Stigma: A Case Study
I interviewed a woman who has bipolar disorder and who is now in her 40's. She talked about the fact that she battled with the stigma and that at the time when she was growing up it was unacceptable to have a mental illness such as bipolar disorder and so she never talked about it to anyone. Recently she told some friends but the only thing she did tell them was that she was taking medication because she was still afraid that they would judge her for having a mental illness.
She had her first cycles when she was 15 but she was finally diagnosed with bipolar disorder in her early 40's which is common with type 2 because it's sometimes hard for the doctors to recognize it and some people can go on without treatment for a long time which is the case of this woman. Before then at age 34, she was only diagnosed with depression.