Happy World Bipolar Day?!
Yea, this isn’t something we even knew existed. Not until this year at least, when we decided to advocate for mental health.
Now that we are advocating, we are learning more about these “Awareness Days,” and since we are working to inspire mental health awareness, it’s important that we do our part. Today, awareness is about bipolar.
According to the International Bipolar Foundation, “the vision of World Bipolar Day is to bring world awareness to bipolar conditions and to eliminate social stigma. Through international collaboration, the goal of WBD is to bring the world population information about bipolar conditions that will educate and improve sensitivity towards the condition.” And why March 30th? Well, that’s the birthday of Vincent Van Gogh, who was diagnosed as bipolar.
Now let’s jump into it. What kind of awareness and information is helpful? What might improve sensitivity towards the condition? Well, here’s some basic things that might be helpful to know (information pulled from Mental Health America & International Society Bipolar Disorder).
An estimated 1 in 5 people diagnosed with bipolar disorder dies by suicide.
Bipolar Disorder affects over 60 million people worldwide
About 2.5% of the US population suffers from bipolar disorder (about 6 million people)
There is no single cause of bipolar disorder and everyone’s bipolar is different
There are two types of bipolar disorder (called 1 & 2), both are characterized by different kinds of manic and depressive episodes
Listening to people with bipolar can provide perspective: here you can learn more about What Having Bipolar Looks Like for Ethan and here you can learn Mily’s Dork Dancing mental health story.
Within the #dorkdancing community, dorks diagnosed with bipolar are able to more easily find one another because of their decision to be open. Traditionally, this detail is hidden, but within our community we are deciding to be vulnerable in matters related to mental health and mental illness.
Dorks with bipolar are finding dorks with bipolar and comparing notes. What does having bipolar look like for you? What was your experience like? What is your experience like? What have you learned? And what works for you?
Openness leads to meaningful conversations with people who have comparable lived experiences. It creates opportunities for social support that otherwise would not be there. Because the backbone, and heart of our community is for mental health, it opens doors to the kinds of conversation that can help fight stigma and expedite the healing process.
We didn’t know there was a World Bipolar Day, but we are grateful that it exists. It creates good opportunity for people within the Bipolar community to open up, speak up, and help educate those who may not know about bipolar or understand its complexities. The more open we are, the more progress we can make. This is a day worth celebrating.
Dork Dancing is a grassroots mental health initiative, campaign, and community effort. We depend entirely on charitable giving to inspire impact. We hope you may consider supporting by donating.