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World Bipolar Day: A conversation with Bill on living with bipolar disorder
Mar 19, 2025
Bill’s journey with bipolar disorder began long before he got a formal diagnosis. Growing up in rural Alberta, Bill started experiencing depression in college. What wasn’t clear at the time was that Bill was experiencing a depressive episode characteristic of bipolar disorder.
An episode of depression in bipolar disorder shares similarities with other types of depression, while mania causes an unusually elevated mood and other symptoms that can make it hard to function. The many symptoms associated with bipolar disorder often make it hard to diagnose.
There are two main types of bipolar disorder2:
- People with bipolar type I disorder experience one or more manic episodes interspaced with episodes of depression which usually become more common over time (compared to manic episodes).
- People with bipolar type II disorder have had one or more hypomanic episodes (a less intense but still unusually elevated mood) and at least one depressive episode, but no history of manic episodes.
Despite Bill’s struggles with depression in college and the growing signs that something was wrong, it took years of struggling before Bill got support. He experienced his first manic episode in 1988 during which he worked 221 days without a day off. “I was flying pretty high, but I had to take six months off afterwards,” he says.
Although he didn’t see it himself, Bill’s extensive overtime and comments about suicide raised concerns among those close to him, including colleagues, who encouraged him to seek a diagnosis. “It wasn’t until I was 31 that I got a formal diagnosis, and things only got steadily worse from that point on,” he shares. By the late 1990s, Bill realized that his illness made it hard to keep a job. “The mood shifts were just too extreme,” he says.
When your best friend doesn’t even believe that there’s anything wrong—well, I felt very alone.
Many people with bipolar disorder also face stigma. Bill experienced this firsthand when he tried to confide in a friend about his illness. “She didn’t believe in mental illness. She felt it was fake,” he recalls. “When your best friend doesn’t even believe that there’s anything wrong—well, I felt very alone.”
But Bill didn’t stop trying to speak out and raise awareness. As a volunteer with CMHA, Bill found the courage to share his story with others. “The stigma is better now than it was 25 years ago,” he says. “People are more willing to accept that mental illnesses are real. They may not understand it, but they’re willing to accept that it’s an illness and that it’s happening.”
When describing the difference between his manic and depressive episodes, Bill explains: “During mania, I always get this uncontrollable desire to work. I generally get myself overstimulated and that’s when the mania takes over. I can usually see it happening, and I tend to isolate myself during those periods. With depression, it’s like my whole mind and body just shut down. I can’t cope with anything, and aside from medications, self-care is the only thing that makes a difference.”
And what does self-care include for Bill? He credits volunteering as helping him manage his illness. “People need a cause to focus on that can take their mind off their struggles,” he says. “Volunteering has had a positive impact for me and is a way to give back.”
Bill has been involved with CMHA as a volunteer for 27 years and takes every opportunity to educate others and advocate for those living with mental illness. Bill is also an active community advisor for 9-8-8, Canada’s three-digit suicide crisis helpline. “I’ve had to use the service myself, so that gives me a bit of an inside look because those calls saved my life twice.”
Another important source of support for Bill has been his community psychiatric nurse. “She has held my hand through the deepest of depressions when things got so dark that I couldn’t function at all,” he shares. “She was there for me through that numerous times.”
Not everyone receives this kind of care, though. Today in Canada, mental health isn’t valued on par with physical health, and those who need mental health care often encounter long wait times, if they can get care at all.
I’d like to see the day where we can go see the doctor and be treated for mental health like we would be treated for the flu.
Yet Bill remains hopeful for the future. “I’d like to see the day where we can go see the doctor and be treated for mental health like we would be treated for the flu,” he says. “And I think we’ll get there, eventually. How long it takes I don’t know, but I think we’ll get there.”
March 30 is World Bipolar Day, a global initiative aimed at bringing awareness and understanding to bipolar disorders and to eliminate social stigma.
If you or someone you know is struggling with bipolar disorder or another mood disorder, please contact your local CMHA or Mood Disorders Society of Canada (MDSC) for support.
Bill is 67 and lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. When he’s not volunteering his time, he enjoys scrapbooking, watching TV and hanging out with his Emotional Support Animal, Scrappy.