The Problem With How We Treat Bipolar Disorder

The Problem With How We Treat Bipolar Disorder - The New York Times.

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The last time I saw my old self, I was 27 years old and living in Boston.

I was doing well in graduate school, had a tight circle of friends and was a prolific creative writer.

Married to my high-school sweetheart, I had just had my first child.

Back then, my best times were twirling my baby girl under the gloaming sky on a Florida beach and flopping on the bed with my husband -- feet propped against the wall -- and talking.

The future seemed wide open.

I don't think there is a particular point at which I can say I became depressed.

My illness was insidious, gradual and inexorable.

I had a preview of depression in high school, when I spent a couple of years wearing all black, rimming my eyes in kohl and sliding against the walls in the hallways, hoping that no one would notice me.

But back then I didn't think it was a very serious problem.

The hormonal chaos of having three children in five years, the pressure of working on a Ph. D.