#so it was diagnosed as bipolar ii

[devotioncrater]

me six months ago when my therapist of 2 years said a schizoaffective diagnosis would be more appropriate than a bipolar diagnosis:

me currently, as i experience gradually worsening psychotic episodes without any mood shifts:

[squeakadeeks]

rotating my OC in my head wasnt enough. I had to bring him into the physical world too. four different times.

[heisttheblackflag]

I know someone on here posted Lindsay’s reel/clip from yesterday talking about their recent mental health diagnosis and the way that vtubing as RWBY has helped them deal with it and like. I have a lot of emotions about that as I’m sure we all do (and I’ll find it to rb on here later) but. for me personally this is extraordinarily impactful because there are so few people that are known creatives that are open about being bipolar that for them to just come out and say it absolutely floored me. bipolar disorder is probably one of The most stigmatized and demonized mental illnesses out there and it is so hard to come to terms with that diagnosis, even if getting the diagnosis means you can struggle less in your daily life thanks to medication and therapy, so I don’t blame anyone for hiding it or keeping private about it, but as someone who has made a point of being pretty open about being bipolar as part of my creative…mission statement, I guess, it’s deeply meaningful and impactful to me to have someone like Lindsay Jones be open about being bipolar as well. the only way we can reduce stigma is to keep talking about it, so I genuinely hope this can help reduce the stigma of bipolar disorder in the small corner of the world that watches Lindsay/RWBY because even that little bit can make a huge difference.

happy mental health awareness month!

support Lindsay, support anyone else in your life who is struggling with mental health especially bipolar disorder (I, II, or cyclothymia), and if you have any (respectful) questions about what it’s like to live with bipolar disorder my askbox is open with no judgement 💙

[ghostzzy]

anyway it kinda sorta feels like my life is just now starting.

[autumnbell32]

Has anyone ever had an interaction with a psychiatrist that had a very very bad effect (affect? Idfk, I never know) on you? Please, if you feel comfortable I’d welcome input.

I feel like such a garbage human, guys. Been crying since yesterday. Apathy is rampant in this health care system. I feel like a burden, pathetic, and really don’t know what to do. Overly emotional (there’s been a lot of pain in this 38 year life)? Probably. Subhuman because I have a mental illness? I didn’t think so.

[onesourceofbadinformation]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/46319020

oh my god…this is so fucking real. love the first line it’s so kendall. and stewy being witness to kendall’s episode and not really knowing what to do but being there nonetheless….man. everyone read this now

[nerdy-nook]

Favorite nuerodivergant headcannons for Voltron LD?

Ooo I like this one! I’m going to do neurodivergent headcanons as well as mental health headcanons because I don’t think all of the characters are neurodivergent. Ok let’s start!

Voltron Paladins:

Shiro: He canonically has PTSD, although the show stopped focusing on it after season 2. So I’m going to keep that. He definitely has panic attacks (as we have seen) but has a good control on his triggers. He has to, to keep himself and his team safe in battle.

Keith: BPD and autism you cannot change my mind. You can’t tell me that after all the shit that poor kid went through in his childhood that he doesn’t have BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder). He checks a lot off the boxes. The sudden mood changes, aggression, abandonment issues, and feelings of worthlessness or inadequacy. As for the autism he mainly experiences sensory issues surrounding sounds and touch. We all know about his social skills. He also has insomnia.

Hunk: I think Hunk has GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder). He’s had it since he was in elementary school. It mainly consists of catastrophizing and physical symptoms. His heart races, and he sweats a lot.

Lance: He has combined ADHD. A classic case as a kid: SUPER hyperactive, couldn’t sit still, and couldn’t focus. His processing speed is a lot slower making it harder for him to learn in an average school environment. This made him self conscious growing up, thinking he was stupid. It’s something he still struggles with.

Pidge: Best girl disease! Jk. She has ADHD, autism, and is also a fellow insomniac. This girl will hyperfixate and work herself for hours. The team comes to do routine checks on her when she’s researching to make sure she rests. She isn’t really hyperactive but does have a hard time staying still. Catch her rotating clockwise as she types away on her laptop.

MFE Pilots (this is self indulgent):

James: With his strong sense of justice I can see him having a little bit of the ‘tism. I used to headcanon him as having BPD as well but now I’m more leaning towards Bipolar II. This goes a long with some other headcanons I have for him, I’ll make a hc sheet for him soon.

