REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST CONSULTING SERVICES
Selection Method: Individual Consultant-Simplified Competitive Process
Country: St. Lucia Sector: IFD/CTI-Competitiveness, Technology and Innovation Division Funding – TC #: ATN/CO-17772-RG Project #: RG-T3519 TC name: Experiential Learning of Cluster Development Best Practices in Small and Vulnerable Countries
Consultancy to Develop a Three (3)- Year Operational Plan and Deliver Training in Governance and Cooperative Management for the St. Lucia Honey- Bee City Cluster
The overall objective of this consultancy is toward the development a three-year strategic plan for the operations of beekeeper groups of the Bee City Honey Cluster through training and institutional strengthening of the established co-operative and other Apiary and Beekeeper groups.
Through its Regional Cluster Capacity Building Program for Business Support Organisations (BSOs), CCPF is providing support to cluster initiatives that can help Caribbean firms grow, generate employment and export to new markets. In consultation with private firms and supporting institutions, Export Saint Lucia – the BSO in Saint Lucia – has prepared and is implementing a comprehensive Cluster Development Plan (CDP) for the honey sector. The CDP outlines a common vision for and agreed priorities to support the growth of the sector.
Currently the majority (90%) of Saint Lucia’s honey is purchased domestically, by supermarkets, hotels and health shops. The main purpose of the CDP is to improve the quality of Saint Lucian honey and position it competitively in overseas niche markets for health-conscious consumers. The plan therefore focuses on achieving the following objectives:
• Product Development: The creation of a profile for high-quality Saint Lucian Honey, that is distinctive and competitive in the target market, and that can be used to augment the existing national standard to be adopted by producers; • Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building: For cluster stakeholders to produce a competitive honey product in accordance with best practices;
Domestic and International Market Development: To successfully penetrate the identified niche market and reach the target customers, which would entail the development of a domestic and international marketing plan. The CDP is the basis of implementation for the cluster project and will provide the Consultants hired with details and guidance on specific activities.
The Compete Caribbean Partnership Facility (CCPF) is executing the above-mentioned operation. For this operation, the IDB intends to contract consulting services described in this Request for Expressions of Interest. Expressions of interest must be delivered to Ms. Liana Welch at lianaw@iadb.org by: April 6, 2022, 5:00 P.M. (Atlantic Standard Time).
The consulting services (“the Services”) include the development of a 3-year strategic operational and sustainability plan for a group defined by the Project Steering Committee which will be a fair representation or sample of the beekeeper population. This also includes the preparation of training materials; and training of the defined group in Governance and Co-operative Management.
Key Activities: I. Develop a more in-depth understanding of the business environment by liaising with Cluster Manager, the Project Steering Committee and Compete Caribbean; studying background documents (Cluster Development Plan, Market Research, Marketing and Branding Plan), executing necessary stakeholder consultations; and liaising with other key stakeholders. II. Conduct stakeholder validation workshops and engage with cluster members and stakeholders to gain a comprehensive understanding of the CDP and the consultancy, and then develop a detailed workplan describing activities to be completed, timeline, outputs, people responsible, etc. III. Prepare a comprehensive, results-focused 3- year strategic plan inclusive of a roadmap for growth of key players in the industry and the best practices for the strategy of firms in cluster. The plan should include critical components like HR/labour, Marketing, Sales, Business and production Processes/Operations and Export Planning. Effective tools like KPIs and milestones chart should be defined, and an implementation plan should be included. The strategic plan should take into consideration the findings from the Marketing Research and Penetration Plans completed for the Cluster. IV. The three (3) year strategic plan will be presented through a Power Point presentation and detailed PDF document. V. Revise the strategy based on changes agreed to by the cluster manager, the project steering committee, and Compete Caribbean. VI. Identify and recruit representatives from the main beekeeper groups for the capacity building component. VII. Develop training materials on Governance and Cooperative Management and design and execute two (2) capacity building workshops on this area. The consulting firm will coordinate the activities related to virtual/hybrid training including assessing the training requirements for the bee keeping groups, developing the curriculum and evaluating the training. The consulting firm will liaise with Compete Caribbean, the Cluster Manager and the Project Steering Committee to develop the training programmes that are consistent with the bee keeping training needs assessment. VIII. Collect and analyse data and update the report to include data on the results achieved in accordance with Compete Caribbeans M&E requirements. IX. Prepare a Final Report summarizing the scope of work implemented; evaluation of results achieved; lessons learned; and recommendations for development, which may be needed to support achievement of the planned results of the cluster.
