How one woman’s bipolar diagnosis changed her life ‘in a beautiful way’
Hannah Blum went from prom queen to involuntarily institutionalized when she was officially diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Since her diagnosis, she continues to share her journey, empower others, and destigmatize mental illnesses.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
HANNAH BLUM: I think one of the biggest things that recently has come out is with Kanye West. People are literally saying Kanye West is a bipolar nutjob. You are contributing to a stigma that kills people. It's ableism.
Growing up, I knew that I was a little bit different than other kids. A huge indicator when I was a kid, though, was I began self-harming. I was not self-harming with the intent for suicide, which a lot of people get that confused. I was bulimic at the age of nine. I didn't even know what I was doing at the time. But it was almost like I was trying to release these emotions inside of me. And then you know I hid it. I had everything. I was prom queen.
When I was going to college, towards my junior, senior year, I had a breakdown. I had just stopped eating and stopped drinking. And I was withering away. That's how much my emotions were consuming me. I told the doctor, I really just don't mentally feel well. I think something might be wrong.
Next thing you know, it was hours and hours later. And I woke up, and I was in handcuffs. I was voluntarily institutionalized by the state. And that is where I got my diagnosis of bipolar disorder. You live on a roller coaster of emotions. You have highs and lows. You're very emotionally connected almost to every single thing.
When I got my diagnosis, it made more sense. My life has changed since my diagnosis in a beautiful way. I was no longer pretending to be someone else, to feel something else. I got to rebuild myself in the way that I wanted to. I fought and fought for a treatment plan that would allow me to be who I am. And that took five years.
There are so many misconceptions about people with bipolar disorder. We're violent. We're insane. You see us in the movies, and we're always the villain. That's the role that we have been told we play. But that is far from the truth. We're more likely to be the victim of violence than we are to do the actual act of violence.
In 2016, I decided that I was going to start my blog called "Halfway to Hannah," where I talked about mental illness and shared my own story. The response that I have received from it is unbelievable. I create content to empower people with mental illness. I want them to feel empowered because I believe that's when they'll stop stigmatizing themselves. And we'll be able to grow as a community.
What I want the world to know about people with mental illness is number one, you don't know us because you only know us based on what you see. You're missing out by not letting us in and not allowing us to share our voice. The majority of us are empathetic, beautiful, brilliant individuals. You just haven't seen it yet.
