Sunday, March 28, 2010

Bipolar is not my identity

There is a good group on facebook for people with bipolar. The problem is that we are using our real names, and when we post in the group, a message shows up on our profile wall; "Jen discussed xxx on Bipolar". So I need to go in and delete all of those messages, which is annoying. Although I'm not ashamed that I have bipolar, there are things that I need to talk about with people who understand, and some of my friends and family who are my friends on facebook don't understand.

I found a different group (not on facebook) that I really like; everyone is nice and I can be anonymous! I mentioned the new group to the people in the facebook group, and told them how it was nice to be able to be anonymous, and most suggested that I just create a separate account for posting in the group. First of all, it's against facebook rules, and you can call me a goody-two-shoes if you want, but if I agree to follow rules I stick by that. The other thing that I realized is this: if I set up a separate account just to post about my bipolar, in a way I am giving my bipolar it's own identity. I don't want to do that. It is a part of me, I have this illness, but it does not define who I am as a person. It would almost be like I'm creating a split personality for myself. I am a person who lives with bipolar, I am not bipolar itself.

Any of you who have this or another mental illness that would like to check out the group I mentioned, here is the link: http://forums.psychcentral.com/forumdisplay.php?f=57

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