David - Living with Bipolar disorder as a male

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Dave about his journey with bipolar. This is the 7th instalment in our series on bipolar. Dave wasn’t diagnosed with bipolar until he was 48 years of age, having gone through his entire life prior to this with bipolar one disorder. Dave worked for the bulk of his working life in the creative industry of advertising, but now at 65 years of age Dave, though the Black Dog Institute, is a presenter on mental health, an area he has been involved with for the last ten years.  In this episode Dave talks about his journey in finding stability and the time prior to his formal diagnosis of bipolar. 

Dave talks about his journey with bipolar disorder, how a manic episode feels, how mania impacts daily life, his journey in finally getting diagnosed at the age of 48, how depressive episodes feel and impact daily life, society's understanding of mental health, what made Dave get help with his bipolar, how bipolar impacted him working in his creative industry and that people should get help if they know they need it.

"The thing with physical illnesses is often they like knock on your door. Like if you think about when you got the flu, you know, for a day or two before you're going 'I don't have much energy - feeling achey'  and then its almost like a day later it knocks on your front door and smacks you in the face became you go 'Oh my god, I can't out of bed. I'm so sick' whereas mental illness may creep up on you." - Dave on this episode of Wellbeing

Tune in next week when we talk with Lizzie Simon about her bipolar journey.

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