The Upside of Bipolar: Conversations on the Road to Wellness
Living with bipolar disorder sucks! Each week Michelle Reittinger and her guests explore tools and resources that help you learn how to live well with your bipolar. If you are tired of suffering and want to live a healthy, balanced, productive life with your bipolar, this podcast was designed with you in mind.
Episodes
I talk with Brandy Vega, founder of Promise2Live, about turning a family suicide crisis into a practical, global approach to hope and connection. We share specific ways to interrupt suicidal thoughts, find help fast, and build a safety net that holds even when life still feels hard.
• Brandy’s story of her daughter’s suicide attempts and the shame that kept the first one hidden
• Why peop...
I sit down with marijuana harm advocate Aubrey Adams to trace how modern high-potency THC products can fuel psychosis, suicide risk, and life-altering psychiatric symptoms for users and their families. We also talk about what helps people stabilize, set boundaries, find support, and rebuild hope after cannabis-related harm.
• Aubrey’s story from Pueblo, Colorado and what marijuana commercializat...
I unpack what a bipolar recovery coach is and why a diagnosis can describe symptoms without explaining what causes them. I share my path from trusting the chemical imbalance story, through worsening outcomes and hospitalizations, to learning how to identify and treat the real sources behind my mood symptoms.
• My early mood swings, the search for answers, and why the diagnosis felt like relief
We talk with Lisa Sitze (#1 international bestselling author) about growing up with a mother later diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) and how gaslighting teaches a child to distrust their own mind. We break down what actually helps you heal: naming the pattern, setting real boundaries, and choosing responsibility without slipping into shame or victimhood.
• Lisa’s story of a late NPD...
A bipolar diagnosis can feel like an explanation, but we argue it often labels symptoms without identifying a root cause. We challenge the chemical imbalance narrative, question medication-first assumptions, and point toward curiosity-driven healing based on underlying sources of distress.
• bipolar as a symptom cluster rather than an etiology
• how the DSM is built and why that matters
...
We talk with trauma therapist Janey Nelson about why symptoms are not proof you’re broken and how healing can happen when we stop judging emotions and start getting curious about their roots. We dig into Accelerated Resolution Therapy and Critical Memory Integration as practical tools to reduce triggers, resolve trauma responses, and rebuild safety in the body and in relationships.
• Janey’s path i...
I explore why real recovery from bipolar symptoms takes two kinds of work: treating the underlying causes and changing the coping patterns built to survive them. I share practical ways to rebuild emotional health so you can feel deeply, respond wisely, and create relationships with clearer boundaries.
• pathologising human suffering and how labels can end curiosity
• treating symptoms versus identifying...
We talk with therapist Eddie Shin, LMFT about dissociation, trauma, and why a “cope forever” approach can leave people exhausted and stuck. We explore neurofeedback and Accelerated Resolution Therapy as practical tools that build safety in the brain so deeper healing can happen.
• Eddie’s path into marriage and family therapy through residential treatment work
• Why coping s...
We trace Angie Peacock’s (MSW, CPC) journey from combat trauma and antibiotic injury to a maze of labels and polypharmacy, and how trusting her inner voice led her out of withdrawal and into advocacy. We unpack iatrogenic harm, challenge the illness lens, and offer grounded steps toward safe tapering and real recovery.
• combat stress, gut injury, and hypervigilance as clear causes of distress
• fi...
I explore the gap between bondage and freedom, and how agency survives even when diagnosis and treatment narrow your choices. Through poems, personal turning points, and practical tools, I map a path from helplessness to daily actions that restore control.
• defining agency versus freedom with clear examples
• reframing bipolar from victimhood to informed choice
• choosing life, asking for help, build...
I trace the path from blind trust in a chemical imbalance story to a research-based, integrated approach for resolving bipolar symptoms. I share the books, experts, tools, and daily practices that rebuilt stability through nutrition, trauma therapy, and mindfulness.
• conditioning to trust credentials over outcomes
• harms from long-term medication, hospitalization and ECT
• turning points as a parent...
I challenge the idea that a bipolar label defines a life and show how reframing symptoms creates room for choice, tools, and repair. I share a practical survival guide, language shifts, and boundary skills that turn chaos into traction.
• labels built on symptom clusters create helplessness
• medication roulette, side effects, and why talk therapy often stalls
• rage and dissociation explained as figh...
We explore how yoga shifts healing from labels and behavior control to embodied awareness, and how grounding builds real emotional regulation for bipolar symptoms and trauma. Dr. Ghada Osman shares her three-prong model so listeners can ground first, then safely energize or calm.
• mental health labels versus emotional health signals
• witness consciousness and bottom-up healing
• shame cycles, unmet ...
I share a practical plan to turn New Year hope into steady recovery by choosing one habit, building agency, and treating sources of symptoms rather than endlessly managing them. I outline seven habits for healing, from mood tracking and nutrition to therapy, mindfulness, yoga, exercise, and mindful living.
• healing as a long-term process built on one change
• shifting from victim mindset to person...
I share how faith and action led from despair and repeated hospital stays to a practical path for recovery. The story moves from early experiences of God’s love to a step-by-step survival guide, therapy, micronutrients, and an open invitation to choose agency today.
• the role of faith as a source of hope and direction
• the moment a clear thought interrupted suicidal despair
• why healing came ...
I challenge the idea that a bipolar diagnosis explains your life and show how labels can block curiosity, fuel victimhood, and fuse to identity. I explore the layered tools that helped me heal: micronutrients, trauma work, mindfulness, and a Mood Cycle Survival Guide.
• diagnosis as observation, not explanation
• relief and fear at first diagnosis
• victimhood mindset and its costs
• when labels be...
In this engaging third conversation with David Stephan, we unpack why symptom spikes during micronutrient use often signal overmedication, not relapse, and how to time reductions for smoother tapers. We share stories, protocols, and tools that make withdrawal safer while building real, durable stability.
• intake essentials and complete disclosure of meds and supplements
• medication potentiation explain...
What if the brain isn’t broken—but under-supplied? This episode continues the conversation with David Stephan, VP of Truehope, as we dive into the specifics of how vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and omegas provided in bioavailable, balanced forms, help the brain recover. In this conversation we talk about:
- The difference between the function of drugs and micronutrients on the brain
- How micronutrien...
Join me as I speak with Truehope Vice President David Stephan as we trace how a family’s tragedy led to a nutrient-based approach for mental health, why absorption and balance matter more than labels, and how research and real lives converged. The science behind serotonin and dopamine pathways shows why broad-spectrum micronutrients can restore function where drugs often fall short.
• origin of Trueho...
We challenge the reflex to medicate and the vacuum around de-prescribing by tracing Jen’s 25-year story with SSRIs, from teenage labels and muted emotions to neonatal withdrawal, metabolic fallout, and a hard-won hyperbolic taper. We share tools for safer tapering, building a support tribe, and reclaiming informed consent and agency.
• prescribers trained to start meds, not de-prescribe
• teen SSRI...
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