This week on wellbeing we are talking with Seattle based cartoonist an author Ellen Forney about her journey with Bipolar disorder. This is our 11th instant in our bipolar series. Ellen was diagnosed with Bipolar 1 Disorder in 1998 just before her 30th birthday. She wrote about her journey with bipolar in her graphic memoir "Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me" which came out in 2012. It was from this book Ellen started writing a book focused on how somebody can manage their bipolar. The said book came out in 2018 and is called "Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice From My Bipolar Life". Now a wellbeing coach helping those with bipolar, her book Rock Steady covers Ellens SMEDMERTS method, a mental health philosophy that can be used in the managing of ones bipolar. Developed by Ellen, smedmerts is an acronym for Sleep, Meds, Eat, Doctor, Mindfullness, Excerise, Routine, Tools, and Support System. In this interview we take a deep look into SMEDMERTS and how it can help someone on a bipolar journey. 

In this episode, Ellen talks about her early expresses with bipolar, her bipolar diagnoses, the faults in the medication driven medical field, how her book Rock Steady came to be, SMEDMERTS, the importance of sleep to those with bipolar, the struggles those with bipolar can have in finding the right medications douses, the lack of new research into the gold standard bipolar medication lithium, and her coaching services available to those with bipolar. 

"(Rock Steady) is kinda an expansion of the last chapter in Marbles, chapter nine, where I have stabilised and then I have come to a variety of conclusions about my path and how bipolar and creativity and my art are connected and I also mention the things I do to take care of myself" - Ellen Forney on this episode of Wellbeing

Tune in next week when we talk with Susana Bluwol about Bipolar Disorder Recovery 

We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com

Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins
Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing