Bipolaruchiha - 💜💛💚

Even if you don't think/know that you have [disorder] (or even if you know you don't!) you're allowed to use coping strategies meant for or associated with that disorder. You can use ADHD tips for your poor memory. You can stim even if you're not autistic (stimming has a lot of overlap between disorders honestly). You can use chronic fatigue tips if you have depression. You're not stealing resources. If it helps you, it helps you, whether you were the target audience or not

From what I’ve read and observed, bipolar symptoms exist on a spectrum. Using these charts inspired by @levianta’s graphics about autism, you can visualize the extremity of every symptom you experience. As an example, here is a chart visualizing how i personally experience hypomania:

this is so petty but i hate how bipolar is treated like one of the big scary disorders but never talked about as one. people on here will talk about ending the demonization of ‘scary disorders’ like personally disorders and schizophrenia and did but not include bipolar despite being seen and treated by the general public as a ‘scary’ disorder. I had a mental health advocate tell me bipolar doesn’t count because it’s a mood disorder and therefor treated the same as gad and depression and i just. have you met a bipolar? listened to our symptoms? have you listened to doctors talk about us? our abuse rates? our suicide and alcoholism rates? the distain the public has for us? just include us in your positivity and advocacy please. im not asking for much

Just saw a spicy hot take in the notes of an ADHD post that was like “adhd isn’t a mood disorder stop making excuses” from a supposed fellow ADHD person and like yes, ADHD is not exclusively a mood disorder. It’s 4 of them hiding under a trench coat with 15 other neurological disorders. And also:

ID, a screen grab from an article that reads: About 70 percent of adults with ADHD report problems with emotional dysregulation, going up to 80 percent in children with ADHD. In clinical terms, these problem areas include:

-Irritability: issues with anger dysregulation – “tantrum” episodes as well as chronic or generally negative feelings in between episodes.

-Lability: frequent, reactive mood changes during the day.

-Recognition: the ability to accurately recognize other people’s feelings. Individuals with ADHD may tend to not notice other people’s emotions until pointed out.

-Affective intensity: felt intensity – how strongly an emotion is experienced. People with ADHD tend to feel emotions very intensely.

-Emotional dysregulation: global difficulty adapting emotional intensity or state to situation.

/end ID. (Source)

Like not to be wildly and irrationally peeved about this, but bully for you if you don’t experience this as part of your ADHD, but over 70% of us do and saying we’re making excuses or not trying hard enough is the exact same shit neurotypicals say to invalidate us, and causes us real harm. Please don’t do the same thing. Trauma inflicted by neurotypicals is a huge part of why living with ADHD is so difficult. We don’t need it from within our own community too.

We all experience this shit show disorder differently. It’s a spectrum of one size fits no one, not a cookie cutter mold to fit into.

And yeah, you know what, this shit isn’t an excuse to behave badly, but you know what, knowing emotional dysregulation is a symptom of ADHD helps you to treat it and work on getting a handle on it. Knowing the reason it feels like the world is ending in your chest because something bad happened, and knowing it’s because your gremlin brain is perpetually starved for dopamine so there’s no cushion for the raw emotional feedback currently happening can help you, with practice, to curb the impulsive desire to do something rash or harmful.

I mean, fuck, there’s a reason for why suicide is so prevalent in ADHD, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say that impulsivity and severe emotional dysregulation is a part of that.

Knowing that the feeling will end and isn’t an accurate reflection of the situation, overwhelmingly painful as it is in the moment, can help. It does help. So denying this aspect as part of ADHD? Not helpful, and you need to take some time to sit with your thoughts and see why you want to distance yourself so much from this to the point of invalidating others.

I-d

Why do we love to pathologise normal behaviour online?

By reducing nuances of mental health to sweeping statements, social media might actually be leading to over-diagnosis.

