleepiness in the morning; anxiety at noon; and racing thoughts and lack of concentration like mania at night, which prevented me from sleeping.

After a couple of weeks of living with these symptoms, I realized what was truly going on, so I went to my doctor and talked it over with him. He made a simple change in my medication, and it made a world of difference—clearing my morning grogginess and easing down my racing thoughts and inability to concentrate on work or home projects.

I had never experienced this combination of symptoms before, but—because I invested so much in self-education—I knew they were possible, and I knew to contact my treatment team to see what was going on.

Tips to Educate Yourself

1. Read up on the disorder. If you can’t afford the bookstore’s offerings, go to the library and read whatever you can get your hands on.
2. Get in touch with the local educational group in your area that specializes in mental illness. You can do an internet search for their phone numbers and ask for any information, counseling, or meetings you can go to in order to learn more about bipolar.
3. Use your internet connection. Look up reputable websites on bipolar disorder—and investigate the links to other sites or organizations they recommend.
4. Talk to your treatment team about resources in your area that can help you with counseling, education, or further outpatient treatment.

Self-Education & Self-Advocacy

I firmly believe that educated patients are better patients, armed with the knowledge from others that have gone before and of those who have made learning about bipolar disorder their life’s work. And that kind of education can help you save your own life and sanity when bipolar tries to snatch it away.

I’m living proof, and you can be, too.

About the author

Julie Whitehead

Julie Whitehead lives and writes from Mississippi. A reporter for the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, she writes on topics concerning mental health, mental health education, and mental health advocacy. Julie was diagnosed with bipolar I disorder in her midthirties in 2006. She blogs about her experiences and daily life with bipolar at the site Day by Day. She has a bachelor’s degree in communication, with a journalism emphasis, and a master’s degree in English, both from Mississippi State University. She is also earning an MFA in creative nonfiction from Mississippi University for Women. Julie can be found on Facebook and Twitter.