Ina: She has autism. She was diagnosed at 3 years old. Her parents were tipped off by the fact that she was selectively mute when she was younger.

Nadia: Also has ADHD She mainly struggles with her impulsivity issues. She has a really hardy time keeping organized. Did someone say organized chaos? Her rooms always a little bit of a mess but she knows where everything is. Once she sets something down she can never find it.

Ryan: I literally can’t think of anything for him, he’s just a neurotypical guy. Nothing wrong with that.

Thanks for the ask BTW!!

[cloudy-em]

Okay, after reading your Lip fics (the eating pussy ones), I think we need... NEED... something similar with Carmen. That is highly needed, my friend 😂

The man would just gladly take his time and make her desperate🫠😂

hey hon! so sorry this took so long omg i was on a little unannounced break my love life was shit (it's a lot better now) and i was recently diagnosed bipolar ii but i've gotten my shit together methinks and i'm glad to be back because i genuinely love writing for my lovelies <3

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT!!

Carmen was stressed as fuck.

It had been a busy night at the restaurant and all Carmen wanted was to go home to you. So, when you got the text to be ready for him on the bed, you knew to follow his instructions.

Carmen practically raced into your shared apartment and into the bedroom, where he was pleased to see you laying completely bare with your legs spread. All for him.

He practically crawled to you, grabbing your legs and pulling you towards the edge of the bed.

" 've been so stressed, babe. Busy night," he mumbled, slowly kissing from your left knee up towards your thigh. Forever a tease.

"Yeah?" you questioned, propping yourself up on your elbows to watch him.

"Mhm," Carmen hummed before pressing a kiss on the center of your pussy.

You threw your head back in response, not moaning yet, but satisfied to finally be getting some action.

Carmen slowly licked your pussy lips with a flat, wet tongue moving from your hole to your clit, which he flicked once before placing a kiss on your right pelvic bone.

"Carmy," you whispered.

"Shh," he responded. "I wanna take my time."

He slowly swirled his tongue around your clit, taking his time just like he said he would. He then turned his attention to the lips again, pressing wet kisses against them.

You were growing frustrated, desperate for him to just eat your cunt like a man starved. You laid back and tangled your hands in his curls, tugging gently, trying to encourage him to go faster.

He hummed against your hole, sending vibrations through your core. He licked another fat stripe up your cunt, moving towards your clit again.

Finally, he sped up a bit, flicking your clit with his tongue, moving the hood back slightly and making you shiver in pleasure.

"You like that baby?" he asked.

"Yes," you moaned, tugging his hair again and pulling him into your pussy.

Carmen didn't stop. He could feel the waves of desperation coming off of you. He gave in to you, eating you out and putting all of his stress into his mouth, using it to please you.

He began sucking your clit, pulling the bud into his mouth. He didn't stop when he heard you moan, nor when he felt your legs shaking next to his head. You came, a string of curses falling from your lips.

"That's it baby," he whispered. "That's a good toy."

[nthspecialll]

Cracks open an oyster shell to reveal a slimy half baked fetus esque Dutch van def linde inside

Do you think this sick little freak of nature is neurodivergent… or has any other disorders.. npd… bpd… etc… (no pressure to like. Actually diagnose or anything I’m assuming you aren’t a licensed psychologist, more for character analysis. Thank you so much, love your work!)

Oh he definately has something but yes I am not a psychologist and my experience with ND is limited to autism, ADHD, OCD and dyslexia because those are my family heirlooms, thus I would not feel comfortable diagnosing him but what I can do is present what fits and what does not fit about the most common diagnosises that people put on him as well as pointing out things others with more experience with these diagnosises says.

NPD- Narcissism

Dutch believes himself to be superior to others, which is very visible in many different ways, like his tent being the most luxurious to not allowing Molly, his girl to work. Which is also a big part of his entitlement, he expects others to look up to him, he expects people to treat him well, to cater his every need, and he gets angry when people doesn't.

He lives on admiration, which can be why he leans so heavily over to Micah late game when everyone else pulls their attention away from him, causing him to get angry. This time he is also very unable to handle any critisism thrown his way, reacting aggressively to it rather than listening.

One of the most obvious signs that makes people think narcissism is his willingness to exploit other, from the gang memebers to the native americans, using everything to his own advandage. He even says it himself, he is helping the natives because it helps him.

