Mariah Carey Has Bipolar Disorder: Read Her Story
Mariah Carey left her fans shocked yesterday when PEOPLE magazine released the cover and cover story of their upcoming issue (in newsstands this Friday) on their website. Mariah was on the cover with the main headline reading “My Battle with Bipolar Disorder”. In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Mariah shared that she has been battling with bipolar disorder for YEARS. She was first diagnosed with bipolar II disorder during a hospitalization in 2001. “I didn’t want to believe it”, Mariah said. Back in 2001, Mariah’s then-publicist, Cindi Berger, said in a statement that the pop diva had fallen “ill” after finishing filming two movies, “Glitter” and “Wise Girls”. She later updated Mariah’s diagnose to “an emotional and physical breakdown”. But no bipolar disorder mention was made, even though we now know that was the official diagnose from the doctors. Evidently, Mariah didn’t want for that information to be made public. She was afraid of people’s reaction, but she’s not any more; for she’s finally found the strength to go public with her story and she hopes this helps others.
“For a long time I thought I had a severe sleep disorder,” she said. “But it wasn’t normal insomnia and I wasn’t lying awake counting sheep. I was working and working and working … I was irritable and in constant fear of letting people down. It turns out that I was experiencing a form of mania. Eventually I would just hit a wall. I guess my depressive episodes were characterized by having very low energy. I would feel so lonely and sad — even guilty that I wasn’t doing what I needed to be doing for my career.”
“Until recently I lived in denial and isolation and in constant fear someone would expose me,” she told the magazine. “It was too heavy a burden to carry and I simply couldn’t do that anymore. I sought and received treatment, I put positive people around me and I got back to doing what I love — writing songs and making music.”
“But I’m just in a really good place right now, where I’m comfortable discussing my struggles with bipolar II disorder,” she told People. “I’m hopeful we can get to a place where the stigma is lifted from people going through anything alone. It can be incredibly isolating. It does not have to define you and I refuse to allow it to define me or control me.”
According to the U.S National Institute of Mental Health:
“People with bipolar disorder experience periods of unusually intense emotion, changes in sleep patterns and activity levels, and unusual behaviors. These distinct periods are called “mood episodes.” Mood episodes are drastically different from the moods and behaviors that are typical for the person. Extreme changes in energy, activity, and sleep go along with mood episodes.”
See? Mariah Carey is a human being like anyone else. We wish her the best with her battle.