Episódios
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In our last episode of the series 2 I am joined by Melissa Duncan and Jihan Gabart - Melissa was diagnosed with Bipolar 1. Jihan has been her best friend since the age of 14 and they have lived together and Jihan is a carer to Melissa to support her whilst living with this diagnosis.
They were childhood friends and then moved to New York City together to be college roommates at the age of 17 and 18 and lived through the 9/11 disaster on just their second day living in New York. Living through this traumatic event as well as living together whilst Melissa was living undiagnosed with Bipolar was truly friendship changing.
There is a history of mental illness in Mel’s family which pushed her diagnosis further down the road because there was a lot of fear around what she had witnessed with family members being sectioned and committed. When her diagnosis did come there was a lot of denial and resistance around it, as Mel was only ready to accept that she had anxiety at that time and really believed that her doctor had got it wrong and that her friend Jihan had it wrong too.
Johan and Melissa have grown alongside each other and their friendship and relationship is full of beautiful and hard moments as they have walked through this journey. Jihan being Melissa's point of truth and grounding and having to stand firm on the different boundaries required within their friendship dynamic to support Mel in being stable, well and accessing help.
Thank you so much for sharing your joint experience with me in this conversation.
Please find support and resources on our website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: @bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolaruk
Find Melissa and Jihan here:
www.instagram.com/somypolar
www.somypolar.org
www.twitter.com/somypolarHosted by Emma Belle:
Insta: @emmakbelle
Facebook: bellekemma
www.emmakbelle.com
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Professor Allan Young MB, ChB, MPhil, PhD, FRCP (Edin.), FRCPC, FRCPsych answers your questions on bipolar:
How do we define recovery when living with Bipolar?
How do we recover our overall functioning after episodes of being unwell?
What are the studies and research around Lithium and cognitive function?
What can we do to prepare for our meeting with our psychiatrist to get the most out of our appointments?
What are the top 3 things someone with Bipolar can do to help stay well and why?
There is a wariness to taking Lithium, can you share your thoughts, findings and evidence on Lithium treatment for those that live with bipolar?
What does starting Lithium look like and how often do I need to be seen?
How does Lithium interact with other drugs and alcohol etc?
Professor Allan Young joined King’s in 2013 and holds the Chair of Mood Disorders and is Director of the Centre for Affective Disorders in the Department of Psychological Medicine in the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London (where he is also interim Vice-Dean for Academic Psychiatry), United Kingdom (UK).
Prof Young is the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Mental Health Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) Cluster and Theme lead in the Translational Therapeutics Cluster. Prof Young is the clinical academic lead in the Psychological Medicine and Integrated Care Clinical Academic Group in the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust where he is also a Consultant Psychiatrist and the head of the National Affective Disorders Tertiary Clinic.
Professor Young’s research interests focus on the cause and treatments for severe psychiatric illnesses, particularly mood disorders.
Professor Allan Young, my guest for this episode answers your questions on all things Bipolar.
Please find support and resources on our website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: @bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolaruk
Hosted by Emma Belle:
Insta: @emmakbelle
Facebook: bellekemma
www.emmakbelle.com
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Estão a faltar episódios?
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Anastasia was seeing psychiatrists since the age of 9 so her journey has been a long one and coming to terms with her diagnosis was hard as all she had heard was fear and stigma around the diagnosis. After some research the diagnosis brought relief and made things make sense.
We talk a lot about lost years and the how on reflection we can realise that there have been losses and it’s ok to grieve those losses. Being gentle with the younger versions of ourselves and offering compassion to these past versions of ourselves allows us to be proud of how hard they were working for us at the time and how they were doing their very best.
We also talk about therapy and the importance of breaks and allowing the work to integrate along with the benefits and energy required for dedicated trauma therapies like EMDR therapy.
We also talk about the changes and the adjustments we need to make in our lives to stay well and stable living with Bipolar, Anastasia shares some of the ways she looks after herself to live well with Bipolar.
