I’m Not Defined By Diagnosis: My Life With A Mental Health Condition

Mental disorders have become progressively worse with time. Up to date, one in five American adults have a mental health condition in a given year.

One in six young people have experienced a major depressive episode. One in twenty Americans has lived with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression. I am one of those twenty Americans.

On January 8th, 2020, I was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder and panic attacks. That same day, I was also diagnosed with major depression. Little did I know, that was only the beginning.

Then, last year, on December 13th, 2023, I was diagnosed with Bipolar 2 Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder—the two most difficult disorders to live with.

Let me explain what Borderline Personality Disorder is. It’s a distorted sense of self, unstable relationships, frequent feelings of emptiness, frequent displays of inappropriate anger, dissociation, etc. Symptoms include emotional instability, fear of abandonment, impulsive behaviours such as spending sprees, unsafe sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating, self-harm, etc.

It’s essential to learn about Bipolar 2, which can be similar and mirror Borderline.

Symptoms of Bipolar 2 include decreased need for sleep, excessive spending, flying quickly from one idea to the next, hypersexuality, increased energy and hyperactivity, inflated self-image, and much more. Now, these are just basics; to be properly diagnosed, you need a licensed professional.

Now, let’s focus on how these disorders can affect personal life. Living with all of these is tough. I struggle with day-to-day activities. Sometimes, I even struggle to get out of bed. On other days, I’m on top of the world and can do everything in one day. I have no specific trigger, but not everyone’s the same.

When I was first diagnosed, I felt like it was set in stone. I thought I was done for. I felt like I was going to be treated differently, and I felt like everyone around me was going to walk on eggshells. But I was wrong.

No one did that. Yes, people are more aware when around me, but don’t treat me differently. And that brings me to my next point.

Your mental health is important, and your mental illness does not define who you are. Being diagnosed isn’t a life sentence. It’s how you handle yourself, like going to therapy, getting medication, or whatever. A mental illness isn’t a reason to have a victim mindset. Yes, it’s inconvenient and a setback, but you can succeed and grow. You can do great things. You just have to believe in yourself. And I think you can.