March 30 is World Bipolar Day. I’ve written about this before. This year, I started wondering, has World Bipolar Day had any real-world impact? There are many stated goals for World Bipolar Day, but have we made any headway towards those goals, and has any of that headway come from World Bipolar Day itself? Do awareness days do anything for anyone?
Goals of World Bipolar Day
World Bipolar Day started on March 30, 2014. March 30th was picked as it was Vincent Van Gogh’s birthday, and people have posthumously diagnosed him with bipolar disorder.
(Of course, people have also posthumously diagnosed him with schizophrenia. It’s impossible to accurately diagnose someone who lived in the 19th century using today’s criteria. It’s interesting that professionals, quite rightly, refuse to diagnose people who are not their patients today, and yet no one minds doing it with a dead person, for whom there is less information. It’s hypocritical and inaccuirate. But I digress . . .)
World Bipolar Day was brought to life by several organizations: the International Bipolar Foundation, the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, and the Asian Network of Bipolar Disorder. The International Bipolar Foundation says the vision of World Bipolar Day is to:
. . . bring world awareness to bipolar disorders and eliminate social stigma. Through international collaboration [sic] the goal of World Bipolar Day is to bring the world population information about bipolar disorders that will educate and improve sensitivity towards the illness.
(I’d rather focus on treatment dollars, equal access legislation, disability rights, and other bipolar life-related issues, but that’s me.)
What Do People Do for World Bipolar Day?
World Bipolar Day is now recognized by many organizations, including the National Institute of Mental Health and Health Canada. You’ll see information about it in the media and calls to action by various organizations. Advocates like me use it as an excuse to share real-life stories of living with bipolar disorder and fact-based information about the illness. Social media is typically full of World Bipolar Day information, hashtags, and there are lots of question-and-answer sessions that happen on that day.
Has World Bipolar Day Made an Impact on the Lives of People with Bipolar?
It won’t surprise you to learn that many people with bipolar disorder (not to mention everyone else) have no idea this day exists at all. Not everyone with bipolar disorder is plugged into advocacy efforts online or anywhere else. They are just living their lives. This is at least partially because the media doesn’t give it the same attention as they do other illnesses, despite more than 2% of the population having this serious mental illness.
That said, the fact that World Bipolar Day has been commemorated every year since 2014 does indicate that visibility has increased. Now, there are all kinds of efforts that take place on that day, including film launches like this one.
However, does visibility help anyone? I suspect the answer to that is yes. People tend to fear what they do not understand, and information increases understanding. Focusing on real people with bipolar disorder also addresses the issues that come up when a person doesn’t (knowingly) come into contact with anyone with the illness. While I’m not a big fan of pointing to famous people and saying, “Look ma, they have bipolar!” I suspect it does change the way some people view the illness.
All that translates into maybe a little impact. There’s honestly no evidence I’m aware of that general awareness campaigns make a measurable difference in the lives of people with mental illness. Some people talk about them, yes. But that is it. Talking about an issue is not negative, but it’s not necessarily moving the needle on legislation, diagnoses, access to care, research dollars, etc., either. I recognize that it’s really hard to measure success, but I see no evidence that stigma, delayed diagnosis, disability burden, or early death rates have been positively impacted over the last 12 years.
Do Awareness Campaigns of Any Sort Help People with Illness?
Interestingly, some illness-related awareness campaigns do have evidence of success. Examples of this include:
The above campaigns improved things like screenings, diagnoses, and prescriptions filled.
It seems to me that these campaigns have evidence of success as they created motivation for people to act. Awareness, in the form of knowledge, simply isn’t enough. People know what HIV is–what people need to do is get tested for it. An action-based campaign for those with mental illness might be more effective as well.
What Will You Do for Bipolar Disorder Impact?
Maybe, then, what we can do is focus on action every day. Yes, World Bipolar Day can be an excellent reminder and excuse to disseminate information, but if that information focuses on action on that day and every day, maybe we can improve the lives of people with bipolar disorder just a little bit more.
