Bipolar Disorder

The Bipolar Bear - Introduction

My name is Patti Markow and I am a "bipolar bear". I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder over 20 years ago, when I was in my early thirties. I was introduced to the term "bipolar bear" while I was being treated in a psychiatric hospital. "Bipolar Bear" is what the bipolar patients called themselves and each other.

This website is about bipolar disorder. I chose this topic for a website because of the major impact that having bipolar disorder has had on my life and the lives of many other individuals who suffer with bipolar disorder. I wanted to find out if the facts and information I uncovered during research were consistent with my own experiences with the illness.

The topics researched and discussed within the pages of this website are what bipolar disorder is, who is affected by it, what causes it, its symptoms, the course and spectrum of bipolar disorder, and the methods of treatment.

When I refer to individuals with bipolar disorder throughout this

website, I may use the term "bipolar bear(s)". Use of the term is

intended in the same sense of good humor that myself and my fellow

psychiatric patients had about our diagnosis and, certainly, not to make

light of the seriousness of the illness.

I hope anyone visiting this website finds it helpful and informative, whether they are an individual who suffers from bipolar disorder themselves or knows someone that was diagnosed with the illness.