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Peer Stories
There Are Benefits to Bipolar Disorder
By: Kristin Colino
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"I’m here... because I have lived a life protected from pre-existing conditions that would prevent my health care coverage. I’m here... because I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when I was 20. I’m here... to answer the question, “What does life look like after being diagnosed with a mental health condition?”
When my brain started to malfunction, I was still in high school. I was a straight-A student, who was at risk of not graduating. I didn’t know why, but I was mentally unable to do the work. I felt like a gigantic failure..."Read More
Growing up, I had no idea what mental health was. I grew up in a devout Christian family and Jamaican-American household with not one but two Jamaican parents.
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At home, we didn’t talk about our feelings, and to me, the words “mental health” meant you were crazy.....Read More
Abraham Sculley
I paused to collect my thoughts for a few minutes, but when the sun started going down, I realized I’d been sitting there for six hours. During that time, I struggled to remember what had just happened in the meeting, but the more I tried to remember, the more memories of things that couldn’t possibly have happened started to fill my brain. Memories of things like seeing people die, of being sued, of being interviewed on CNN...
Sally Littlefield
By the time of my 17th birthday, I had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder and anxiety, placed on two antidepressant medications, and was sent to local psychiatric hospitals four different times. At this point, my brain became convinced that suicide was a viable solution for my life...