Please find support and resources on our website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: @bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolaruk
Find Anastasia:
Instagram: @thebipolardiaries_
Facebook: The BP Diaries
Blog: https://thebpdiaries.com/
Podcast: The Bipolar Diaries
Hosted by Emma Belle:
Insta: @emmakbelle
Facebook: bellekemma
www.emmakbelle.com
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Paul’s son is one of 3 children and the whole family is very supportive to do what they can and be as supportive as they can in his journey of learning to manage and live with Bipolar.
Paul talks about the complexity of supporting his son and the impact of some of the emotional and financial impacts that have occurred because of his son being unwell.
It is evident that supporting a family member who lives with Bipolar is complex for all involved and presents its challenges all round. Bridging the gap between how everyone is feeling and know what to do and say do be supportive in the most helpful ways can be incredibly difficult to navigate.
We also discuss a trial treatment that his son had to lift him out of an acute depressive episode and is about to have another treatment imminently under a different management to help manage risks of mania after treatment and close follow ups and extensive clinical supportive and assessment meetings.
I would love to hear from family members that support those living with Bipolar and would love to do another episode with a family member in the future.
Please find support and resources on our website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: @bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolaruk
Hosted by Emma Belle:
Insta: @emmakbelle
Facebook: bellekemma
www.emmakbelle.com
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Yogini, triathlete, vegan, mother and lover, Natalie Leeke, has created and enjoys an unconventional and beautiful life with her 7 year old daughter in South west Florida.
After 11 years as a nun and a broad range of experience, Natalie consults for small to medium businesses on marketing and business strategy.
Transitioning from one way of living to living outside of that community has been a huge shift and Natalie talks about this with me in our conversation. We also talk about the journey of navigating finding the right medication that works for you and how sometimes it can take many changes to get to what works best for each of us. Natalie has gone through 9 medication changes to find what works best for her.
We talk about how we can be softer with ourselves and offer ourselves as much compassion as we can along the way to avoid shaming ourselves when we are already dealing with so much. We also talk about the importance of having boundaries in place for our working hours and how this differs for all of us.
Since her diagnosis of bipolar in 2019, she has been learning to manage life more effectively. Friendships have been a large part of her support system. Her experience of authentic friendships prompted her to host "Social Animals" - a podcast about friendship.
FB @natalieleeke
IG @nun2fun
pondb.com
Please find support and resources on our website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: @bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolaruk
Hosted by Emma Belle:
Insta: @emmakbelle
Facebook: bellekemma
www.emmakbelle.com
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Following her own diagnosis of Bipolar Clare and her husband decided to have a family and in doing so suffered with an episode of post-partum psychosis following the birth of her first born. Clare has worked extensively with specialists and Bipolar UK to work specifically about how to support and navigate this very difficult period of life. GP’s are under informed to support in the way they need to and because such little research historically has been done in this area there is a serious lack of information to offer birthing people the support they need.
This really is a specialised area of perinatal mental health and Clare has been instrumental in putting so much work into this area to support those living with Bipolar to navigate this.
Clare was also part of workshop where she met women who had had to have a termination for maternal mental health during their pregnancies due to the fact they live with Bipolar.
Some people only ever receive their first experience of having Bipolar following a diagnosis of postpartum psychosis which is believed to be triggered by the hormonal changes that are experienced during pregnancy and birth.
Clare has a series of webinars that are available on the Bipolar UK website and Youtube channel to help and support those that are thinking of pursuing pregnancy/family building/parenting and for those that are going through perimenopause and menopause.
Clare Dolman PhD
Trustee Maternal Mental Health Alliance: maternalmentalhealthalliance.org
Trustee APP - Action on Postpartum Psychosis www.app-network.org
Ambassador Bipolar UK: www.bipolaruk.org
Please find support and resources on our website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: @bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolaruk
Hosted by Emma Belle:
Insta: @emmakbelle
Facebook: bellekemma
www.emmakbelle.com
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Important update: "Bipolar UK is sad to update this recording with the news that Micki passed away following recent struggles with bipolar. We are grateful to Micki’s family for their kindness allowing Micki’s voice to continue to be heard."
