Bipolar: Candid Crazy

Welcome!

What will you find here?

This is a place for me to vent, confess, share, connect with others and challenge stigma about mental illness. I talk about misinformation, particularly about Bipolar Disorder. I also share my experiences of childhood trauma & addiction.

My posts are categorised:

LIVED EXPERIENCES: My stories, feelings and ideas about living with bipolar, addiction & trauma.

RELATIONSHIPS: My musings on navigating and experiencing relationships with mental health challenges.

SCIENCE: I review scientific research about bipolar and mental illness and explain it in plain English.

WELLBEING: I present ideas for self-care, wellbeing and management of bipolar symptoms.

Why Candid Crazy?

I have been told many times that I am relentlessly honest, real and raw. My blog is a space for me to be even more candid than usual, as I hide behind the safety of anonymity so I can bare my soul.

The irony is not lost on me – using anonymity yet claiming to be brutally honest. But like many others living with bipolar, I am a living, breathing contradiction. A woman filled with love and resentment, passion and apathy, pragmatism and recklessness.

I am – and bipolar is – chaos, nonsense, confusion, fun, silliness, excitement, colour, energy, rage, creativity, devastation, euphoria, dysphoria, disaster, extravagance and more … A melting pot of rich and vivid experiences that language and words fail to convey adequately. Yet, I will try.

Why do I use the word “crazy” if I’m trying to reduce stigma?

I’m all for political correctness at times and other times I couldn’t give a flying fuck. A walking contradiction, remember? I like to maintain a sense of humour and its often dark. I have bipolar and I am comfortable with the word “crazy”. For me, it’s a shorthand way for me to communicate with others and to laugh in good humour when my “crazy” makes me do and say silly things. But I absolutely mean no offense at all to anyone who finds this term demeaning 🙏 Peace ✌