Honor the Warriors on World Bipolar Day

March 30 is the day upon which those individuals who cope with bouts of extreme depression and mania on a regular basis fight to raise awareness about their condition. On World Bipolar Day, the International Bipolar Foundation hopes that people are learning more about the disorder and how it affects those living with it as well as that individual's family and friends.

"Mental health is an important conversation – not only because it’s interesting to talk about but because the more we talk about it, the more it’ll make others – sufferers included – realise how normal it all is," writes Metrowriter Hattie Gladwell.

Indeed, while there is a greater number of individuals willing and wanting to discuss mental health concerns, there is still an aura of reluctance to discuss it in an open forum. There appears to be a sense that some people don't want to believe it exists, so therefore it won't and things will be fine. However, they aren't, and given that bipolar disorder can be a very misunderstood mental health problem, World Bipolar Day becomes that much more significant.

#WorldBipolarDay is celebrated annually on March 30, Vincent van Gogh's birthday. The artist is one of the best known and influential Western artists, but it's because of his suicide at 37 that he has garnered notice by mental health professionals. He was diagnosed posthumously as probably having bipolar disorder. His struggles with insomnia and alcohol would have only made the condition worse.

World Bipolar Day is an initiative of the "International Bipolar Foundation (IBPF) in collaboration with the Asian Network of Bipolar Disorder (ANBD) and the International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD)," with the hopes of raising awareness about the condition and also to end the social stigma revolving around bipolar disorder as a whole.

Bipolar disorder is a condition where "abnormal strong shifts in mood, activity levels and energy, and severe suffering for patients and caregivers" can occur. There are far-reaching implications for society as a whole as well. In its global burden of disease study, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that "bipolar disorders rank within the top 20 causes of disability among all medical conditions worldwide, and rank 6th among the mental disorders."

In addition, a patient's life expectancy can also drop by as much as 10 years as a result of the disorder; this can potentially be due to poor choices with regards to their lifestyles, medical comorbidity, and higher-than-average suicide rates. Actress Carrie Fisher was perhaps one of the most potent forces behind raising awareness about bipolar disorder; she was diagnosed with the disorder in her late 20s, and often wrote about the poor life choices that she and other people with bipolar disorder would make. She also would reference the challenges associated with living with the disorder.

"At times, being bipolar can be an all-consuming challenge, requiring a lot of stamina and even more courage, so if you’re living with this illness and functioning at all, it’s something to be proud of, not ashamed of. They should issue medals along with the steady stream of medication,” she wrote in her 2008 memoir Wishful Drinking, and she was often acknowledged for the positive energy she carried about having a mental health problem, in addition to being very real about it.

We need to be more cognizant about the challenges that people with bipolar disorder might face, in addition to recognizing that there is still a great deal more to learn about this and other mental health disorders. As Fisher also said while addressing those with bipolar disorder through her Guardian column, Ask Carrie Fisher, “We have been given a challenging illness, and there is no other option than to meet those challenges. Think of it as an opportunity to be heroic—not ‘I survived living in Mosul during an attack’ heroic, but an emotional survival. An opportunity to be a good example to others who might share our disorder.”