Micki Woods, a 24 year old musician from Derby, was diagnosed just over 2 years ago when she was 22. With a family history of her Dad having Bipolar and sadly passing away over 4.5 years ago, Micki was aware that she was at higher risk and that she also noticed that life felt hard, and something was going on with her from the age of 12. She learned a lot from her Dad and how he struggled to deal with it and how as a result she has done her best to learn as much as she can about her illness and how it affects her personally in order to face it every day.
Micki found out she was pregnant whilst still being in an unstable period. Micki stayed relatively stable throughout her pregnancy and is now a mum to a young baby. Micki speaks to us from a mother and baby unit in the UK as she had a sever manic episode following the birth of her baby, she believes triggered by hormones post birth. Following this came the crash which she is currently still navigating whilst being a guest on our podcast.
Women and uterus owners who live with Bipolar can be very worried about pregnancy and growing a family because of the hurdles of medication and post-partum psychosis.
The support that Micki has received keeping her and her baby together whilst she is admitted has been key in her recovery. The staff help with the feeds in the night which has been very helpful for Micki as lack of sleep is a huge trigger for her.
“A big part of how I cope in general is through writing poetry and music. I find it very therapeutic, and I think I’ve helped others who may feel the same! I think there’s such a strong link between bipolar and creativity and I try to be as honest as I can in my music about what it’s like to live with bipolar, or any mental illness really. One of my latest tracks is an ode to my daughter about how if she does inherit bipolar, she’ll be okay
During my time in hospital I managed to write an albums worth of songs which we’re releasing in four EPs. I find it easiest to write when I’m in a depressive episode. I’ve also self published two books and have released two albums and a few singles over the last 5 or so years”
I am so grateful to Micki for talking to me about her experience as a new mum and what life has been like since her episode in post-partum.
Please find support and resources on our website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: @bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolaruk
Find Micki:
Instagram: @wiltedfloweruk
Twitter: @wiltedfloweruk
Facebook: @wiltedflower
Hosted by Emma Belle:
Insta: @emmakbelle
Facebook: bellekemma
www.emmakbelle.com
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Dr Thomas Richardson, is a professional living with Bipolar. Dr Thomas Richardson is a clinical psychologist and associate professor of clinical psychology at the University of Southampton. He is actively researching psychological treatment and understanding of Bipolar Disorder, leading teachings on CBT for Bipolar Disorder.
Thomas was first diagnosed with a manic episode age 18 and was in hospital, then went on to be formally diagnosed with Bipolar age 22. We talk about how it took some time before he was comfortable disclosing his diagnosis in a professional setting and how that unfolded for him.
Thomas has a particular interest in financial difficulties and impulsive spending whilst living with bipolar and actively researches this challenging area. He very kindly shares some tip and resources that can help those living with Bipolar and how to better manage things financially whilst also navigating living with Bipolar and the impulsivity it can bring. He also debunks the myth that over spending only happens in the higher phases of this illness and how it can actually show up in the lower phases also.
I am sure you will find some great takeaways in this episode!
Please find support and resources on our website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: @bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolaruk
Find Dr Thomas Richardson at:
Twitter: @DrTomRichardson
If you would like to be part of a research study with Dr Thomas Richardson then you can email him at: [email protected]
Hosted by Emma Belle:
Insta: @emmakbelle
Facebook: bellekemma
www.emmakbelle.com
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Never for one second did Oliver Seligman think he would become a writer. Graduating from University in 1998 with a Zoology degree, he ended up working in London and New York as a sales trader in an investment bank. However, his cunning plan to make millions and live happily ever after, didn't work out. Bipolar caught up with him and he quit his fast paced job. He then became a monk who travels the world writing, coaching and giving inspirational talks.
In Oliver's latest book, "Befriending bipolar: a patient's perspective," he describes what it is like to experience madness from the inside. Diagnosed with bipolar type one at seventeen, he has battled euphoric manias, suicidal depressions, bewildering psychoses and the side effects of medication for nearly thirty years. In Befriending Bipolar, Oliver tells the story of how he has found peace with an illness that destroys lives and sometimes ends them.Please find support and resources on our website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: @bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolaruk
Find Oliver at:
Instagram
YouTube channel: Befriending Bipolar
Website: www.befriendingbipolar.co.ukHosted by Emma Belle:
Insta: @emmakbelle
Facebook: bellekemma
www.emmakbelle.com
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Loren Eley is a mental health advocate and change agent, who uses her lived experience of Bipolar Affective Disorder Type 1 for good, to raise awareness, educate and inspire.
