Every so often my twitter feed will be full of a new hashtag and with this brings different opinions and thoughts on many different subjects. Over the last few days one has caught my eye, made me think, challenged me and also most importantly got me and probably countless others talking with people about mental health and sharing a bit about one another.
The hashtag I suppose is saying that we are more than our diagnosis’s and this got me thinking. For me personally and this is my opinion when I first heard this I thought yes of course I am more than a diagnosis of bipolar. I am a wife, a daughter, a bossy sister, a colleague and countless other things. In fact the hashtag gave me a bit of a boost and for someone that struggles to find positive things to say when talking about myself it was quite a revelation!
I also think that sometimes mental health professionals struggle to see past the diagnosis and when they do they might miss the diagnosis completely. For example when I have spoken to mental health professionals in the past about my job I have immediately been told I must be fine and coping ok and all the frightening symptoms I might of described just minutes earlier are ignored.
When I thought about this hashtag more closely I then thought that my diagnosis has rather shaped some of the things I describe myself as being more than my diagnosis. I am not sure if this makes sense as I often struggle to get my thoughts down on paper but would I be the wife I am, for example if I wasn’t bipolar?
Whatever people think and just like each diagnosis it is so individual, so is our opinion on the hashtag and that is absolutely fine! I am just pleased to be part of the discussion and keep the conversation going.
Thank you twitter for that opportunity!