No mother wants to hear their child is sick. Let alone their child has a horrible mental illness like Bipolar. I did this month.

I've been awol from writing here lately. I have struggled with staying focused long enough to write a complete sentence. My world has been preoccupied with my son.

Bipolar is a horrible condition If I could trade places with my 15-year-old son, I would in an instant. We received his diagnosis and he began taking medications to help treat his condition. I naively thought we now would be on the track of a healthy fulfilled life for my son.

You see, I thought I had armed myself with so much information. I thought I was informed and understood the whole picture. I thought it was only the people who chose not to medicate because of the horrible side effects associated with taking them, were the people who continued to struggle with terrible, beastly disease. I was wrong!

I realized after watching this Stephen Fry documentary, just the rollercoaster faced by so many people who struggle. Many in silence, feared of being labelled. But each person, medicated or not. Living a life of struggles and ups and downs no person should ever have to wake up and face.

Until watching this, I didn’t truly understand the journey and future outlook my son and our family are looking at. I cried as I listened to other's perspectives of their illness. It mirrored how my son had expressed how he had felt at times. So touching, I found myself bawling many times as I put myself in their/my son's shoes. I finally understood there is no magic pill or treatment.

This stigma around mental health needs to change. People should be able to talk as openly about it without fear of being looked at differently in society to open the doors for support. Just like any other body part illness can attack like our lungs, heart and kidneys. Our brain can also “get sick” too and just because someone has a “mental illness” and their brain is "sick", they are not necessarily crazy or stupid.

Stephen Fry’s courage to speak out on his own mental illness and tell others stories to share with the world inspired my son to speak openly on social media about his condition too. As I read my son Kurt's post, my heart beamed with pride.

Those following me will know we are Australian expats who live in Cambodia. Here mental health services and mental health facilities are almost nonexistent. Through lack of education there is a belief amongst the local community that you are either “crazy or not”, and there is no treatment for “crazy”.

Who knows maybe my sons courage and bravery can change the lives of many Cambodians struggling with mental health issues and change the perspectives of locals thoughts on mental illness by bringing awareness to the locals in our community.

For him to be brave enough at 15-years old, to share his personal journey like this is admirable and the support he has already received from the expat community has been overwhelming. They say it takes a village to raise a child and am thankful and grateful for my village and the abundance of love and support it has for its people in the community. I love my village.

Whether you do or do not know someone who is affected with Bipolar I highly recommend this touching, informative look at a horrible mental health illness that impacts the lives of so many people. Giving an insight into different treatments and the effects of them on different people throughout the course of their lives.

Check out the link here to part 1 of Stephen fry series - The secret life of a manic depressive here:

### Leave your thoughts and comments below I would love to hear from you, or resteem this post to begin to continue to spread awareness on mental health issues.

Want to check out some of my usual posts of our Cambodian adventures? Check out some of my other posts:

https://busy.org/@mumma-monza/haircuts-in-cambodia-what-will-i-do
https://steemit.com/cambodia/@mumma-monza/ice-skate-in-cambodia-escape-the-heat
https://steemit.com/travelphotography/@mumma-monza/epic-water-fight-siem-reap-cambodia
https://steemit.com/cambodia/@mumma-monza/school-turned-prison-cambodia
https://steemit.com/travel/@mumma-monza/kids-eat-scorpion-siem-reap-cambodia-leaving-mixed-reviews
https://steemit.com/expat/@mumma-monza/cambodia-ranked-4-top-destinations-for-expats

Proud mum and member of the @Steemmamas discord group. the coolest hangout for Steem mama's #fact.

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