Loren was a founding member of Belonging at Bauer, Bauer Media’s Diversity and Inclusion forum, and works on Team Enable, the disability and mental health pillar, as well as Thrive, creating wellbeing content for staff. She represents the company in industry panels and webinars on the topics of disability and mental health, including for the Radio Academy and the All Party Parliamentary Groups for Media and Disability.
Loren delivers talks on Bipolar Disorder, mental health awareness and self-care strategies for organisations. Loren has worked with Bipolar UK as an employment ambassador, assisting in workplace training, as well as having blogs and feature articles published in her role as media ambassador.
On the side, Loren is a Talk for Health graduate and leads a peer support group, and she records community radio shows about self-care techniques, as well as a bespoke show for World Bipolar Day, interviewing people with lived experience and carers.
Loren was diagnosed in 2012 at the age of 29 years old with Bipolar 1 after going through a phase of acute mania. With a build up lasting weeks and perhaps months that wasn't recognised at the time, working in a new job, going from working on 1 brand to over a 100 that resulted in being run down with the flu and returned to work too soon, burning the candle at both ends of the day, not sleeping properly, which culminated in writing in an entire full A4 page work book of plans for an epiphany she had had for work plans. Rapid speech , allocating herself to all tasks and transcribing a meeting at work.
On return from work this escalated in to taking her clothes off to being nude at her home whilst living with her partner and also a housemate who could have walked in all night, staying up all night and believing a film crew were coming to collect her for filming with Dizzee rascall.
Loren talks about the differences between hypomania and manic behaviour. A&E became her gateway to getting the help she needed, although she believed that they were going to Heathrow to meet her mum for a visit and not going to attend the hospital...
We also talk about the memory gaps that can happen when we a manic and/or medicated to bring us down from a high and how this can feel when looking back, hearing from others and/or reading notes that have been taken during these periods of being unwell.
Loren lives her life mostly stable, managing occasional hypomanic/manic episodes with fewer depressive episodes
Please find support and resources on our website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: @bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolaruk
Find Loren at:
Linked In
Instagram
Hosted by Emma Belle
Insta: @emmakbelle
Facebook: bellekemma
www.emmakbelle.com
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It will be world mental health day on the 10th of October and the "let's talk Bipolar" by @bipolar_uk has a special podcast episode for you
The theme this year is "Mental health in an unequal world"
It was a pleasure to be joined by our guest, Bella Rareworld, to talk about the barriers faced by the black community when trying to access effective health care for their mental and emotional wellbeing
Bella shares her own personal experience and is now an advocate for Mental illness and health with a passion to empower those in the black communities to be able to identify when they may need help, how to access that help and importantly how to communicate what pathway is most helpful for them.
Bella, thank you for your vulnerability and courage, I know that you are helping people in the community to shed shame, seek help and be more empowered in their journey of seeking stability and wellness with their mental health
Please find support and resources on our website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: @bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolaruk
Where to find Bella Rareworld
https://www.bellarareworldbipolar.com/blackpeople
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea | Black Mental Health Awareness Event on Wednesday 27th October 2021
https://linktr.ee/BellaRareworldBipolar
My Stimga blog for Bipolar uk
https://www.bipolaruk.org/Blog/breaking-down-stigma-in-the-black-community
IG
https://www.instagram.com/bipolarspeaker
Facebook
https://Facebook.com/BellaRareworldBipolar
Twitter
https://twitter.com/bipolarspeaker
And subscribe to our YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOtxBAHRtdkFounder / Podcast host: Bella Rareworld
www.ThinkTenacity.com
Hosted by Emma Belle
Insta: @emmakbelle
Facebook: bellekemma
www.emmakbelle.com
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This is a Bonus episode that is being released on World suicide Prevention Day 2021.
Simon Kitchen is the CEO of Bipolar UK and in this episode we get to know a bit about him and how he came to work with Bipolar UK. We talk about the Bipolar Commission research that is being carried out and also what we know so far about the impact of increased risk of suicide for those living with Bipolar.
