Welcome to My Depression Web Site where you will learn about bipolar disorder, manic depression, epilim, lithium, my life as a depressed person and primarily stigma as it relates to mental illness. I've written a book entitled Out of Joint which is an autobiography depicting my life and my story in the context of bipolar disorder or manic depression. The book opens with my grandfather who was institutionalized until the day he died. He suffered stigma and was stigmatized by his wife for having a mental illness, shunned by his family, and shamed. Mostly he was shamed. In reality granddad came from Ireland to Manchester England where there was no work. He lived on the dole and drank it all up. There was no epilim or lithium back then for treating bipolar disorder. Most everyone in 1950 who went to mental asylums were suffered mental illness because they were mentally ill.
Bipolar disorder is an imbalance in the brain chemistry that causes extreme mood changes where at times a person will be happy to the extreme and then sad to the point of suicide. Bipolar disorder used to be called manic depression. Booth words depict extreme mood swings.
The drugs of choice include epilim and lithium. Lithium was actually discovered by an Australian chemist.
Central to my book is how I remained undiagnosed because my fear of stigma. Stigma is the enemy of bipolar disorder and mental illness in general.
I denied I was mentally ill. Mental illness in my family was a four letter word. It wasn't uttered. But my recovery process didn't begin until embraced that I am mentally ill and nothing is wrong with being mentally ill.
But stigma makes mental illness a four letter word still in our most cultures.
Ten percent of the population suffers from depression and the subclasses of depression like bipolar depression today, whereas at the turn of the 20th Century only 1% of the population was ill with depression. Many researchers claim that past depression was simply not reported, however the increase in the suicide rate is consistent with the increase of the rate of depression during the last century. Since suicide and depression go hand and hand, it seems that something has gone wrong when it comes to mental health in western societies. It's also said that people have more of a genetic propensity toward depression. The rationale supporting this view is the large number of mental health patients who are successfully treated with medications because this gives support to a chemical problem in the brain. However, I contend that the brain is a more diverse and potent manufacturer of chemicals than Dowel Chemical. I suspect early betrayal of primarily female children since Depression affects women more than men by a two to one ratio, is the culprit. Women thirst after intimacy in a time and society that's increasingly indifferent and distant. Modern man has learned to feed and shelter himself but not his soul...but not his soul.