He created that friendship with Eagle Flies beacuse it boosted his confidence and his image, he lived in Micah's friendship because it fed his confidence and his image.

Narcissists tend to lack empathy and he does state in a camp event with Susan and Arthur "did you hear that Arthur? I am meant to consider feelings now!" and he is also quite arrogant, talking down to Arthur when he tries to come up with a plan in chapter 6.

Now, that said, narcissists cannot form meaning bonds which Dutch has done several times, for example with Hosea and with The Count. They are actually known for being terrible animal owners and are known for being able to fake friendships for a short amount of time while using others, not for thirty years.

Narcissits are also prone to bragging, which we do not hear Dutch nor does he belittle other people's achievements, and while he can seem like he doesn't show feelings and empathy, he does. He is genuiently sorry when Arthur gets kidnapped by O'Driscolls, he is sad when Hosea dies, he listens to John when Jack is kidnapped.

I also would not say he is fishing for compliments, which they are known for, there are also requirements for narcisissm which we don't have enough information on, such as fragile ego and requent self-doubt.

Bipolar

Dutch in the beginning of rdr2 is a very regular dude, he has signs but he seems okay, but as time goes on, especially in chapter 4-6 we see him go up into something that can look like mania.

He does not sleep, he can work without rest. He is easily irritated, his self-esteem is through the roog and he is impulsive. He constantly obesses, he leans over to people who feeds his ego, he is paranoid and he has a lot of grandiosity.

In the first couple of chapters it does also seem like we have some episodes. After settling in Horseshoe Dutch says sorry to Hosea about Blackwater, that he made a fool of himself and doesn't know what happened, similarly with after Arthurs kidnapping.

But then we come to chapter 5-6. What does not fit here however is the fact we don't see a crash, mania cannot go on forever and yet through the months of chap 5-6 there is no crash, he does not return to his regular state. We also see the same things in rdr1, again, no crash and it has been years.

"That said, I've yet to see his crash. The mania, which separates bipolar from major depression, can't just go on forever." which was wisely said by a player diagnosed with bipolar.

Borderline personality disorder

Dutch has a very strong fear of being abanonded, he does not like others leaving him, thus he is willing to leave them first, such as leaving John in jail before allowing him to get out and leave him.

He has a lot of paranoia and looses touch with reality, such as the situation in which he is standing, but also randomly yelling out or talking to himself in chapter 6, similarly he is prone to impulsiveness, doing things that aren't exactly thought through which ends people being harmed.

While he doesn't make threats of self-harm, he did die by suicide, though I would say it was more a powerplay than a fear of abandonment.

He is quickly angered, especially in the later chapters and acts out violently throughout the story

Now we have some other "critiria" like wide moodwings and "Quick changes in how you see yourself," I saw a redditor say this: "Although Dutch sees himself as an anarchistic Robin Hood-type hero during RDR2, he's clearly conflicted by RDR1, presenting himself as both a freedom fighter and a savage who can't fight his own violent nature." And while that is true, it does not fit the critira. It is not a quick change going back and forth but rather a steady but stable decline to that. A lot of people forget that it isn't just a change, but a back and forth we need for this diagnosis, and to me it is more that he is, as said, steadily moving, when he has reached one level of "madness" he doesn't go back.

Then we have a few critera I don't think fits, like unstable relationships, he has a lot of longer, fairly stable relationships such as with Hosea and Arthur and John, those were stable for 30 years before falling apart at the end. Again we are missing the movement back and forth.

End Note

As said, I am not a psycologist and if anything is worded wrongly in a way that may seem offensive, I appologice and please let me know.

[yumiis]

haiii i was wondering if u could do yumi with bipolar reader. im bipolar and saw u r too 🐞🐞

of course. here you go ml <3

｡ﾟﾟ･｡･ﾟﾟ｡ ﾟ。 six months ; blake

　 ﾟ･｡･ﾟ

genre; hurt/comfort

type; imagine

tw + a/n // crying, reader has bipolar 2, medication mentions. this is all solely based on what i have gone through since my diagnosis of bipolar 2. i hope this can help comfort some of you.

read below.

Six long, tiresome months of taking those three stupid, little white pills every night at 9pm sharp. Not to calm your nerves. They were for your bipolar disorder, y'know, your lovely personality disorder. The thing you've lived with for years, but only just recently got a name for.

