Have you ever thought about your mental health journey and wondered if it needed to get as bad as it did? As Bipolar She celebrates its 1-year anniversary, I sit down with writer/actor JD to reflect on the podcast. We chat about how I am often reminded I have bipolar illness because I get little glimmers of mania and psychosis and how the world can just feel “off.” Even a strict regimen of medication and sleep doesn’t make me feel totally normal. And even though I am thirteen years post-hospital for a psychiatric event, I still live in terror that it could happen again and that another hospitalization would be soul-crushing.

The conversation heats up when I suggest that my bipolar illness didn’t need to get as severe as it did. This revelation is based on looking at my childhood and young adulthood where I became the “identified patient” or black sheep in my family. This is primarily an unconscious dynamic in a family, so family members may not even be aware that this role has been assigned to someone—someone they may love very much.

As the “sick kid” for much of my life, I learned that being sick was actually “safe” in my household and these unconscious lessons paved the way for me to continue to find safety with illness as I got increasingly sicker with bipolar and Crohn’s disease in my adulthood.

We talk about the therapeutic effect of writing and how science backs up how writing about big traumas in your life can improve mental health. And we also talk about how anyone can be an advocate for mental health at any time. You never have to be fully “healed” from mental illness to make an impact by telling your stories with the hope they reach others.

Thanks to JD for a great conversation!

How to Become a Mental Health Advocate

How Journal Writing is Proven to Improve Your Mental Health (Huberman Labs)

Take a Journal to the Self class with Janine on Zoom – begins April 24, 2025

Music composed and performed by guitarist, JD Cullum
Recorded at Modern Tone Studios the highest ranked recording studio in the San Francisco East Bay.
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