What is bipolar disorder?

Bipolar disorder is an illness that is often misunderstood. Often when I've told people I have it their response is either "what's that?" or them attempting to wrongly explain to me what it is. I thought I'd share a few bits of information if you are curious or would like to learn...

Firstly this is  TED-Ed video giving a brief but informative explanation:



When I was at the beginning of my own diagnosis a documentary Stephen Fry made called The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive meant a great deal to me. It was the first time I recognised that I had a name for the symptoms I was struggling to live with. Stephen Fry is perhaps one of the most famous people with bipolar and talks about it often and openly, and his words meant a lot to me when I was coming to terms with the diagnosis. 

Here he talks about his experience with bipolar and explains it a little:



I hope now you have a bit of a clearer understanding of bipolar disorder :)