Eligible persons will be selected in accordance with the procedures set out in the Inter-American Development Bank: Policies for the Selection and Contracting of Consultants Financed by the IDB (GN-2350-9).
CCPF now invites eligible persons to indicate their interest in providing the services described above in the draft summary of the intended Terms of Reference for the assignment. Interested persons must provide information establishing that they are qualified to perform the Services (description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions, availability of appropriate skills among staff, etc.).
Interested persons may obtain further information during office hours, 09:00 AM to 05:00 PM, (Atlantic Standard Time) by sending an email to:
Compete Caribbean Partnership Facility ‘Hythe’ Welches Maxwell Main Road Christ Church BB17068 Attn: Liana Welch Tel: +1 246-627-8548 E-mail: lianaw@iadb.org Web site: https://www.competecaribbean.org/
BRADES, Montserrat (November 14,
2021) – Whether you live in Montserrat or thousands of miles away you will have
the opportunity to experience the 13th Alliouagana Festival of
the Word.
The official dates are November 18 to 20, however, activities begin from Monday the 15th under the theme Our Future, Our Stories.
Festival Coordinator, Nerissa Golden
of Goldenmedia said she was delighted to be facilitating another exciting
programme to celebrate our love for books and the people who create them.
Starting Monday at 10 a.m. the Public Library in Brades will host a week-long exhibition called Write Montserrat: A Literary Retrospective of Our Island’s Authors. The collection will showcase the works of local authors in a variety of genres.
On Monday at 7 a.m, the Good Night Montserrat series sponsored by the Governor’s Office will begin on Facebook.
“We invited book lovers to submit a
video of themselves reading their favourite children’s stories. We have
received submissions from around the world and are excited to share them with
our fans,” Golden revealed.
Residents are encouraged to gather along the Carr’s Bay main road on Thursday, November 18, at 10 a.m. for the Book Parade. This colourful street parade allows primary school children to bring their favourite storybook characters to life.
The Alphonsus “Arrow” Cassell Memorial Lecture will be aired on Friday evening on the festival’s Facebook page. Two engaging panel discussions make up the programme starting at 7:30 PM.
The Saturday morning workshops begin online at 10 AM and focus on various aspects of digital publishing from idea to final production and sales. These workshops are brought to you with the support of the Montserrat Public Library.
Books by eight Montserratian authors will be celebrated at the Saturday evening gala. Starting at 6 PM at the Montserrat Cultural Centre, this elegant evening is a fundraising event and will highlight the new works of authors including Edwin L. Martin, Shirley Osborne, Norman Ryan and Jennifer Joseph.
The 13th annual Alliouagana Festival of the Word is sponsored by the Montserrat Arts Council, Goldenmedia, Governor’s Office, the Ministry of Education, Digicel, Montserrat Volcano Observatory, and Friends of AFW LitFest.
Follow the 2021 literary festival activities on Facebook at AFWLitFest or via #AFWLitFest.
Nerissa Golden CEO/Creative Director Goldenmedia LLC
Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram have all gone down in a major outage.
Such problems – especially after they have been ongoing for hours – likely indicates there is a major problem with the technology underpinning Facebook’s services.
Has anyone ever told you about this Disorder? Or, did you ever think this about yourself, or someone else? There are more people right around you who suffer unknowingly, causing bad relationships and destroying good ones. We present from Healthline – here to help.
Bipolar disorder is a mental illness marked by extreme shifts in mood. Symptoms can include an extremely elevated mood called mania. They can also include episodes of depression. Bipolar disorder is also known as bipolar disease or manic depression.
People with bipolar disorder may have trouble managing everyday life tasks at school or work, or maintaining relationships. There’s no cure, but there are many treatment options available that can help to manage the symptoms. Learn the signs of bipolar disorder to watch for.
Bipolar disorder isn’t a rare brain disorder. In fact, 2.8 percent of U.S. adults — or about 5 million people — have been diagnosed with it. The average age when people with bipolar disorder begin to show symptoms is 25 years old.
There are three main symptoms that can occur with bipolar disorder: mania, hypomania, and depression.