Did you enjoy reading as a child? I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but the cherished hours you spent reading Harry Potter books were actually just your body’s way of dissociating in an uncomfortable environment (also RIP to your idea of JK Rowling as a decent person). Do you sometimes forget to text your friends back? It’s probably, definitely, because of a past trauma, and certainly not the natural result of a culture in which we are expected to be socially available at all times. Better get a therapist on the line! Do you struggle to concentrate at your office job, where you spend eight hours a day performing boring tasks in front of a screen? I hate to be the one to tell you this, but there’s probably something immutably wrong with the chemicals in your brain. 

As far as the internet is concerned, just about everything you do might be evidence of a troubling pathology. Social media can undeniably be a great resource for people experiencing mental illness, alongside people who have ADHD, and people who fall somewhere along the autism spectrum. A condition like ADHD, for example, is still said to be underdiagnosed (particularly among women) and raising awareness about this might bring people to a diagnosis they sorely need. But as with many things online, there is a downside to a free, entirely unregulated flow of information. 

This is good. It talks about capitalism too.

HAPPY ADHD AWARENESS MONTH YALL!!

you are so valid!!

your traits/symptoms are valid!!

your experiences are valid!!

self-dx is valid!!

executive dysfunction is valid!! 

nonmedicated ppl are valid!!

medicated ppl are valid!!

autistic + ADHD ppl are valid!!

stimming is valid!!

hyperfixations are valid!!

comorbidities are valid!!

all ADHDers are valid and your efforts don’t go unseen!! keep up the great work funky neurodivergent ppl!!!

We need to talk more about this.

I literally cannot overstate how important creative hobbies are when dealing with mental illness. If you can’t draw, there are coloring books. If you can’t write a novel, you can write in short journaling bursts. If you can’t sing in the shower, you can listen to music. Sometimes with mental illness it feels like we have this dark presence inside of us that is bumping around in our brain and organs, causing problems. It helps immensely to let it out.

EDUCATE YOURSELVES: chronic illness edition

this is important! chronically ill people get a lot of shit from healthy people and this could be avoided if everyone knew a little more about chronic illnesses in general so i’ve made a list of things healthy people (and newly chronically ill people) can read in order to know more about chronic illness and how it affects our lives!

some general information and must-reads:

the spoon theory (aka: why we call ourselves “spoonies”)

a sudden illness - laura hillenbrand

young and disabled by rachel anne

harmful tropes in literature

13 things people with chronic illnesses want you to know

a blog by people with chronic conditions

brief explanations of some chronic illnesses:

chronic fatigue syndrome (ME)

crohn’s disease

fibromyalgia + AMPS

ehlers-danlos syndrome - hypermobility type

ehlers-danlos syndrome - all types

CRPS/RSD (complex regional pain syndrome

IBD (inflammatory bowel disease)

POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome)

dysautonomia

rheumatoid arthritis

lupus

autoimmune diseases

hashimoto’s disease

addison’s disease

endometriosis

depression (most people with chronic illnesses develop depression)

anxiety

bipolar disorder

and i’m running out of spoons but there are many, many more so spoonies, feel free to reblog add some if you want!

things to keep in mind:

although it says in many descriptions that most people who are diagnosed are over a certain age, anyone at any age can develop a chronic illness, and many are teenagers or even children. don’t tell a chronically ill person that we are “too young to be this sick” because it’s an ignorant thing to say and it’s harmful to us.

many chronic illnesses are invisible illnesses, which means that you cannot tell that a person is sick just by looking at them. never say to a chronically ill person that we “don’t look sick” because it is harmful and annoying, even if you mean well.

some spoonies need to use wheelchairs, canes, or other forms of assistance/ accommodations, so please never express doubt that a person might need this assistance. it’s impolite and insensitive. just because someone looks perfectly fine doesn’t mean that they don’t have a chronic illness that requires the use of a wheelchair or other assistance.

many chronic illnesses aren’t terminal but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t a real problem. chronic illnesses are robbing us of their normal lives and we are living in pain because there is so much that doctors still don’t know about chronic illnesses. many spoonies have had doctors look us in the eyes and say “i don’t know how to help you” because there is so much research that needs to be done and there isn’t enough funding! so donate to organizations and hospitals who are raising money for research!

thank you for reading this! please reblog and spread awareness! thank you!