The day you were diagnosed was the day the puzzle pieces finally snapped into place. You finally knew the reason you'd get these bursts of happiness for a day or so, and then quickly spiral back into your depression hole for another two weeks. Bipolar II causes manic depression, manic episodes, or depressive episodes. You've experienced all three of them. None of them were fun.

Sure, when you were manic, you seemed fun. You were easily excitable, ready to do impulsive things, ready to conquer the world, it seemed. It was your brain searching for any strand of happiness. Searching for anything, searching for any kind of adrenaline. You were not happy, you were not ready to take over the world. You were struggling.

Your boyfriend could notice when you were having a manic episode.

"You okay?"

"Nope!" You'd say, in the happiest voice you could muster.

You got up, shaking your hands, stomping around his bedroom and pacing in circles.

Hey, it's okay. Calm down," He spoke in a more stern voice, trying to get your attention. You stared at him, "Calm down? Calm down?! No! I can't!"

Shortly after that, you'd break down in his arms. You didn't know what was wrong with you. You couldn't keep doing this.

That was the night that he suggested maybe looking into seeing a psychiatrist who could prescribe you some medicine to help with your issues. Once you were in a better state of mind, you warmed up to the idea.

That was six months ago. This is now. These medicines have made you numb. Anyone who spoke to you felt like they were speaking to a stack of bricks. Barely any vocal responses, only nods of the head and occasional "mhm"s.

These days, you mostly stayed in bed, aside the days you had to go to work. The days you had to go to work, your boyfriend drove you. The car rides were quiet aside from the music. Some days you'd be nonverbal before work. You couldn't form words. Couldn't find the strength to talk. Couldn't open your mouth. Sometimes the reason was all three. Blake understood that.

One day though, he tried to start a conversation in the car. "Babe?"

"Mmm?"

"Well uh, first, are you verbal?"

You sighed, "Kinda."

"Okay. Is the medicine even helping you? You seem kinda like a.. a fuckin' husk."

"Don't know. All I know is that I can handle a job now."

Blake sighed. "You really don't even need this job.. I make enough for us both, really, if you need anything you can just ask," You stopped him. You hated the thought of him supplying for you. "No, Blake. I'm not making you buy everything for me. That makes me feel all pitiful and useless."

You pulled up to your shitty retail job.

"I get off at 5," You grabbed your bag, "Love you." He nodded, sighing. "Love you too."

You put on your fake smile for every customer that walked through the front doors, checking them all out with a smile. The words "Have a good day!" were ingrained in your head by five in the afternoon.

You had to stay a few minutes late because of a small rush you had, but it wasn't anything too bad. You clocked out, saying bye to your manager, then walking out the front doors. You spotted your boyfriend's Honda, walking over to it and sitting in the passenger side.

"Hey," He spoke softly, "How was your day?"

You shrugged, "Another day."

He sat up a little, this was progress. You normally just groan in response, he was actually getting an answer.

"... Are you hungry? We could go get dinner or somethin'." He suggested. You tilted your head, thinking. You didn't pack a lunch today, but you really weren't hungry, and you didn't get paid til next week. "No, I'm okay. I brought a kinda big lunch." He smiled, you never bring lunch. "Oh! Okay. That's good then."

That's another thing. One of the medicines demolishes your appetite. You're never hungry, even if your body tells you that you are. You haven't eaten a proper meal in days.

You two make it back home. You go to Blake's room, setting your bag down, and lying in his bed. Blake goes up to Tanner, "Dude, they packed lunch today. That's huge for them, they never eat anymore." Tanner laughed, "What the hell are you on about? They didn't pack shit. They were down here all morning before they had to leave," He paused, taking a bite of his burger. "Never packed shit."

His face dropped. So you hadn't eaten, and you lied. "Oh. Uh, never mind. Ignore my dumbass." Blake went up to his room, seeing you on his bed, scrolling through your phone. "Hey.. What'd you pack for lunch? I'm curious." He asked you, picking your brain.

You panicked for a second. "Oh, uh.. I fixed two sandwiches before I got you to bring me." Blake nodded, "Uh huh," He sat down in his desk chair, "That's kinda funny you say that, 'cause we're out of sandwich meat, and Tanner also said you didn't pack anything this morning."