While experiencing mania, a person with bipolar disorder may feel an emotional high. They can feel excited, impulsive, euphoric, and full of energy. During manic episodes, they may also engage in behavior such as:
Hypomania is generally associated with bipolar II disorder. It’s similar to mania, but it’s not as severe. Unlike mania, hypomania may not result in any trouble at work, school, or in social relationships. However, people with hypomania still notice changes in their mood.
During an episode of depression you may experience:
Men and women are diagnosed with bipolar disorder in equal numbers. However, the main symptoms of the disorder may be different between the two genders. In many cases, a woman with bipolar disorder may:
be diagnosed later in life, in her 20s or 30s
have milder episodes of mania
experience more depressive episodes than manic episodes
have four or more episodes of mania and depression in a year, which is called rapid cycling
Women with bipolar disorder may also relapse more often. This is believed to be caused by hormonal changes related to menstruation, pregnancy, or menopause. If you’re a woman and think you may have bipolar disorder, it’s important for you to get the facts. Here’s what you need to know about bipolar disorder in women.
Men and women both experience common symptoms of bipolar disorder. However, men may experience symptoms differently than women. Men with bipolar disorder may:
be diagnosed earlier in life
experience more severe episodes, especially manic episodes
have substance abuse issues
act out during manic episodes
Men with bipolar disorder are less likely than women to seek medical care on their own. They’re also more likely to die by suicide.
There are three main types of bipolar disorder: bipolar I, bipolar II, and cyclothymia.
Bipolar I
Bipolar I is defined by the appearance of at least one manic episode. You may experience hypomanic or major depressive episodes before and after the manic episode. This type of bipolar disorder affects men and women equally.
Bipolar II
People with this type of bipolar disorder experience one major depressive episode that lasts at least two weeks. They also have at least one hypomanic episode that lasts about four days. This type of bipolar disorder is thought to be more common in women.
Cyclothymia
People with cyclothymia have episodes of hypomania and depression. These symptoms are shorter and less severe than the mania and depression caused by bipolar I or bipolar II disorder. Most people with this condition only experience a month or two at a time where their moods are stable.
Diagnosing bipolar disorder in children is controversial. This is largely because children don’t always display the same bipolar disorder symptoms as adults. Their moods and behaviors may also not follow the standards doctors use to diagnose the disorder in adults.
Many bipolar disorder symptoms that occur in children also overlap with symptoms from a range of other disorders that can occur in children, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
However, in the last few decades, doctors and mental health professionals have come to recognize the condition in children. A diagnosis can help children get treatment, but reaching a diagnosis may take many weeks or months. Your child may need to seek special care from a professional trained to treat children with mental health issues.
Like adults, children with bipolar disorder experience episodes of elevated mood. They can appear very happy and show signs of excitable behavior. These periods are then followed by depression. While all children experience mood changes, changes caused by bipolar disorder are very pronounced. They’re also usually more extreme than a child’s typical change in mood.
Manic symptoms in children
Symptoms of a child’s manic episode caused by bipolar disorder can include:
acting very silly and feeling overly happy
talking fast and rapidly changing subjects
having trouble focusing or concentrating
doing risky things or experimenting with risky behaviors
having a very short temper that leads quickly to outbursts of anger
having trouble sleeping and not feeling tired after sleep loss
Some of the behavior issues you may witness in your child could be the result of another condition. ADHD and other behavior disorders can occur in children with bipolar disorder. Work with your child’s doctor to document your child’s unusual behaviors, which will help lead to a diagnosis.
Angst-filled behavior is nothing new to the average parent of a teenager. The shifts in hormones, plus the life changes that come with puberty, can make even the most well-behaved teen seem a little upset or overly emotional from time to time. However, some teenage changes in mood may be the result of a more serious condition, such as bipolar disorder.
A bipolar disorder diagnosis is most common during the late teens and early adult years. For teenagers, the more common symptoms of a manic episode include:
being very happy
“acting out” or misbehaving
taking part in risky behaviors
abusing substances
thinking about sex more than usual
becoming overly sexual or sexually active
having trouble sleeping but not showing signs of fatigue or being tired
having a very short temper
having trouble staying focused, or being easily distracted
For teenagers, the more common symptoms of a depressive episode include:
Choose from BetterHelp’s vast network of therapists for your therapy needs. Take a quiz, get matched, and start getting support via secure phone or video sessions. Plans start at $60 per week + an additional 10% off. FIND A THERAPIST
Bipolar disorder can have two extremes: up and down. To be diagnosed with bipolar, you must experience a period of mania or hypomania. People generally feel “up” in this phase of the disorder. When you’re experiencing an “up” change in mood, you may feel highly energized and be easily excitable.
