by Kareen Rose

Created on: January 06, 2007   Last Updated: August 05, 2008

Lunacy has never been an accepted human condition. They lock people up and throw away the proverbial key when someone is considered a lunatic. Is it any wonder that people with mental health issues avoid acknowledgment of such a condition?

I am Bipolar. I am not ashamed of it, but it has taken a lot of years for me to venture out of the Mental Health Closet. I understood a long time ago that Bipolar is a result of chemical imbalances that can be addressed with medications. I also understood that the general public will react with fear if I just announce my health problems.

Bipolar will make the news when someone doesn't take their medication and does something peculiar and unsafe. For example, there was a mother who drove her car into her mother's sliding glass door to pick up her children. The children had been placed with Grandma because Mom was Bipolar and not taking her meds. Mom wanted her children back and so she reacted.

Another case in point, a man boarded a plane and then announced he had a bomb. He was shot by the marshal. Turns out he didn't have a bomb. He hadn't taken his meds, either.

Any wonder why I hesitated to discuss my mental health with anyone? I have enough to deal with what with all the mood swings, tears, mania, excessive activity and all. I don't need to complicate my life further by tossing in people's fears. I worked in a private school system for 13 years. During that time, I kept my health issues quiet. Can you imagine the uproar that would have ensued had I let it be known that I had mental health problems?

Allow me to be clear. While taking medications is not a cure-all, people with Bipolar must take their medications in order to function at all in society. Without meds, they can cause harm to others or more than likely, themselves.

The point that aches to be made is that people with Bipolar are not crazy lunatics howling at the full moon. We are regular folks with an intangible disease that can be controlled with medication. We are people, like anyone else, who need loving support from those nearest to us and patient acceptance from others. We may not be able to conquer the illness, but we can live each day some where near the realm of normalcy.

The decision to come out of the Bipolar Closet came slowly. I grew tired of the secrecy and along with the secrecy the assumed shame. I am not ashamed of my health issue. I am tired of hiding it.

There is no reason to fear me. I am not contagious. I am taking my pills. I am still a person. I am out of the Bipolar Closet.

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