Bipolar individuals and their families are better off with the community on their side.

Through no fault of their own, many individuals living with bipolar disorder are likely to experience feelings of shame and guilt for being “different”.

Bipolar individuals are also likely to find themselves stigmatized by society, including by those whom they’ve known all their lives and even their caregivers.

Myths, baseless fears, stereotypes and plain ignorance about mental illness in general further fuel the sense of ostracization a bipolar individual is likely to feel.

What makes matters worse is that the condition is ‘heavily stigmatized even amongst mental health conditions, with particularly negative judgements towards manic symptoms such as grandiosity, hyper-sexuality, and aggressive behaviour (Hawke et al. 2013)’. [1]

Moreover, bipolar individuals themselves are likely to give in to self-stigma. [2]

Not surprisingly, bipolar individuals (and the mentally ill in general) are ‘robbed of the opportunities that define a quality life: good jobs, safe housing, satisfactory health care, and affiliation with a diverse group of people’. [3]

Besides advocating for bipolar individuals and benefit concerts, education is the primary way The Fund fights stigma toward those living with the condition.

Our Education section maintains comprehensive information about bipolar disorder, including in the form of shareable infographics.

You can also download several booklets and other material about the condition to your desktop, and share with your contacts or print out for easy reference.

We’ve also listed several books that we recommend you read.

If you need help for a bipolar individual or their loved ones (within the state of Georgia or elsewhere in the United States), our Education section also lists several resources.

If you are a bipolar individual yourself or know someone who is, we even have a listing of clinical trials that are now accepting patients and volunteers.

Last but not least, we encourage you to check out the articles and other publications authored by, among others, Professor Greg Murray, The Fund’s scientific committee chair.