Some people with bipolar disorder will also experience a major depressive episode, or a “down” mood. When you’re experiencing a “down” change in mood, you may feel lethargic, unmotivated, and sad. However, not all people with bipolar disorder who have this symptom feel “down” enough to be labeled depressed. For instance, for some people, once their mania is treated, a normal mood may feel like depression because they enjoyed the “high” caused by the manic episode.
Bipolar disorder is a common mental health disorder, but it’s a bit of a mystery to doctors and researchers. It’s not yet clear what causes some people to develop the condition and not others.
Possible causes of bipolar disorder include:
Genetics
If your parent or sibling has bipolar disorder, you’re more likely than other people to develop the condition (see below). However, it’s important to keep in mind that most people who have bipolar disorder in their family history don’t develop it.
Your brain
Your brain structure may impact your risk for the disease. Abnormalities in the structure or functions of your brain may increase your risk.
Environmental factors
It’s not just what’s in your body that can make you more likely to develop bipolar disorder. Outside factors may contribute, too. These factors can include:
Bipolar disorder can be passed from parent to child. Research has identified a strong genetic link in people with the disorder. If you have a relative with the disorder, your chances of also developing it are four to six times higher than people without a family history of the condition.
However, this doesn’t mean that everyone with relatives who have the disorder will develop it. In addition, not everyone with bipolar disorder has a family history of the disease.
A diagnosis of bipolar disorder (i) involves either one or more manic episodes, or mixed (manic and depressive) episodes. It may also include a major depressive episode, but it may not. A diagnosis of bipolar (ii) involves one or more major depressive episodes and at least one episode of hypomania.
To be diagnosed with a manic episode, you must experience symptoms that last for at least one week or that cause you to be hospitalized. You must experience symptoms almost all day every day during this time. Major depressive episodes, on the other hand, must last for at least two weeks.
Bipolar disorder can be difficult to diagnose because mood swings can vary. It’s even harder to diagnose in children and adolescents. This age group often has greater changes in mood, behavior, and energy levels.
Bipolar disorder often gets worse if it’s left untreated. Episodes may happen more often or become more extreme. But if you receive treatment for your bipolar disorder, it’s possible for you to lead a healthy and productive life. Therefore, diagnosis is very important. See how bipolar disorder is diagnosed.
One test result doesn’t make a bipolar disorder diagnosis. Instead, your doctor will use several tests and exams. These may include:
Physical exam. Your doctor will do a full physical exam. They may also order blood or urine tests to rule out other possible causes of your symptoms.
Mental health evaluation. Your doctor may refer you to a mental health professional such as a psychologist or psychiatrist. These doctors diagnose and treat mental health conditions such as bipolar disorder. During the visit, they will evaluate your mental health and look for signs of bipolar disorder.
Mood journal. If your doctor suspects your behavior changes are the result of a mood disorder like bipolar, they may ask you to chart your moods. The easiest way to do this is to keep a journal of how you’re feeling and how long these feelings last. Your doctor may also suggest that you record your sleeping and eating patterns.
Diagnostic criteria. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is an outline of symptoms for various mental health disorders. Doctors can follow this list to confirm a bipolar diagnosis.
Several treatments are available that can help you manage your bipolar disorder. These include medications, counseling, and lifestyle changes. Some natural remedies may also be helpful.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a type of talk therapy. You and a therapist talk about ways to manage your bipolar disorder. They will help you understand your thinking patterns. They can also help you come up with positive coping strategies. You can connect to a mental health care professional in your area using the Healthline FindCare tool.
Psychoeducation
Psychoeducation is a kind of counseling that helps you and your loved ones understand the disorder. Knowing more about bipolar disorder will help you and others in your life manage it.
Interpersonal and social rhythm therapy
Interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (IPSRT) focuses on regulating daily habits, such as sleeping, eating, and exercising. Balancing these everyday basics can help you manage your disorder.
Some natural remedies may be helpful for bipolar disorder. However, it’s important not to use these remedies without first talking with your doctor. These treatments could interfere with medications you’re taking.
