Navigating Life with Bipolar II and Generalized Anxiety Disorder as a Nigerian

Mental Aid aims at humanitizing mental health advocacy. One of the ways it does that is through written interviews. All interviews are conducted anonymously unless participants choose to reveal their identity. Interviewees have full control over the personal information they share. By sharing your story, you have the opportunity to make a significant impact on others. You can share your story about any mental disorder you have or have had, as well as any mental health crisis you have faced (e.g., burnout). To share your story, please answer the questions in the provided document: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSecM4Q6Z8FZZmB8DyJzbTC-RpTiXT9jsYEjGEXnZ0iPjKTffw/viewform?usp=sf_link. A link to a sample interview is https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hmRpmRd92V19LGLUZ0ueWLLpa9DVH_sTvD-eDfz_uV8/edit?usp=sharing. You may also share the documents with anyone dealing with or who has dealt with a mental disorder/ mental health challenge. Please note that proof is required to publish a story, which can be provided through a Zoom meeting, photographs, or other means.

1. What are some background information you would like to share?

   (e.g., your institution, classification, major, minor, profession, nationality, race, etc.)

   I am a Nigerian international student in the United States.

   
   

2. What mental disorders do you deal with?

   I have been diagnosed with Bipolar 2 disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.

   
   

3. What were/are your symptoms?

   My symptoms have been very much reduced, and most of the time, they seem nonexistent recently with my medications. But before my diagnosis, I used to have unstable moods. I would have really high moods for a few weeks and low moods for other weeks. During high moods, I had high concentration, elevated mood, and high motivation. During low moods, I had low concentration, suicidal depression, and no motivation to do anything.

   
   

4. What challenges did your mental health issues cause in school or work?

   I stopped going to school and work. I had to withdraw from the semester and I got sacked from my job.

   
   

5. What challenges did your mental health issues cause to your relationships?

   I stopped answering phone calls and lost a lot of my friends. All my friends were Nigerians, and they would not understand if I told them I had a mental disorder due to the stigmatized response given to mental disorders in Nigerian culture.

   
   

6. Did stigma from yourself or others affect you in any way? If so, how?

   I didn't tell most people about my mental disorder, so they did not express any stigma. The stigma came from me. I beat myself about being bipolar and looked down on myself.

   
   

7. What was your diagnosis timeline?

   I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder in my first semester of college. Over the course of college, after that, I was diagnosed with depression and given anti-depressant medications. The presumed depression was identified as bipolar disorder in the sophomore 1st semester.

   
   

8. What medications or treatments are/were you on, and what are/were your experiences with them?

   I cannot remember all the medications I have been on in the past, but one of the antidepressants I was given is Zoloft. It was nonfunctional, and another medication was prescribed. I am currently on trazodone, aripiprazole, and lamotrigine.

   
   

9. What side effects do/did you experience from your medications?

   I do not have any side effects at the moment, but the first time I was on aripiprazole, I experienced dizziness.

   
   

10. What are/were your coping mechanisms?

    Be proactive. Learn to identify triggers and when your symptoms are getting worse so your medications can be regulated. It is difficult to identify if a situation, feelings, levels of concentration, etc., is caused by you or bipolar disorder sometimes, but you would learn. Don't beat yourself up for not knowing how to identify triggers and worsened symptoms.

    
    

11. What advice do you have for others who are dealing with similar mental health struggles?

    I heard this somewhere: Sometimes, self-love means accepting who you are.