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Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that causes extreme depression alternated with extreme mania. This is often referred to as "mood swings" and can fluctuate very quickly. This can affect eating habits, mood, judgment, sleeping habits, and energy level. It can be controlled with medication.

Oprah headlines "Exclusive: Did Bipolar Disorder cause a mother to kill her child?" A headline from foxnews.com states "Desperate Search Continues For Boy Abducted By Bipolar Mother." Then there is the headline from nbc10.com, "Police: Abusive, Bipolar Mom Kidnaps Boy From City School." Not one headline states "Bipolar mother loves her child" or "Bipolar mom is gentle and caring." Why?

Bipolar mothers are NOT bad mothers. There are bad mothers that happen to have bipolar disorder, but there are also a lot of mothers who are spectacular mothers who have bipolar disorder. Bad parents are not limited to those that have a mental illness! The illness does not decide whether or not someone will be a good parent. However, it seems that mental illness has a bad reputation. But, what about those parents out there who are not mentally ill that are horrible parents? They do exist.

People with bipolar disorder learn to cope with it. They learn to control it as much as possible. They learn that if they are having a rough day, that they might need to ask someone for help. We all need help sometimes. The illness is just that, an illness. People with cancer learn to cope, people with AIDS learn to cope, people with any illness learn to cope... and so do those with bipolar disorder.

I remember working in health care and hearing someone say "She can't take care of him, she's got bipolar disorder!" The woman they were talking about had the qualifications of anyone taking care of a loved one, the only difference was she had bipolar disorder. Or what about the comment "She's crazy, she's bipolar." Crazy is not what she was, although she may have felt that way now and then.

It's hard having bipolar disorder in a world that is so critical of mental illness. It's a world that doesn't bother to understand what they are criticizing. But maybe it's time the world looks at it and says "it's just an illness, it means nothing more than any other illness." Maybe it's time the media take the emphasis off the disorder.

Learn more about this author, Amanda Conrad.
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