The following herbs and supplements may help stabilize your mood and relieve symptoms of bipolar disorder:
Rhodiola rosea.This researchTrusted Source also shows that this plant may be a helpful treatment for moderate depression. It may help treat depressive symptoms of bipolar disorder.
S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe). SAMe is an amino acid supplement. The researchTrusted Source shows it can ease symptoms of major depression and other mood disorders.
If you or someone you know has bipolar disorder, you’re not alone. Bipolar disorder affects about 60 million peopleTrusted Source around the world.
One of the best things you can do is to educate yourself and those around you. There are many resources available. For instance, SAMHSA’s behavioral health treatment services locator provides treatment information by ZIP code. You can also find additional resources at the site for the National Institute of Mental Health.
If you think you’re experiencing symptoms of bipolar disorder, make an appointment with your doctor. If you think a friend, relative, or loved one may have bipolar disorder, your support and understanding is crucial. Encourage them to see a doctor about any symptoms they’re having. And read how to help someone living with bipolar disorder.
People who are experiencing a depressive episode may have suicidal thoughts. You should always take any talk of suicide seriously.
If you think someone is at immediate risk of self-harm or hurting another person:
Call 911 or your local emergency number.
Stay with the person until help arrives.
Remove any guns, knives, medications, or other things that may cause harm.
Listen, but don’t judge, argue, threaten, or yell.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, get help from a crisis or suicide prevention hotline. Try the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.
When it comes to managing a relationship while you live with bipolar disorder, honesty is the best policy. Bipolar disorder can have an impact on any relationship in your life, perhaps especially on a romantic relationship. So, it’s important to be open about your condition.
There’s no right or wrong time to tell someone you have bipolar disorder. Be open and honest as soon as you’re ready. Consider sharing these facts to help your partner better understand the condition:
when you were diagnosed
what to expect during your depressive phases
what to expect during your manic phases
how you typically treat your moods
how they can be helpful to you
One of the best ways to support and make a relationship successful is to stick with your treatment. Treatment helps you reduce symptoms and scale back the severity of your changes in mood. With these aspects of the disorder under control, you can focus more on your relationship.
Bipolar disorder is a chronic mental illness. That means you’ll live and cope with it for the rest of your life. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t live a happy, healthy life.
Treatment can help you manage your changes in mood and cope with your symptoms. To get the most out of treatment, you may want to create a care team to help you. In addition to your primary doctor, you may want to find a psychiatrist and psychologist. Through talk therapy, these doctors can help you cope with symptoms of bipolar disorder that medication can’t help.
You may also want to seek out a supportive community. Finding other people who’re also living with this disorder can give you a group of people you can rely on and turn to for help.
Finding treatments that work for you requires perseverance. Likewise, you need to have patience with yourself as you learn to manage bipolar disorder and anticipate your changes in mood. Together with your care team, you’ll find ways to maintain a normal, happy, healthy life.
One test result doesn’t make a bipolar disorder diagnosis. Instead, your doctor will use several tests and exams. These may include:
Physical exam. Your doctor will do a full physical exam. They may also order blood or urine tests to rule out other possible causes of your symptoms.
Mental health evaluation. Your doctor may refer you to a mental health professional such as a psychologist or psychiatrist. These doctors diagnose and treat mental health conditions such as bipolar disorder. During the visit, they will evaluate your mental health and look for signs of bipolar disorder.
Mood journal. If your doctor suspects your behavior changes are the result of a mood disorder like bipolar, they may ask you to chart your moods. The easiest way to do this is to keep a journal of how you’re feeling and how long these feelings last. Your doctor may also suggest that you record your sleeping and eating patterns.
Diagnostic criteria. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is an outline of symptoms for various mental health disorders. Doctors can follow this list to confirm a bipolar diagnosis.
Several treatments are available that can help you manage your bipolar disorder. These include medications, counseling, and lifestyle changes. Some natural remedies may also be helpful.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a type of talk therapy. You and a therapist talk about ways to manage your bipolar disorder. They will help you understand your thinking patterns. They can also help you come up with positive coping strategies. You can connect to a mental health care professional in your area using the Healthline FindCare tool.
Psychoeducation
Psychoeducation is a kind of counseling that helps you and your loved ones understand the disorder. Knowing more about bipolar disorder will help you and others in your life manage it.
Interpersonal and social rhythm therapy
Interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (IPSRT) focuses on regulating daily habits, such as sleeping, eating, and exercising. Balancing these everyday basics can help you manage your disorder.