On the same day that this podcast is released Bipolar Uk will be hosting a free webinar for Suicide Prevention Day to raise the profile of the number of suicides linked to bipolar, and proactive steps that need to be taken to reduce them.
What bipolar is and the link with suicide. Simon Kitchen – CEO, Bipolar UK What does the data tell us? Dr Clare Dolman, co-Chair Bipolar Commission What is currently being done in public policy to reduce bipolar suicides? (focus on England). Simon Kitchen – CEO, Bipolar UK What can we ALL do to reduce the risk of suicide for people living with bipolar? Dr Thomas Richardson – role of talking therapies in reducing suicides for people with bipolar Emma Belle and April Kelley, Bipolar UK Ambassadors with lived experienceKey facts
1 in 20 people who take their own life in the UK have a diagnosis of bipolar Someone with bipolar has a suicide risk that’s at least 20 times greater than someone without bipolar, which is higher than someone with major depressive disorderYet these statistics don’t reveal the whole picture. “It’s very likely these figures are hugely underestimated because of the large numbers of people with bipolar who are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed,” says Professor Guy Goodwin, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, University of Oxford. The real figure is more likely to equate to two people with bipolar taking their own life every day.
Resources
Bipolar UK’s suicide prevention bank of content can be found here: https://www.bipolaruk.org/blogs/suicide-prevention
April Kelley’s personal account of how she copes with the really difficult days:
https://www.bipolaruk.org/blog/in-the-mist-of-time2
Jeremy Clark shares how he has learnt to manage suicidal thinking:
https://www.bipolaruk.org/blog/managesuicidalthinking
Emma Belle chats with founder of suicide prevention charity Grassroots, Chris Brown, on her podcast:
https://www.bipolaruk.org/blog/how-do-we-speak-to-someone-who-is-suicidal
Nicky Chinn reflects on how ‘talking about it’ helps him deal with suicidal thinking:
https://www.bipolaruk.org/blog/a-life-was-saved
Ellie remembers her father who took his own life when she was at school:
https://www.bipolaruk.org/blog/coping-with-loss
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With Suicide Prevention day approaching I am excited to share my conversation with my friend Chris Brown. I was lucky enough to receive training from Chris nearly 10 years ago on suicide prevention and safe talk.
Chris has trained hundreds upon hundreds of people and organisations suicide prevention under the ASSIST model. Chris is one of the founders of the Suicide Prevention charity in the UK, Grassroots and was fundamental in the creation of the "Stay Alive" app. This app has had over 10,000 downloads and is an excellent resource for safety planning for those that are experiencing thoughts and making plans to end their life.
This conversation will be so valuable to those that are or have experienced suicidal thoughts and intent and also to those that support them.
The most powerful message is that talking about suicide does not increase the risk of suicide, it is actually proven to reduce the risk of suicide and I hope that this episode will empower everyone to feel less fearful around these very important conversations.
Please find support and resources on our website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: @bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolaruk
Guest - Chris Brown
Insta: @chris_brown_facilitates
Facebook: @chris_brown_facilitates
www.chrisbrown.uk.com
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Insta: @ollysfuture
www.ollysfuture.org.uk
Grass Roots Suicide Prevention
Hosted by Emma Belle
Insta: @emmakbelle
www.emmakbelle.com
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Sam is the author of the book Winning the War with Bipolar and a psychological researcher. 5 years ago, Sam couldn’t read a page of a book let alone work or study. He was suicidal and thought his life was over. Fortunately, Sam had the right help that allowed him to develop and become well. He hopes by sharing his experience he can help others to do the same!
In this episode we talk a lot about the different states of mood within the Bipolar diagnoses and what they look and feel like and how finding medication that works for us can be difficult and often a longer road than we might hope it to be. Patience with medication changes and trials is key as sometimes it can feel worse before it had the positive effects. It’s a fine balance between giving new medications a chance to be effective and not allowing yourself to suffer with the wrong medication for too long and risking being very unstable and at risk to yourself and others.
