Founder who lived with bipolar for years started a company to tackle the stigma

I'll just say it, from someone who is similarly in your boat:

if you're even questioning it, there's probably something there

think about someone who is questioning their sexuality. there has to be some reason they're doing it.

i agree that there are probably varying degrees, like everything, but comeon...you're obviously very aware of the stigma. bipolar people who are highly functioning exist, and your doctors' metric is probably quality of life. if you can hold it together, it's not really life-affecting. it's just the way you are.

you could probably say you are bipolar-ish but have developed systems on your own for dealing with it.

I used to experience this as well, and I always considered myself cyclothymic[0] (not diagnosed).

I feel much more even nowadays and I attribute it to a cumulative effect from plant medicine ceremonies over the last 3 years (five combination ayahuasca/san pedro, one 5-MeO-DMT), discovering an anchoring purpose for my life, and reducing my marijuana consumption (haven't smoked/edibled since New Years, longest in ~17 years).

I feel a general resistance to dwelling on depressiveness personally, or any groups that center around dwelling on any negative perception of self. In my experience I've found that it becomes self-reinforcing... if you're lonely and you feel less lonely thanks to your kinship within a group based on shared depression, then your desire to be less depressed becomes subversive to your membership of an in-group. Depression can become an immutable identity trait and not a state of mind that can be overcome with the right treatment.

This part of the interview resonated with me:

> Pourasghar: For one, if you’ve experienced extreme hopelessness at some point and came out of it stronger, I think it prepares you for the rest of your life in a positive way. It gives you a deep-rooted confidence. You learn that whatever comes your way you can always prevail, and I think that leads to allowing for more risk in your decisions. It helps me put any fears into perspective.

> Also, I think my experiences have opened me up to more vulnerability. Unfortunately, we are usually taught that vulnerability means weakness, especially as men. From my experience, I’ve found that opening up to people builds trust. When we bring our whole self to the people around us, we create stronger, more authentic relationships. In general, I’ve learned that it’s possible to turn pain into something positive.

I don't think I would ever use such a service myself though.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclothymia

>> Having rational and largely unemotional conversations about it with friends, family and co-workers is a near constant struggle, when even possible. Just mentioning it is enough to get responses like, "Yeah, but everyone has a mental health disorder!" to change the subject.

I'm wondering what the stigma is. From what you said people don't make a big deal of it and may even be dismissive. Or are you saying they refuse to acknowledge it as a problem and change the subject? While not helpful, it's not making fun of you either. I know people who are bipolar and the only people I've seen who think much negative about that are the people who have it. Perhaps my observations are missing something major? Are people actually hard on those with bipolar? How does the stigma manifest?

I feel like I'm really ignorant about something here.

If mental illnesses are underdiagnosed, then it might be that the majority of the population could have some kind of disorder of varying scales on any spectrum.

With how many different things can go wrong with our complex neurologies combined with tens of milennia of racial inbreeding it'd be surprising for anyone to have completely spotless mental health, just as few men and women are blessed with perfect bodily health free of rashes and allergies and proportional assymetries.

Personally, I have a variety of brain related disorders which I must contend with on a daily basis but also make me good at spotting others with my experience across anbroad range of symtpoms. So when someone says to me "everyone has a mental health disorder" I just assume that they have a mental disorder and agree with them.

This is accurate regarding the worst case. I’ve also had full psychotic manic episodes I would not trade for the world, although they were challenging.