Some natural remedies may be helpful for bipolar disorder. However, it’s important not to use these remedies without first talking with your doctor. These treatments could interfere with medications you’re taking.
The following herbs and supplements may help stabilize your mood and relieve symptoms of bipolar disorder:
Rhodiola rosea.This researchTrusted Source also shows that this plant may be a helpful treatment for moderate depression. It may help treat depressive symptoms of bipolar disorder.
S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe). SAMe is an amino acid supplement. The researchTrusted Source shows it can ease symptoms of major depression and other mood disorders.
If you or someone you know has bipolar disorder, you’re not alone. Bipolar disorder affects about 60 million peopleTrusted Source around the world.
One of the best things you can do is to educate yourself and those around you. There are many resources available. For instance, SAMHSA’s behavioral health treatment services locator provides treatment information by ZIP code. You can also find additional resources at the site for the National Institute of Mental Health.
If you think you’re experiencing symptoms of bipolar disorder, make an appointment with your doctor. If you think a friend, relative, or loved one may have bipolar disorder, your support and understanding is crucial. Encourage them to see a doctor about any symptoms they’re having. And read how to help someone living with bipolar disorder.
People who are experiencing a depressive episode may have suicidal thoughts. You should always take any talk of suicide seriously.
If you think someone is at immediate risk of self-harm or hurting another person:
Call 911 or your local emergency number.
Stay with the person until help arrives.
Remove any guns, knives, medications, or other things that may cause harm.
Listen, but don’t judge, argue, threaten, or yell.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, get help from a crisis or suicide prevention hotline. Try the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.
When it comes to managing a relationship while you live with bipolar disorder, honesty is the best policy. Bipolar disorder can have an impact on any relationship in your life, perhaps especially on a romantic relationship. So, it’s important to be open about your condition.
There’s no right or wrong time to tell someone you have bipolar disorder. Be open and honest as soon as you’re ready. Consider sharing these facts to help your partner better understand the condition:
when you were diagnosed
what to expect during your depressive phases
what to expect during your manic phases
how you typically treat your moods
how they can be helpful to you
One of the best ways to support and make a relationship successful is to stick with your treatment. Treatment helps you reduce symptoms and scale back the severity of your changes in mood. With these aspects of the disorder under control, you can focus more on your relationship.
Most people have emotional ups and downs from time to time. But if you have a brain condition called bipolar disorder, your feelings can reach abnormally high or low levels.
Sometimes you may feel immensely excited or energetic. Other times, you may find yourself sinking into a deep depression. Some of these emotional peaks and valleys can last for weeks or months.
All types of bipolar disorder are characterized by episodes of extreme mood. The highs are known as manic episodes. The lows are known as depressive episodes.
The main difference between bipolar 1 and bipolar 2 disorders lies in the severity of the manic episodes caused by each type.
A person with bipolar 1 will experience a full manic episode, while a person with bipolar 2 will experience only a hypomanic episode (a period that’s less severe than a full manic episode).
A person with bipolar 1 may or may not experience a major depressive episode, while a person with bipolar 2 will experience a major depressive episode.
What is bipolar 1 disorder?
You must have had at least one manic episode to be diagnosed with bipolar 1 disorder. A person with bipolar 1 disorder may or may not have a major depressive episode. The symptoms of a manic episode may be so severe that you require hospital care.
Manic episodes are usually characterized by the following:
The symptoms of a manic episode tend to be so obvious and intrusive that there’s little doubt that something is wrong.
What is bipolar 2 disorder?
Bipolar 2 disorder involves a major depressive episode lasting at least two weeks and at least one hypomanic episode (a period that’s less severe than a full-blown manic episode). People with bipolar 2 typically don’t experience manic episodes intense enough to require hospitalization.
Bipolar 2 is sometimes misdiagnosed as depression, as depressive symptoms may be the major symptom at the time the person seeks medical attention. When there are no manic episodes to suggest bipolar disorder, the depressive symptoms become the focus.
As mentioned above, bipolar 1 disorder causes mania and may cause depression, while bipolar 2 disorder causes hypomania and depression. Let’s learn more about what these symptoms mean.
Mania
A manic episode is more than just a feeling of elation, high energy, or being distracted. During a manic episode, the mania is so intense that it can interfere with your daily activities. It’s difficult to redirect someone in a manic episode toward a calmer, more reasonable state.
