Living with bipolar disorder is not easy. Many people don't understand the condition, which results in the patient being discriminated against. It is said that an online community in India is trying to change such attitudes. Vijay Nalawala was 40 years old when his family realized something was wrong with him." I used to get excited all of a sudden," he says. And then I would suddenly fall into depression, wake up in the night to go to the bathroom, and sit down to write despairing poetry. These changes in my mood were very sudden. Vijay says that these symptoms started appearing in him from the age of 14. This is a condition in which people experience severe mood swings. People experience depression that makes them feel very pessimistic and lethargic, or they become obsessive, or hyperactive. Vijay is now 60 and says he feels better than he has in the last five or six years. But his ordeal made him realize the need to create awareness about the condition. In 2012, he started blogging about it. Then a friend of his suggested he start a website called Bipolar India to raise awareness about the condition, compare available mental health resources and share their experiences with other people with the condition. Provide a platform for sharing. Today it has more than 500 members. According to a 2016 Indian Mental Health Survey, at least 0.3 percent of Indians suffer from bipolar disorder. But the associated shame and lack of information is having a devastating impact on the lives of patients who already suffer from discrimination. India has only 0.75 psychologists per 100,000 people due to shortage of qualified professionals, which adds to the seriousness of the issue. Nine years after creating Bipolar India, Vijay now spends part of his day reading messages in the group's Telegram group. It has members from all major cities including people from Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, and Bangalore who meet regularly. Vijay says that he wants to create awareness in the society so that he can provide emotional and sometimes financial support to those suffering from the condition." Our community turned the situation around in four suicidal cases even though we were not trained in suicide prevention," he says. In one case, we even collected donations for a person who was urgently admitted to hospital. Patients often suffer because they do not have access to health facilities. Indian laws oblige insurance companies to provide coverage for mental illnesses as well. But Vijay says these companies rarely do. Bipolar India has tried to fill this gap. "We believe that a person cannot recover from mental illness unless he is rehabilitated," says Vijay. The group has helped people like 57-year-old Tripathi Mishra, who had to see at least 13 doctors before finding one who diagnosed the disorder. I don't think the doctors were really listening to me at first. Tripathi Mishra lives in Durgapur, West Bengal. A retired computer science professor considers herself lucky. She says her family was very supportive. 'In families, these feelings are not fully accepted or acknowledged.' The group also welcomes those who care for others. Mumbai-based Venkatesh Prasad and his wife take care of their 31-year-old daughter, who has schizoaffective disorder as well as bipolar. He joined Bipolar India, because he felt he had to 'take care' of himself. Caregivers also suffer from depression, but they also need to have constant love and compassion for their child and a zest for life.
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