October is Mental Health Month, but it doesn’t have to be a certain date or month to talk about this topic.
One in five Australians experience a mental disorder each year. If this is not something you have experienced personally, it is likely affecting someone in your family, neighbourhood, school or office.
Some are, indeed, the people we see in the media wielding knives or having a public episode because they have fallen through the system’s cracks. But many more are carrying on with their lives because they have either recovered or their conditions are well managed. Many hide how they feel because they fear the stigma, or avoid broaching the subject because mental health is still not openly discussed.
Twenty-five years ago, I was diagnosed with Bipolar Type 2, the ‘milder’ type. Even during the worst of my depressions, I have never felt suicidal. During the initial highs, I was hypomanic, never fully manic. I have never been psychotic or hospitalised. And yet, I caused significant grief and disruption in the lives of those around me before we found the right treatment.
Medication worked well for me, allowing me to live a full, productive life. I am aware not everyone is so fortunate. But medication is not a magic pill. Support from family, friends and health professionals plays an important role in managing my condition, as does monitoring for symptoms. It requires personal work: reducing stress, maintaining sleep hygiene, checking moods. And it calls for strategies like exercise, journaling and mindfulness to combat the depressions that still come now and then.
Because I was highly functional, I rarely disclosed it until people had known me long enough to see I was ‘normal’. Many colleagues and acquaintances who had known me for years had no inkling. I never spoke publicly about it until I published my novel Exuberance in 2023.
Through its portrayal of Angie and those around her, Exuberance offers a nuanced view of this condition and the hope found in self-understanding, treatment and support. Writing it made me realise that by hiding the fact that I have been living with bipolar for nearly half my life, I was helping to perpetuate the stigma.
The book gave me a platform to speak up about the fact that it is possible to thrive and succeed in life with a mental health condition. And if you relapse and have to start again, that’s okay too.
Often, after I give a talk, people say how brave I am to speak up. I have insulin-dependent diabetes, and have never been afraid to tell everyone. I hope we reach a stage as a society where we can all talk about mental illness as openly, without needing extra courage or having fear of being judged. The more we talk about it, the more we normalise it. We can all contribute to ending the stigma.
Book Giveaway!
Email editor@hkpost.com.au and mention something you will do in October to try to raise awareness of mental health for a chance to win a copy of Exuberance.
