The fun begins

Well I'm back. Back with a topic that I hope keeps me interested for the rest of the semester. It's a big commitment having to choose one thing to write and research about until the end of school. Let's hope I don't get cold feet..

My topic has to do with Bipolar Disorder. More specifically, I'm interested in society's perception of Bipolar Disorder and how it effects diagnosis and those who have already been diagnosed. In my search for an answer, there are several questions I have to ask myself:

What is society's perception of mental health in general?

• How do people view diagnosis and getting diagnosed?
• What do they think about treatment?
• Are their opinions negative or positive?
• Why?

How do people perceive Bipolar Disorder specifically?

• What do they know?
• What do they assume?
• How do they react to finding out someone they know has been diagnosed as Bipolar?
• How do they react when they themselves have been diagnosed Bipolar?
• Why do they react this way? What makes them react this way? Are they scared? Why?

Can one still lead a successful life as a Bipolar individual?

• Why is it important to be diagnosed?
• Should they take medication?
• Why or why not?
• What's life like on/off medication?
• Can you ever get off the medication?
• Who has made a name for themselves on/off medication?
• Why did they decide to get on or stay off medication?

Facts

• How many Americans are Bipolar?
• Are they Bipolar 1 or 2?
• How many take medication?
• What medication? What does it do? 
• Are there alternate forms of therapy?
• What are they? How effective are they?

I feel like my topic is important because, in my opinion, there is still a significantly large portion of the country that still views mental health disorders as taboo. We can take medication or receive therapy for any part of our body without worrying about social stigma but as soon as one mentions that they need medication for their brain, doors close and fear of the unknown comes creeping in. Many diagnosed patients keep their disorders secret. I've never been one to hide and I don't think other people should have to hide either. It's time for us to quit with the assumptions and face the facts. Mental and emotional disorders are treatable and nothing to fear. 

I am researching Bipolar Disorder because I want to find out how society views it and how those views effect diagnosis and those who have already been diagnosed in order to help readers understand that Bipolar Americans aren't "crazy". We're just a little different. 

Well... My name is Gerik Fowler and this is (I think) the fourth time I've attempted to create a blog. Each attempt saw it's eventual shutdown when I came to the conclusion that in reality, no one really actually cares what I have to say about anything. At least not in this medium. Not really. I usually give up after one or two posts, but I can absolutely guarantee that this new creation will reach into the much respected and highly sought after double digit existence. I'm promising ten, and nothing more. We can thank my college english class for this new found dedication. Funny what one is willing to do for a good grade. Funny that I actually care about my grades. Well funny to me at least, in the sense that I've never really actually cared about my grades until this year. In elementary nothing was necessarily difficult. Junior High didn't bring any problems either. I'm pretty sure I didn't get my first B until Freshman year. The year homework (actual homework, I'm not talking about vocabulary words or the sheet of math problems one can finish on the bus ride to school) decided to rear it's ugly head and spit in my face laughing at my intellect and devouring my gpa. Homework... the simple utterance of the word used to somehow magically convince the bile in my stomach to come up and check out how everything was going on in the world of my mouth. Tongue in cheek and teeth chattering, I swallowed it down, acknowledging that I should PROBABLY do it.. But never did. School was something I was always good at, but never enjoyed. I mean.. just because you have no trouble finding your way home after making three left turns doesn't mean you're destined to play baseball. There was absolutely no way I was bringing work home with me. My parents didn't bring work home with them, why should I have to? I understood it. Well enough to pass the tests, and I figured that's all anyone really cared about anyway. WELL as cool as I felt about living on the edge and playing by own rules, my grades didn't much agree. I graduated high school by the skin of my teeth. Thankfully, I scored high enough on the SAT to  receive an academic scholarship. Which I then flushed down the toilet in my first and only semester at Lubbock Christian University. So there I was. A college drop out with two dead end jobs and an apartment I could barely afford. That's where being "smart" with no drive gets you. Four years in our nations Air Force kicked that habit pretty quick. Eight and half weeks quick. Coming out of basic I was a new man. Coming out of the Military and I'm now a man with a plan. In my first semester back in an educational setting since the year I graduated high school in 2009 I managed to pull off a 4.0. Which. Was. AWESOME.
I'm a rambler.
I'm a poet.
My parents are in a motorcycle club and I have over twenty tattoos.
I'm diagnosed Bipolar 1 and fight daily to overcome stigma.
I'm sure I'll tell you plenty of interesting things about myself in our time together but for now the one thing I want you to know is that..

I do my homework.
Which makes me a blogger.