It was days like those where you felt like your boyfriend would leave you, but he never did. He stuck by your side, always. Even if you told white lies, even if you didn't eat, even if you're on medication, even if you cried in his arms, and even if you god damn hated yourself.

You were lying in his arms, crying into his chest. "Hey, breathe.. Breathe.." He softly spoke, cradling your head in his hands. He stroked your hair, pressing a kiss to your cheek. "I'm always gonna help you out, and I'm always fucking here for you. Always."

[vadersaber]

also to the people bullying Chappell Roan continuously, saying she's not cut out for fame & that she should push through and commit no matter what:

you know who did push through the pain and performed regardless of the aftermath and the pain? Amy Winehouse, Britney spears, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and many others, most of whom are dead. they all got up on that stage & performed, even if they were feeling ill or depressed or in active addiction, and now, years later, we still mourn them; we remember them yearly and we keep asking ourselves what could we have done to prevent what had happened.

a break is what we could've given them. grace and empathy. mental health is just as important as physical health, and while it is upsetting to have your favorite artist cancel the day before, let's not forget this woman is diagnosed with bipolar II, and let's give her the same grace & empathy we offered when Lewis Capaldi & Stromae canceled their shows due to mental health concerns.

we are not entitled to celebs' lives or their sanity. they are human. so let them be human.

[ladykakata]

Do you think that after canon Mickey will attend some kind of therapy/eventually take medication? I've read a couple of AUs where he got diagnosed with depression but I realistically don't see it happening in canon sadly, with the whole Gallagher's don't do therapy premise

This is a very interesting question. A deleted scene shows him mentioning 'triggered' (which I thought was out of character as a word for him to use, I would have thought he would use a different phrasing even if he learned the word from reading up on mental health issues) so he's clearly been researching in the background things about mental health, likely focusing on Bipolar II and psychosis, as that's what Ian has. I do wonder if he did what I did and also got interested in various medications, since Ian's doctor explicitly mentioned the possibility of trying a few if the initial prescriptions didn't work.

If you asked me before watching the deleted scene where Ian mentions attending pilates together (much to Mickey's quiet irritation), I would have said he'd never do it. However, with the pilates scene and the very, very gradual melting into accepting some parts of West Side life in exchange for letting him be a gremlin to assert his own way of doing things ("Can I piss in the pool?" "Yeah ... *pause* ... Really?" "Yup!"), it's possible. It's POSSIBLE. But there would be a lot of caveats.

You said rightly 'Gallaghers don't do therapy'. Ian is aware his upbringing was screwed-up, but he's also still fiercely loyal to his family, he was so offended by the other couples at the gay meetup mentioning how much they hated their families. For as much as Ian loathed Frank and had conflicted feelings about his mother, his love for his family is not dimmed*. Ian is still loyal to certain family principles, and he only started taking his medication regime seriously and understanding his mania and depressive episodes are an issue when his family and Mickey hammer it into him. Without the family making the caveat, he likely would have stuck to avoiding mental health help. Mickey would only go to therapy if Ian went first (and probably only go if he were tagging along with Ian with the latter being the main focus), he would only go if the therapist had an understanding of Mickey's background, and I'd argue for a female or femme-presenting therapist as I still think he gets on better with women than men overall.

A counter to the idea of Mickey going, apart from the fact his feelings have to be dragged out kicking and screaming and the only person to get them out of him is pretty much Ian, is the fact in a deleted scene he outright was dismissive and irritated at talking out his feelings with the possibility of sock puppets with his Prison Officer.

TL;DR - It's highly unlikely he'd ever even consider going to therapy in his current state. After a few years, if Ian goes first, and if they do adopt like Ian is hoping for? It's possible. But he is never, ever going to go without Ian being first and being there, that's for damn sure. And I wouldn't see him going for depression, I'd see him more going for PTSD considering he flinches violently everytime someone touches him in his sleep and he doesn't do being startled very well either.

