{"id":319,"date":"2012-09-02T15:43:51","date_gmt":"2012-09-02T22:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/2008\/08\/09\/bipolar-disorder-and-ignorance\/"},"modified":"2018-05-15T09:58:21","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T16:58:21","slug":"bipolar-disorder-and-ignorance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/bipolar-disorder-and-ignorance\/","title":{"rendered":"Bipolar disorder and ignorance&#8230;."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/weird1.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-5920\" title=\"weird\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/weird1-300x53.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"53\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I used to hear these comments a lot before I was diagnosed. (I still hear some of them now!)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Why can\u2019t Julie just settle down?<br \/>\nWhy is Julie always doing things that make her sick?<br \/>\nWhat is Julie\u2019s problem?<\/li>\n<li>Why is Julie so weird?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>They were often said to my mom.<\/p>\n<p>My mom and I both know what to say now- we have educated everyone we know about the illness. The Health Cards helped as they educated her first.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I see it as an educational\/informational opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>Here is what I say:<\/p>\n<p>I know my behavior seems odd\u2026 (fill in the behavior here).\u00a0 It\u2019s normal for people with bipolar disorder to be this way- most of us have trouble with\u2026 (fill in the problem here!) We try hard to function in a normal way, but just like someone with a physical illness like (choose your illness!) we have so many darn challenges. I love the books by\u2026 (Julie!) I think you would find some interesting info about bipolar disorder that can help you see that I\u2019m not weird, I just have a weird illness.<\/p>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<p>Then it\u2019s up to them to either remain ignorant or support you. You\u2019ve done your best. I\u2019ve found that almost everyone responds to this in a positive way unless they have their own mood issues they are not addressing\u2026.<\/p>\n<p>Julie<\/p>\n<p>PS: My books Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder and Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder have specific sections for family members. If you can get them to read the books, life will be a lot easier for you!<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/weird1.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-5920\" title=\"weird\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/weird1-300x53.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"53\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I used to hear these comments a lot before I was diagnosed. (I still hear some of them now!)<\/p>\n<p> Why can\u2019t Julie just settle down? Why is Julie always doing things that make her sick? What is Julie\u2019s problem? Why is Julie so weird? <\/p>\n<p>They were often said to my mom.<\/p>\n<p>My mom and I both know what to say now- we have educated everyone we know about the illness. The Health Cards helped as they educated her first.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I see it as an educational\/informational opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>Here is what I say:<\/p>\n<p>I know my behavior seems odd\u2026 (fill in the behavior here). It\u2019s normal for people with bipolar disorder to be this way- most of us have trouble with\u2026 (fill in the problem here!) We try hard to function in a normal way, but just like someone with a physical <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/bipolar-disorder-and-ignorance\/\">[ Read More ]<\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11479,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions\/11479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}