Annette's True Story of Overcoming Bipolar Disorder



Posted: Friday, February 13, 2009

by Linda Rosenberg
The National Council

"Annettes" struggles began at age 14, when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It was at this time, that her mother, also suffering from this illness, committed suicide. When she needed friends the most, she was ostracized by her schoolmates once they learned of her illness. Throughout her life she had the loving support of her father and sisters.

Annette's 26 year struggle to take control of her bipolar disorder was sidelined numerous times due to repeated hospitalizations. For this reason, it took her 10 years to earn her Bachelor's Degree. Her efforts to be independent were also impacted by her bipolar disorder, causing her to lose employment several times.

In 2001, Annette sought help at Pacific Clinics. As she started to manage her bipolar symptoms, her work hours and responsibilities were increased. She was doing well until 2003 when she relapsed and was hospitalized four times in an eight month period. It was during this period that she learned self-help techniques to gain control of her illness--and she's never looked back.

Once back at work, she worked part time in Pacific Clinics outpatient and day treatment CalWORKs program. Now that she has her life on track, she shares her personal experience with clients and works hard with them to help them understand that they too can gain control of their illness.

In just five years, she went from consumer to a full time mental health worker (case manager) at Pacific Clinics. She has been struggling with bipolar disorder for 26 years yet she never gave up hope. Her compassionate and heartfelt message to others with mental illness is, "If I can do it, you can do it too."

Linda Rosenberg leads the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare in treating mental illnesses and addiction disorders across the country. Bipolar Disorder is a serious mental illness but can be overcome and treated. Lean how at http://www.thenationalcouncil.org/.

This Article has been viewed 1,283 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.