People who are in the manic phase of bipolar disorder can make some very irrational decisions, such as spending large amounts of money that they can’t afford to spend. They may also engage in high-risk behaviors, such as sexual indiscretions despite being in a committed relationship.
An episode can’t be officially deemed manic if it’s caused by outside influences such as alcohol, drugs, or another health condition.
Hypomania
A hypomanic episode is a period of mania that’s less severe than a full-blown manic episode. Though less severe than a manic episode, a hypomanic phase is still an event in which your behavior differs from your normal state. The differences will be extreme enough that people around you may notice that something is wrong.
Officially, a hypomanic episode isn’t considered hypomania if it’s influenced by drugs or alcohol.
Depression
Depressive symptoms in someone with bipolar disorder are like those of someone with clinical depression. They may include extended periods of sadness and hopelessness. You may also experience a loss of interest in people you once enjoyed spending time with and activities you used to like. Other symptoms include:
Choose from BetterHelp’s vast network of therapists for your therapy needs. Take a quiz, get matched, and start getting support via secure phone or video sessions. Plans start at $60 per week + an additional 10% off.FIND A THERAPIST
Scientists don’t know what causes bipolar disorder. Abnormal physical characteristics of the brain or an imbalance in certain brain chemicals may be among the main causes.
As with many medical conditions, bipolar disorder tends to run in families. If you have a parent or sibling with bipolar disorder, your risk of developing it is higher. The search continues for the genes which may be responsible for bipolar disorder.
Researchers also believe that severe stress, drug or alcohol abuse, or severely upsetting experiences may trigger bipolar disorder. These experiences can include childhood abuse or the death of a loved one.
A psychiatrist or other mental health professional typically diagnoses bipolar disorder. The diagnosis will include a review of both your medical history and any symptoms you have that are related to mania and depression. A trained professional will know what questions to ask.
It can be very helpful to bring a spouse or close friend with you during the doctor’s visit. They may be able to answer questions about your behavior that you may not be able to answer easily or accurately.
If you have symptoms that seem like bipolar 1 or bipolar 2, you can always start by telling your doctor. Your doctor may refer you to a mental health specialist if your symptoms appear serious enough.
A blood test may also be part of the diagnostic process. There are no markers for bipolar disorder in the blood, but a blood test and a comprehensive physical exam may help rule out other possible causes for your behavior.HEALTHLINE NEWSLETTERGet our weekly Bipolar Disorder email
To help support your mental wellness, we’ll send you treatment advice, mood-management tips, and personal stories.Enter your emailSIGN UP NOW
Mood stabilizers are often the first drugs used in treatment. You may take these for a long time.
Lithium has been a widely used mood stabilizer for many years. It does have several potential side effects. These include low thyroid function, joint pain, and indigestion. It also requires blood tests to monitor therapeutic levels of the drug as well as kidney function. Antipsychotics can be used to treat manic episodes.
Your doctor may start you on a low dose of whichever medication you both decide to use in order to see how you respond. You may need a stronger dose than what they initially prescribe. You may also need a combination of medications or even different medications to control your symptoms.
All medications have potential side effects and interactions with other drugs. If you’re pregnant or you take other medications, be sure to tell your doctor before taking any new medications.
Writing in a diary can be an especially helpful part of your treatment. Keeping track of your moods, sleeping and eating patterns, and significant life events can help you and your doctor understand how therapy and medications are working.
If your symptoms don’t improve or get worse, your doctor may order a change in your medications or a different type of psychotherapy.
Bipolar disorder isn’t curable. But with proper treatment and support from family and friends, you can manage your symptoms and maintain your quality of life.
It’s important that you follow your doctor’s instructions regarding medications and other lifestyle choices. This includes:
Including your friends and family members in your care can be especially helpful.
It’s also helpful to learn as much as you can about bipolar disorder. The more you know about the condition, the more in control you may feel as you adjust to life after diagnosis.
You may be able to repair strained relationships. Educating others about bipolar disorder may make them more understanding of hurtful events from the past.
Support groups, both online and in person, can be helpful for people with bipolar disorder. They can also be beneficial for your friends and relatives. Learning about others’ struggles and triumphs may help you get through any challenges you may have.
personal stories from people with bipolar disorder
contact information for support groups across the United States
information about the condition and treatments
material for caregivers and loved ones of those with bipolar disorder
The National Alliance on Mental Illness can also help you find support groups in your area. Good information about bipolar disorder and other conditions can also be found on its website.
