Hello everyone.
My name is Ryan and I'm an 18 year old in Alberta Canada. I've been connected with Bi-Polar disorder scince before I was even in kindergarden when my mother had a severe episode in which she was hospitalized for months. She's had two more full blown episodes scince then and I'm glad to say that after extensive therepy, counciling, medication and support, she now lives a medicated, happy and balanced life. As for myself, I first showed signs of being Bi-Polar when I first hit puberty (Big shock there, eh?) I was having odd and rapid moodswings ranging from on top of the world to hopelessly depressed. Fortunately for myself, I had a parent that could easilly identify the situation and was brought into a psychologist who said I showed strong points of Bi-Polar II and/or Cyclothymic Disorder. I was given a drug to take daily, I forget the name, but it didn't help the condition at all, then I was started on Lithium.

At first I liked how I had felt a little more stabilized and 'normal', but after aorund a month, I hated it. I could tell that it was working and that it was helping my moods, but there was a problem. See, when I was 14 I first started acting out, I had been living in a highly disfunctional familly, and my mother and I had just moved out, I was struggling with life when I started thing about acting. I tried it, and I've been addicted to it ever since. It became my outlet to how I was feeling and the moods I was having. After two or so years, I was started on Lithium and I began to notice that my love and passion for acting had dwindled. I was having trouble getting into the zone for preformances and I couldn't fully tap into characters with the depth I used to. I was still pretty good, but I had a reputation for being an extremely indepth and naturally talented actor in my community, but while I was on Lithium, it all changed. So I Desided to get off the meds and within a week I was able to reach my potential as an actor again. in the last two years I've studied and prefected my craft and only untill the last couple of months while I was working on a new play, did I realiize that my method of acting was copmpletely different and more indepth then most people that I had ever met, which then brought up a question:

Are People with Bi-Polar Disorder more prone to Creativity?

I undoubtedly think that yes, yes we are. I don't know why, but I can say that using acting, along with writing, drawing and reading and other creative outlets i'm able to keep my tendancies under control, and in the porcess, expand my mind more quickly and with more understanding then I could have ever thought.

Now, for those of you who actually read all of this (Skimming down dosen't count) I apologize. It's my first post here and I got a little carried away typing, but I would like to offer you to respond with any examples, stories, ideas or comments on whether or not you agree that we, as the Bi-Polar people, are more easilly subject to creativity.

Thank you all

P.S - Keep in mind that Hemmingway (Writer), Sylvia Plath (Writer), Tchaikovsky (Musician), F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Blake, Sara Teasdale all are said to have had some form of Bi-Polar Disorder