18 of 25

Yes

Write now Article Tools

I must first state that I was immediately drawn to this debate by the question alone. One may ask why. The reason why is because not only do I work within the mental health field and currently enrolled in college working on my bachelors degree in this field, I also have been diagnosed with BiPolar several years ago. I will not say it has always been easy. It hasn't. It has been a very rough road at times. Mainly because when I was first diagnosed I was not taught about the disorder. What I did already know was that my brother had already been diagnosed with the same disorder and was on medication. I did learn real quick that the same medication he took was not for me. We learned this after a bad reaction to the medication. At this point in my life I had recently divorced from my husband and did not have custody of my kids. They at this point remained with their father. I didn't understand why I was so weepy or could not sleep at night. I just knew there was something wrong with me. I had never acted this way before. Sure I did have days where I had more energy than others but never had I become so unlike myself. I went to the doctor and did what they told me. They gave me prescriptions for medications and I filled them and took them like a very good patient. I found that I did begin to feel more like myself. I never kept it a secret about what was going on from my friends and boyfriend at the time. I learned almost immediately what a stigma was. I found I was soon being called crazy or loony or whatever else they came up with. I wasn't any of those terms they were using. I learned a little here or there about mental illness but this was before the computer age had taken off so much so I did not have the internet at my fingertips to search for information. After being diagnosed I met a new person and soon married him. He was able to immediately pick up on my mood swings and would tell me outright when I was being unreasonable. Thankfully I met such a caring person who didn't hold my mental illness against me. He was willing to work with me to learn about this issue. It wasn't until about 4 years ago when I had finished my first associate degree and went back to school once again trying to figure out what I wanted to do that I found this field. I thought I wanted a degree in law. That was before I had my first psychology class. After taking that class I was hooked. I took every psychology class I could sign up for. There was none that did not fasinate me. I knew

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Can mothers diagnosed with bipolar disorder make good parents??
We want to hear your view. Write now!