The Joy of Having Bipolar Disorder

 Photos taken by Bekr (Bipolar Girl) a 37-year-old woman who lives in Nevada with her husband and two fur babies. She always knew she was “different.” She was diagnosed with depression as a teenager, then finally diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder in her 20′s, along with PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and ADHD. She has also been a self harmer. She is now an advocate for Mental Illness and is trying to make a difference and helping to break/stop the stigma.

About these photos: “I was in a “dark” mood, so I decided to take some photos to express/show how I was feeling. You can tell in the first picture that I was “sad”, then strangely as I was taking the pictures I started smiling and feeling better. I even started getting silly. It is amazing how quickly our moods can change. This helped me realize how much control I have over my moods (at certain times). I also think we are so used to smiling when having our pictures taken, that the autopilot in me, started smiling. It is also known that just the act of smiling can change your mood and make you feel better. So in the end, deciding to take these self-expression-portraits, portraying my mood helped me in more ways than one.”

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