Being bipolar without disorder.
Tom Woottom “I would rather be on meds with Bipolar IN Order than off meds and still in Dis-Order.”
The simple ‘checklist’ that defines my life, the DSM gives an exceedingly brief checklist to illustrate depression, mania and hypomania, how can I now be defined by these symptoms?!! The list serves to reinforce the confounding issue that the authors can’t empathise with the experiences of those with Bipolar disorder. Symptoms don’t define the disorder; symptoms serve to find a reason why they are suffering or incapacitated. I don’t believe that having the symptoms of depression or hypomania always equal an ‘illness’, if the disorder is managed (medication) and you are merely cycling through emotional stages without having a dysfunctional life, than that to me isn’t a disorder, instead it is a very well controlled series of symptoms that the person is living with but isn’t being incapacitated by. Yes I am bipolar, but with the medication I don’t classify it as a ‘disorder’, disorder implies an unmanaged condition.
The dogmatic science behind the DSM is supported by commercial interest, lacking deeper understandings and direct experiences. Don’t let yourself be trapped by dogma, whereby other people’s thinking determines how you live. To be successfully bipolar isn’t to ‘cure’ it or be off medication, it’s about the ability to function while depressed or manic, even when taking medication.
Tom Woottom: “Medicine can help moderate the intensity during the Freedom Stage of Bipolar IN Order, but they cannot get you IN Order by themselves. The role of medication becomes more peripheral as one moves through Freedom Stage to Stability and is largely irrelevant once one reaches Self-Mastery. There is no point in taking something to lower the intensity when intensity is no longer an issue.”
Another perplexing issue within the medication debate and the considered ‘disorder’ is the perception of depression, having a number of signs and symptoms of the depressive syndrome aren’t a diagnosis, instead people need to identify what disorder is producing the symptoms. There are two types of depressive syndrome: primary or secondary. Secondary is most commonly caused by substance abuse a medical illness (hypothyroidism etc), if no foreseeable aetiology can’t be found then the depression is diagnosed as primary. Overall mental health is usually completely misunderstood, at the moment I don’t think I’m suffering from a disorder, but that could easily change like the weather. I believe I’m on the path to mastering the dis-functionality that has plagued my life in the past, it’s not a short path, but I know it’s worth it and taking my medication definitely helps me to find the things in life that will make me more stable.
My Wonderland. Mental Health Blog 