Where to find Samuel J Swidzinski:
@winningthewarwithin : Instagram https://www.instagram.com/winningthewarwithin/
@samswidzinski : twitter https://twitter.com/SamSwidzinski
Samuel Swidzinski : linkedin (this is my main following) https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuel-swidzinski-078a441b4/
Website: samskihealth.co.uk https://www.samskihealth.co.uk/
Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCRWCXujS-nnTbSujdd2ScEw
Podcast: Winning the War Within https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/winning-the-war-within/id1545987213 -
My guest for this episode is my Husband, Gareth. Bipolar also affects those that support those living with bipolar, so in this episode I wanted to ask Gareth how things felt for him, how they impacted him and how he copes with being the partner of someone living with Bipolar.
We talk about how he felt when I first told him that I have Bipolar, how this changed when we started living with each other and how him witnessing me through highs and lows feels for him and what he things about it.
He also shares some of what he does that can be helpful or not so helpful through the different ranges of mood that present themselves within me and the importance of sharing our big feelings with each other regardless of if there is mental illness in the couple-ship or not.
We also talk about suicidal phases and how that impacts him and our relationship, the importance of safety plans and care plans and how they will need revisiting as time goes on as we will always be changing as people and encountering different life stressors that may affect how we cope.
Please listen with care as we do discuss topics that may feel difficult and triggering as we do discuss a specific trigger for myself when I experience suicidal phases.
If you have any questions please email me on [email protected] and we will answer them directly or at the beginning of a future episode of Let's talk Bipolar.
We hope that this may speak to those partners/support people who support those living with Bipolar.
Thank you for listening
Emma and Gareth
Please find support and resources on our website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: @bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolaruk
Hosted by Emma Belle
Insta: @emmakbelle
www.emmakbelle.com
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Dean was in the Army and his symptoms were quickly passed off as PTSD. It was only when he had transitioned out of the army into civilian life that his world started to implode until the point that he could see no other way forward than taking his own life.
This was what started his pathway to being diagnosed with Bipolar and starting to rebuild his life.
When he was diagnosed, he was given a leaflet and very little support, this has led him to now passionately helping and advocating for those living with Bipolar to help them feel more supported in their reality and journey. Dean is now an Ambassador for Bipolar UK and often speaks for the charity on all their platforms.
How do we look after ourselves in a low VS a high? How do we adapt to the different seasons of living with Bipolar and how we need to adapt and keep learning every day. The more we learn about ourselves the more we can learn how to live with Bipolar.
This is a great episode that discusses the journey and levels of acceptance and how we need to adapt to live well with Bipolar.
Thank you for listening, Emma Belle
Please find support and resources on our website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: @bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolarukWhere to find Steve
Dean Clarke
Insta: _changing_the_way_
Hosted by Emma Belle
Insta: @emmakbelle
www.emmakbelle.com
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Ep.05 Steve Gilbert OBE
In this episode my guest is Steve Gilbert, OBE. Doctors initially were telling him that he was suffering with seasonal affective disorder, he knew that what he was suffering with was more than this. When he was 24 he was suicidal and went under the care of the mental health trust. This then happened again at 25 and 26, followed by a manic episode when he was then detained under the mental health act for 3 weeks and was diagnosed with Bipolar.
Steve ended up being diagnosed in 2010, yet he remembers first being affected by this when he was 25 and at the time he joked with his friend about having Bipolar like Stephen Fry.
Steve talks about how helpful it is to have a constant person outside of you that you trust that can help you check in on your mood especially when you are on the higher side of things. Having moved out of home at the age of 19, he now looks back and realises that there were early signs of bipolar were there, but he wasn’t around anyone consistently enough for it to be noticed by others and how young adult life can lend itself to disguising the symptoms of living with Bipolar as being young and carefree in a typical university setting is not unusual.
Steve talks about explosive anger in Mania, the level of aggression that can be felt and how difficult it can be to manage. The feeling of shame and remorse that is felt after the explosion can be crippling. Destructive behaviours that we participate in in these moments can be hugely shame inducing and being a part of the bipolar community can really help us to distinguish the difference between us being bad people versus I am a good person that did a ‘not so good’ thing, which takes us away from shame inducing language and thoughts that can push us further down and away in to being isolated.
