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Today I sit down with Deirdre, my first guest whose parent had mental illness. Her mom, Minnie, managed bipolar disorder and Deirdre grew up fast. By age 6, she experienced the childhood trauma of her mother’s suicide attempt. Later, when Deirdre asked her mom why she would want to leave her daughter, Minnie would describe her deep depression as being "in a deep, dark hole with no visible way out."

Life with a bipolar parent became chaotic for Deirdre as she was stuck in the middle of a custody battle, suffered the loss of a brother, and now went on visits to her see her mom at a psychiatric facility. Living with her dad gave Deirdre some stability, but no one consistently showed in her daily life and asked young Deirdre, How can I help you?

Fast-forward years of school hopping, active duty in the military, a career in crisis communications and experience in community mediation--Deirdre had to make a critical decision. If your mom and grandmother have bipolar disorder, is having a child the right thing to do? Is the genetic likelihood of having a bipolar child simply too risky?

Deirdre is now in grad school fulfilling her lifelong dream to be a psychotherapist. With the gift of listening and letting her patients know they are always prioritized, Deirdre is driven to provide support that was not always available to her.

This episode includes the following topics: having a bipolar parent, children of bipolar parents, parental mental illness, psychiatric hospitalization, family mental health, resilience, suicide attempt, intergenerational mental illness.

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Bipolar She is dedicated to real conversations for women living with mental illness. Hosted by Janine Noel, the majority of episodes give voice to a woman who has lived-life experience with mental illness--or who has experienced the illness of someone close to them. Along the way, I interview experts in the field that address additional mental health concerns.

Frankly, coping with a mental health condition can be exhausting. Here's a place where you can land and find an episode that resonates with you. Some topics we've covered: being a bipolar mom or having a bipolar mom. Anxiety, agoraphobia, chronic depression, ECT, borderline personality disorder, ADHD, a psychiatrist that breaks your trust. A therapist who goes above and beyond to help you. The impact of trauma on your brain.

Bipolar She couldn't have thrived without guitarist, JD Cullum's original music.

Editor Brandon Moran makes everyone's voice sound both crisper and smarter.

Sponsored by Amy Vincze's Emotional Freedom Technique App: Soar With Tapping.

TEXT US: Have a Story? Feedback for the Show?

Check Out BipolarShe.com to Register For Janine's Writing class. Starts September 13.

Enjoy this Summer Remix of Kathleen Adams' Episode "Journaling for Your Bipolar Brain."

Can journaling help your mental health—or sometimes make things worse? Journal therapy pioneer Kathleen Adams explains why unstructured free writing can become overwhelming for people dealing with trauma, dissociative disorders, depression, anxiety, mood disorders, or other intense emotional states. She shares how structure, pacing, and containment can make journaling safer and more useful, including techniques like sentence stems, brief sensory-based “captured moments,” reflection writing, and knowing when to stop.

We also talk about what writing can look like during mania and depression, why “rage on the page” may help in some moments but deepen distress in others, and how to recognize when journaling is helping you process an experience versus pushing you further into it. Adams explains why writing does not have to be positive, polished, or even kept—and why tearing up a page can sometimes be part of the process.

The episode also explores journal therapy, expressive writing, trauma recovery, dissociative identity disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, mania, emotional regulation, and neuroplasticity—with practical ideas for using writing as a mental health tool without simply writing yourself deeper into the pain.

Support the show

Bipolar She is dedicated to real conversations for women living with mental illness. Hosted by Janine Noel, the majority of episodes give voice to a woman who has lived-life experience with mental illness--or who has experienced the illness of someone close to them. Along the way, I interview experts in the field that address additional mental health concerns.

Frankly, coping with a mental health condition can be exhausting. Here's a place where you can land and find an episode that resonates with you. Some topics we've covered: being a bipolar mom or having a bipolar mom. Anxiety, agoraphobia, chronic depression, ECT, borderline personality disorder, ADHD, a psychiatrist that breaks your trust. A therapist who goes above and beyond to help you. The impact of trauma on your brain.

Bipolar She couldn't have thrived without guitarist, JD Cullum's original music.

Editor Brandon Moran makes everyone's voice sound both crisper and smarter.

Sponsored by Amy Vincze's Emotional Freedom Technique App: Soar With Tapping.

TEXT US: Have a Story? Feedback for the Show?

You don’t have to be a good poet to write something authentic.

Therapist and author Margaret Bryden explains why poetry can cut through the facts, explanations, and self-editing that often keep us at a safe distance from our feelings. A poem asks us to condense an experience, use metaphor, and pay attention to what is happening inside rather than recount every detail of what happened. That shorter, less literal form can bring us to the emotional center of a story surprisingly quickly.

Margaret calls this “bad poetry” because the goal is not to impress anyone. There are no rules, no pressure to sound polished, and no need to identify as a writer. By lowering the stakes, people can write more honestly and sometimes discover feelings they did not realize were there.

Margaret also opens up about the vulnerability of sharing personal work as a clinician. She reads poems about trauma, shame, grief, and miscarriage and describes how writing can turn an overwhelming experience into something we can see, name, and begin to understand. Poetry may not solve the pain, but it can give the pain a shape—and help us feel less alone inside it.

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Get Margaret's Free Poetry Guide Here

Support the show

Bipolar She is dedicated to real conversations for women living with mental illness. Hosted by Janine Noel, the majority of episodes give voice to a woman who has lived-life experience with mental illness--or who has experienced the illness of someone close to them. Along the way, I interview experts in the field that address additional mental health concerns.

Frankly, coping with a mental health condition can be exhausting. Here's a place where you can land and find an episode that resonates with you. Some topics we've covered: being a bipolar mom or having a bipolar mom. Anxiety, agoraphobia, chronic depression, ECT, borderline personality disorder, ADHD, a psychiatrist that breaks your trust. A therapist who goes above and beyond to help you. The impact of trauma on your brain.

Bipolar She couldn't have thrived without guitarist, JD Cullum's original music.

Editor Brandon Moran makes everyone's voice sound both crisper and smarter.

Sponsored by Amy Vincze's Emotional Freedom Technique App: Soar With Tapping.