At the age of 14, Lauren Polly was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In order to control her mania and depression, she had to take large amounts of pills- some of which had horrendous side effects.
Exhausted with her life as it was, Polly decided to try the drug-free route. With her doctors help, she traded the psychiatric meds she was taking for a holistic approach. After many years of learning to master the techniques needed to take care of herself (she is now 37-years-old) her doctors gradually eliminated her drugs.
And this new life is one she wants to share with others. Polly uses the following skills in order to deal with her disease1:
- Stop judging yourself.
- Add positive things to your life.
- Include your body in your plan with a good diet and exercise.
Polly, who wrote “The Other Side of Bipolar,” said, “Being able to actually have life tools and skills to be able to handle the ups and downs and really be present and accountable for what you’re doing. That’s the key. We live in a world with judgment. So being able to come out of ‘there’s something wrong with me I need to fix’ will actually start to give you a lot of space in your own world.If you’re only trying to fix one thing and not using your energy to add things and really develop all of you, you come up short, and that leads to a sense to a lot of sense of dissatisfaction.” 2
Polly now works hard on a daily basis to be more than just her diagnosis. And she stresses that she learned life skills- with professional help- before she eliminated any of her meds.
Awesome job and congratulations.