Managing your life when you live with Bipolar means everything has to change. We have to make big life changes to stay well, we cannot just carry on as normal and expect to live a mostly stable life.
We also talk about how CPTSD features in Steve’s life and how that shows up in terms of triggering Bipolar disorder. Steve had done a lot of work over 4 years on how Bipolar was manifesting in his life, yet there were still many factors that were showing up for him that he recognised may be symptoms of PTSD. On further investigations with a Psychologist, it was determined that they were a result of Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This was brought on by a compounding effect of prolonged emotional and psychological abuse from Steve’s family members. Steve reflects that this may have been a trigger for him now living with Bipolar disorder. His CPTSD manifests as anxiety and Hyper-vigilance his ongoing recovery has been supported with intense Psychotherapy sessions and medications. Recovering from CPTSD is difficult and is made even harder when you are still dealing with some of the behaviours/actions/experiences that have contributed to you having CPTSD.
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Steve is a Trustee for the Association of Mental Health Providers (March 2018 – current), and Mind (Sept 2017 – current) representing the experiences of people with experiences of mental illness, supporting work to reduce racial inequalities.
Steve was recognised in the 2019 Queens Birthday Honours List and appointed OBE for services to mental health.
_________________________
Please find support and resources on our website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: @bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolarukWhere to find Steve
Steve Gilbert OBE FRSA
TWITTER: @stevegilbertobe
LINKEDIN: @steven-gilbert-obeHosted by Emma Belle
Insta: @emmakbelle
www.emmakbelle.com
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My guest for this episode of Let's Talk Bipolar by @bipolar_uk, is Professor Ian Jones, a Professor of Psychiatry and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist for the NHS.
Professor Ian Jones spent a number of years listening, as part of a Bipolar study, to those living with Bipolar and they picked up on a recurring clue that the process of choosing to carry a baby could be a huge trigger for the onset of Bipolar or the beginning of a period of being very unwell with Bipolar.
We talk about his area of speciality in perinatal & postpartum care and treatment for those living with Bipolar Disorder. In current day medicine professionals will be looking to support those wishing to carry a baby and how the risk of becoming unwell can be managed and supported through this season in life.
Ian Jones and his colleagues are running a Psycho education programme, which consists of 10 sessions in a peer group environment. The sessions cover; What is Bipolar? What do the labels mean? What causes Bipolar disorder? What are the treatments and understanding medications and treatments? self-management, monitoring, lifestyle and sleep patterns, which helps those living with Bipolar to learn how to live their best life whilst living with Bipolar.
Professor Ian Jones also talks us through what Bipolar is and some of the terminology that is used in the conversation of Bipolar. We talk about labels and diagnosis and how this can be helpful and unhelpful. Treating the patient as an individual in an ever-changing landscape and how it is essential that professionals should be re-visiting our diagnosis and reviewing regularly. We should be asking what is the evidence that this is still the most true and helpful diagnosis for the patient to continue to move forward in the best way.
If you would like to take part in research or future programmes you can get in contact here:
For our NCMH study:
https://www.ncmh.info/help-with-research/online-study/
For BDRN including accessing True Colours and pregnancy study
http://bdrn.org
Professor Ian Jones:
Graduating from St Georges Hospital Medical School, London, I trained in general medicine and psychiatry in South Wales and on obtaining membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists began research training in the Neuropsychiatric Genetics Group at Cardiff University. I was awarded a Wellcome Trust Training Fellowship to study the genetics of Postpartum Psychosis in Birmingham and spent a year as a visiting research fellow at the Medical College of Virginia, USA. Prior to my appointment in Cardiff I was Senior Lecturer at the University of Birmingham.
My main research interest is the study of affective disorders in general and Postpartum Psychosis in particular. I have authored or co-authored over 300 publications and book chapters in the fields of mood disorder and perinatal psychiatry.
My main clinical interest is developing services to identify women at risk of severe postpartum episodes and developing psychoeducation approaches for bipolar disorder.
I am Trustee and founding Chair of Action on Postpartum Psychosis and Trustee of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance.
