167: Therapy for Bipolar Stigma

Have you ever felt crippled by the stigma of bipolar disorder? Living with bipolar is not always easy but it gets really challenging when stigma enters the picture.

Andrea Vassilev is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in clinical psychology, specializing in bipolar disorder, and a person with 25 years of experience with the condition. She speaks and writes for outlets such as Slate Magazine, NAMI, and the International Bipolar Foundation. Andrea is the creator of the world's first self-stigma program for bipolar disorder and hopes that telling her own story of life with bipolar through the lenses of clinical causes, treatments, and outcomes will provide education, hope, and comfort to others.

Andrea joins me on the podcast to detail her experience being diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 14 all the way to developing the world's first program designed to help reduce self-stigma in individuals living with bipolar disorder. Tune in to learn what it means to truly get to know how bipolar lives in you and the ways to understand how it shows up in your life using psychotherapy.

Many myths about therapy for bipolar will be busted along with key insights into how you can get the most out of therapy. Andrea shares how she has taken her lived experience with bipolar and turned it into wisdom to help others overcome common obstacles.

You can connect with Andrea at her website here or on Instagram. You can learn more about her Overcoming Self-Stigma in Bipolar Disorder (OSSiBD) program here. Last but not least, you can check out her article on acceptance and bipolar here.