Life as Cerys

Lifting the Lid on Mania Most portrayals of bipolar I consumed in media throughout my teens taught me that it is a dangerous illness, characterised by violence, unpredictability, emotional outburst and other, often negative, qualities. I thought of films like Manic [1] , where Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character, Lyle Jenson, acts so brutally to another teen that he ends up institutionalised. Whilst institutionalised, he meets various people, including Chad, who has bipolar. With it being ‘Time to Talk Day’ only a few days ago, I felt compelled to write about my experiences of having bipolar, and the associated stigma that continues to surround this disorder. Depression gets talked about a lot – something that is by no means a bad thing – but I still see so little discourse about mania, even in my own writing. So, in honour of Time to Talk Day, I’d like to lift the lift on mania   Understanding my Bipolar As such, when diagnosed in 2018 as a teen myself, only negative thought

  I am delighted to share a piece I wrote for  Autism Together  about how my ASD diagnosis has allowed me to be more accepting of myself. It is always a pleasure to share my experiences of neurodivergence, especially in regards to receiving an ASD diagnosis as an adult and how this has enabled me to reflect on my childhood, anxiety, and life so far from a whole other perspective. _   "How an adult autism diagnosis helped one young writer be more accepting of herself" Ever since I was a young child – as early as the age of eighteen-months – I’ve had severe anxiety. Anything from going on holiday to a new place to a slight change in dinner plans was enough to completely throw me. Daily stresses brought me to tears and caused me such intense anxiety that have just never seemed to ease. However, my recent diagnosis of autism has started to explain things a little better. The Very Early Days When I was a toddler, I wouldn’t sleep in my own room, completely restless for no apparent