[* - I don't take Ian siding with Mickey over Lip in their disagreement as Ian growing away from his family at all. I think this is part of the silent agreement that exists between the two that they each deal with their respective families and the other does not interfere, something that has genuine merit when watching Mickey deal with paralysed Terry and also not really fighting back when Lip told him to butt out of the kitchen home-selling discussion, but that's going to be an entire post by itself lol]

[joanofexys]

omg can I ask about ur minyard ocs??? 👀👀

YES I CAN (and sorry for taking so long)

I am still undecided on if the Minyard twins (pt 2) will be part of my oc canon but they have certainly existed in my head for a hot minute (made them 3 years ago and forgot about them)

ig I should probably include tws. Nothing in detail but mentions of abuse, suicide, and SA

Sawyer Minyard

she/her

31

4'11

criminal defense attorney

has never played a sport in her life and doesn't plan to start

aroace

audhd combo + chronic depression

Saide Minyard

they/them (will respond to any but they/them is preferred as their gender can best be describe as "idk a blob of energy or whatever")

31

5'1

tattoo artist

played exy throughout high school and college but had no interest in going pro

played as a striker

has a bachelor's degree in psychology, never got their masters

also has the audhd combo + bipolar

Unlike the other set of Minyard twins these two were never separated, though Tilda did give them both up. Do I remember if it was mentioned how old Tilda was when she had Aaron and Andrew? No. So we're smudging the timeline however we need to for this like 10-ish year age gap between both sets of twins

Saide and Sawyer are obviously not identical if you read their height difference. And Saide will probably hold onto being the tallest Minyard sibling for the rest of their life

Saide and Sawyer for the first half of their lives were raised by a very loving foster mother who decided to file for permanent guardianship when they were 7 but due to some vague legal trouble that I haven't developed yet it falls through and the two end up being removed from her home

Thankfully the two stay together but they end up bouncing around the system for awhile and they both grow angry of it. For Sawyer this manifests in her throwing herself into school, an obsession with the justice system, and an anger with law enforcement (girl hates cops with a passion). For Saide it's finding any way to get out of their head. Parties, drugs, sex. Not all of it consensual. A lot of heavy and unhealthy self medication.

They split up for the first time ever for college. Sawyer moves across the country, a full ride with a good school that should get her into a good law school. Saide stays in state, a full ride playing exy, and they figure they'll take what they can get.

They both start receiving help in college. Sawyer attempts suicide for the first time at 21 years old as the contact with her sibling has grown more inconsistent, she has few friends, and she finds herself struggling to keep up with certain required classes she feels no passion for. She starts going to therapy afterwards but receives no diagnosis.

Saide gets diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar II their sophomore year after an outburst at a teammate, followed by three days of them being missing (out getting high and drunk and having sex they weren't fully aware was happening. crashing on friends couches and in their cars) and them returning to college with the following crash and depressive episode. They start trying different medication, stop drinking and doing drugs (with a few relapses on the way despite their insistence that they were never an addict), and started seeing a counselor provided by their colleges mental health service.

Junior year is when Saide starts experimenting with their gender. They go from he/him to he/they to she/they to she/he/they back to he/they and then they/them. That same year they start their tattoo apprenticeship while working toward their psych degree.

Sawyer gets her polisci degree, Saide gets their psych degree, and Sawyer gets accepted to an amazing law school (haven't decided which one cause y'all I have beef with Ivy League's and shit). They're roommates while Sawyer goes to law school. They both move again and get an apartment together. Saide gets a job with a local tattoo place and Sawyer is obviously a full time student. They're pretty cramped in there but they make it work

It's not until Sawyer either is a practicing lawyer or around the time she's taking the bar that the two find out about Andrew and Aaron. They've never had reason to think about other siblings. And obviously Andrew and Aaron had no reason to think they existed. But maybe something comes up with Nicky's adoption process for the two of them and the connection ends up being made

They're distant. Obviously neither of them can pack up and move again to take care of two siblings they don't even know. But there's a small effort made. Sawyer will always call Aaron back. If she's getting home at 3 am after sorting through piles of clients paperwork. Saide writers letters that he's 90% sure Aaron doesn't read and that Andrew throws straight in the trash. But they know they're there. It's probably not until Aaron and Andrew are in college and the events of the books starts going down that they really get connected. Because I'm sorry to Sawyer Minyard, vcious criminal defense attorney, who has to get the phone call that her brother killed a man and no it's not the one she thinks it is.

And this is getting long but yeah that's a bit about them

[azulasprettyservant]

I spent almost five years trying to pinpoint why I related to Azula so much, given that I don't have problems with my mom (and even though my relationship with my father is... Strained... To say the least, it isn't like hers with Ozai, not quite. I'm also an only child so lol).