In 2010 I was awarded the Marce Medal for my research on Postpartum Psychosis and in 2013 was named the Academic Researcher of the year at the RCPsych Awards. In 2014 BEPC, the psychoeducation service I direct, received the British Medical Journal (BMJ) award for Innovation in Medicine.Please find support and resources on our website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: @bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolaruk
Professor Ian Jones Twitter: @jonesir
Hosted by Emma Belle
Insta: @emmakbelle
www.emmakbelle.com
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Leah is a Bipolar UK Ambassador joins me on Let’s Talk Bipolar podcast and on this day, Leah was feeling very low and we talk through the reality of how that feels when you have commitments and how we get used to painting on a face. In this conversation we. Don’t need to pretend and I am so grateful to Leah for showing up and having this conversation despite being in a low phase and also dealing with grief after losing a family member.
Leah has lived a life that has been full of highs and lows growing up in the entertainment and music industry. Leah has been in TV for 20 years and was in a girl band. Living this life led to the symptoms of Bipolar going unnoticed for so many years. As it was presumed that this was just how life was due to the industry that she grew up in.
Her life was a rollercoaster going from hits in the charts and TV shows to being out of work and being homeless and needing financial support, she has really been on a journey.
Looking back on her life she now realises that she had periods of being suicidal that weren’t recognised or even within awareness that mental illness existed.
Leah is from a black Caribbean background and mental illness was not something that was spoken about and could actually bring shame to a family which contributed to her condition being undiagnosed and untreated for a very long time.
When she watched EastEnders, Leah recognised that she was suffering with Bipolar and started to seek help. She wrote a suicide letter to her doctor and this was the beginning of getting her diagnosis. Following diagnosis Leah kept her condition a secret for 7 years carrying shame around this before opening up about her reality, with real worries that no one would want to work with her because it would make her a liability to work with.
Since opening up about her experience and illness she has discovered there is life after diagnosis and that living with Bipolar does not mean that we are like the stereotype that is often portrayed. Being open about her mental illness was liberating and has led her to purpose in helping others and believing that she isn’t defined by Bipolar and can lead a strong life.
Please find support and resources on our website:
Website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolaruk
Find Leah on all social media platforms @leahcharlesking
Hosted by Emma Belle
IG @emmakbelle
www.emmakbelle.com
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April is an actor and producer, and an Ambassador for Bipolar UK. April started her own company at 21 to bring stability to her career as an Actor. For April working for herself works better than working for someone else, so this career path she feels is best suited to her.
April lives with Bipolar type 2 and Borderline Personality Disorder; she has suffered since she was 15 but didn’t receive diagnosis and help until she was 27.
She has been on medication since the age of 18 and feels that in the last year she has stepped into therapy whole heartedly after hitting rock bottom.
We talk about how receiving a diagnosis can be bittersweet and how this can land so differently for us all and how Bipolar can be partly genetic and partly triggered by trauma.
When April was diagnosed, April’s dad said “I always knew there was a stroke of genius inside of you”
The feeling of being invincible and absolute certainty that we are able to carry out an immense number of tasks without any doubt in our highest selves versus how low we can go and not be able to even to the smallest of tasks.
We talk about the differences in our experiences of taking Quetiapine, April’s hunger has been totally suppressed and in my experience my hunger was insatiable, and I needed 3 breakfasts before I my normal level of hunger came through for a normal hunger. We both know the feeling of a medication hangover and how it can take a few hours in the morning to shift.
We also talk about how experiencing balanced mood is something that feels alien to us after having spent most of your life affected by Bipolar.
Inner child work can be very healing in learning how to reparent our younger selves and offer those parts of us compassion, grace, love and understanding. April is currently working through these parts of her journey and grieving for the parts of our lives in the past where we were doing our best and forgive ourselves for the things we didn’t know at the time and do know now.
TW: Auditory intrusions, Hypomanic, Paranoia and Mania
Please find support and resources on our website:
Website www.bipolaruk.org
Insta: bipolar_uk
Twitter: bipolaruk
Facebook: bipolaruk
Find the links to April’s profiles below:
IG: @april_kelley
Twitter: @april__kelley
www.aprilkelley.comHosted by Emma Belle
IG @emmakbelle
www.emmakbelle.com
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