I read a post on the forums today, and I have complete compassion for the poster. The question was how to write when depressed?

As someone who suffers from Bipolar, I’m not sure it’s possible to be able to effectively write when suffering from clinical depression. When I’m hypomanic, I might get more ‘work’ done but it’s sloppy and needs complete rewrites to get it to make sense. On the other hand, when depressed, I don’t get much work done and what does get accomplished is wordy, slow and twinged in sadness. It also ends up being a miserable time to work.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, is worse then having Bipolar or Schizophrenia. For me my mood swings can sometimes be minute to minute but mainly day by day and it’s miserable to go through. When younger I used to a complete cycle in a matter of minutes. Someone or something would bother me, it would build then I’d rapidly shoot up into an explosion and then suddenly drop into a hole and feel like crying. It was miserable.

I’m not trying to help Big Drug with my next comments but I need to tell the truth. Nothing I’ve done in the past has ever helped until my Doctor found the right medicine combo. There’s no real way to self treat Bi-polar. It just doesn’t work…and the damndest thing is: it’s fairly common for Bipolar people to be great artists (and writers). However, if we don’t treat ourselves, the odds of killing ourselves and depriving the world of what we can do go up drastically.

I don’t have the stats at my fingertips but the rate of untreated Bipolar patients who commit suicide is higher than those who are. And that’s no guarantee that it won’t happen either…but it helps out a lot.

If anyone reading this blog feels like they might have Bipolar, than I suggest seeing a physician and let them check you. While it might cost a lot of money sometimes to get treated, you’ll feel so much better and happier that it’ll be worth it.

I hope everyone has a good day.