So I was revisiting some things and something just clicked while I was thinking about what I love about her as a character and traits that I related to and the conclusion was that she's SO BIPOLAR CODED. I was only diagnosed with bipolar disorder type II this year, so in the past, while I struggled with many things that weren't common to regular depression, I was never actually aware of most of my symptoms, and it turns out they were the ones that made me feel solitary, evil or just misunderstood, like the world was against me. Like I was a monster.

Well, now imagine how it felt to undiagnosed me to see a character that represented so much of my "ugly" side. A girl that had extreme mood swings, that sometimes felt euphoric, confident and hyper aware of her surroundings, that was extremely irritable at times, losing control over her temper and pushing people away. A girl that had never felt seen by her family or friends, never felt alike her peers, someone whose emotions are so strong and out of control (which makes her go insane since she's- well, I'm a control freak) that in the end it affected her judgement and view of the world, someone who couldn't help but being the product of the environment that she was raised into.

When I saw Azula I also saw myself somehow.

I couldn't name what it was at the time, but now I know. It's bipolarity, plain and simple, and while I think she's type I rather than type II like myself, seeing a bipolar coded girl character made me feel seen for, perhaps, the first time in a long while (maybe all my life). She's still the character I feel most connected to, and maybe she'll always be. I mean, she's the first character that made me feel like I wasn't so different and alone, after all, and for that I'm eternally grateful, (particularly because I met her when I was passing through a depressive episode).

[extreme-dyke-syndrome]

Your experience with psych stuff sounds almost identical to mine except ADHD was diagnosed and then ignored, the anxiety and depression diagnoses were actually misdiagnoses of bipolar ii (which has been hell to medicate thank fuck for lithium), and I have been viscerally averse to BPD until literally three weeks ago. Plus psych wards won’t ever admit me for god knows why. Thank you so much for sharing, I’ve always felt like the ‘difficult’ one and have definitely put up with a lot more mistreatment as a result.

TW: BPD stigma

BPD is treated as a difficult disorder. In AP psych I was literally taught that people with PDs don't seek help because they don't think anything is wrong with them. I've been turned down by SEVERAL psychs because they "don't know how to work with BPD" or because of the ever-loved phrase "treatment resistant."

Unfortunately, a LOT of my BPD healing has been navigated on my own via personal reflection, listening to other pwBPD, and unfortunately, learning the hard way several times. I often think about how better treatment may have led to me having learned in healthier ways than being deeply traumatized over and over from FP episodes or spirals and instability, or hurting the people I care about (because I 1000% have not been perfect), and how less stigma probably would have meant less denial, which would have probably led to me addressing it YEARS earlier. You're not difficult for having BPD. BPD is a severe mental health disorder, but that severity falls on you first and foremost. Can it lead to us hurting the people we care about? Yes. Do we need to take responsibility for that? Absolutely. But when we're told that we don't even want help, us engaging in those harmful behaviors is so much more likely than if we were supported for our symptoms to begin with. BPD does not inherently make you a difficult or bad person. It's incredibly hard to deal with, and while personal responsibility for our behaviors is important, a lack of help and heavy stigma should be FAR more emphasized, in my opinion.

As for misdiagnoses, my biggest one was being misdiagnosed with OCD when I actually had autism. That was a fun one to grapple with. And I agree, shoutout lithium! About to pick my refill up soon :)

[docgold13]

how many people are diagnosed with borderline personality disorder?  How many have you treated?

Here in the United States, the most up-to-date research suggests that approximately 11% of psychiatric outpatients and 20% of psychiatric inpatients have been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (or BDP). 

It was thought for a while that BDP was more common in women compared to men, but this found to be untrue (the main difference is that women are more likely to seek out help compared to men which tended to skew the statistics).  

Psychological diagnosis entails an element of subjectivity.  The decision to identify a patient as suffering from BDP as opposed to an anxiety disorder (such as complex PTSD) or an affective disorder (such as Bipolar Disorder) can sometimes be impacted by the clinician’s opinions, attitudes and level of skill.  

I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to discuss the specifics of my own practice in that the work is strictly confidential.  What I will say, however, is that I’m not a huge fan of identifying patients with an Axis II personality disorder.  I’ll do so if it is warranted, but only after very careful consideration and a prolonged interaction with the patient.  

Trauma is quite often a substantial component in the etiology of BPD and, in many instances, I feel a diagnosis of complex post traumatic stress disorder is a more appropriate and less potentially derogatory clinical identifier.