If you’ve been diagnosed with bipolar 1 or bipolar 2, you should always remember that this is a condition you can manage. You aren’t alone. Talk to your doctor or call a local hospital to find out about support groups or other local resources.
Last medically reviewed on January 10, 2019
3 sourcescollapsed
3 sourcesexpandedHealthline has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations. We avoid using tertiary references. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy.
Bipolar disorder is a chronic mental illness which causes severe shifts in mood ranging from extreme highs (mania) to extreme lows (depression). Bipolar disorder shifts in mood may occur several times a year, or only rarely.
Bipolar I disorder, characterized by at least one manic episode. This may or may not be followed by a depressive episode.
Bipolar II disorder, characterized by at least one major depressive episode lasting at least two weeks, and at least one episode of hypomania (a milder condition than mania) that lasts for at least four days.
Cyclothymic disorder, characterized by at least two years of symptoms. With this condition, the person has many episodes of hypomanic symptoms that don’t meet the full criteria for a hypomanic episode. They also have depressive symptoms that don’t meet the full diagnostic criteria for a major depressive episode. They’re never without symptoms for longer than two months at a time.
The specific symptoms of bipolar disorder vary depending on which type of bipolar disorder is diagnosed. However, some symptoms are common in most people with bipolar disorder. These symptoms include:
disinterest and loss of pleasure in most activities
an inability to feel better when good things happen
psychosis that causes a detachment from reality, often resulting in delusions (false but strong beliefs) and hallucinations (hearing or seeing things that don’t exist)
In the United States, bipolar disorder affects about 2.8 percent of adults. If you have a friend, family member, or significant other with bipolar disorder, it’s important to be patient and understanding of their condition. Helping a person with bipolar disorder isn’t always easy though. Here’s what you should know.
During a manic episode, a person will experience feelings of high energy, creativity, and possibly joy. They’ll talk very quickly, get very little sleep, and may act hyperactively. They may also feel invincible, which can lead to risk-taking behaviors.
Symptoms of a manic episode
Some common symptoms of a manic episode include:
an unusually “high” or optimistic attitude
extreme irritability
unreasonable (usually grand) ideas about one’s skills or power — they may criticize partners or family members for not being as “accomplished” as they perceive themselves to be
abundant energy
racing thoughts that jump between different ideas
being easily distracted
trouble concentrating
impulsiveness and poor judgment
reckless behavior with no thought about consequences
delusions and hallucinations (less common)
During these episodes, a person with bipolar disorder may act recklessly. Sometimes they go as far as endangering their own life or the lives of people around them. Remember that this person can’t fully control their actions during episodes of mania. Therefore, it’s not always an option to try to reason with them to try to stop behaving a certain way.
Warning signs of a manic episode
It can be helpful to keep an eye out for the warning signs of a manic episode so that you can react accordingly. People with bipolar disorder may show different symptoms, but some common warning signs include:
a very sudden lift in mood
an unrealistic sense of optimism
sudden impatience and irritability
a surge in energy and talkativeness
an expression of unreasonable ideas
spending money in reckless or irresponsible ways
How to help during a manic episode
How to react depends on the severity of the person’s manic episode. In some cases, doctors may recommend that the person increase their medication, take a different medication, or even be brought to the hospital for treatment. Keep in mind that convincing your loved one to go to the hospital may not be easy. This is because they feel really good during these periods and are convinced that nothing is wrong with them.
In general, try to avoid entertaining any grand or unrealistic ideas from your loved one, as this may increase their likelihood to engage in risky behavior. Talk calmly to the person and encourage them to contact their medical provider to discuss the changes in their symptoms.
Taking care of yourself
Some people find that living with a person with a chronic mental health condition like bipolar disorder can be difficult. Negative behaviors exhibited by someone who is manic are often focused on those closest to them.
Honest discussions with your loved one while they’re not having a manic episode, as well as counseling, may be helpful. But if you’re having trouble handling your loved one’s behavior, be sure to reach out for help. Talk to your loved one’s doctor for information, contact family and friends for support, and consider joining a support group.
Just as it can be challenging to help a loved one through a manic episode, it can be tough to help them through a depressive episode.
Symptoms of a depressive episode
Some common symptoms of a depressive episode include:
sadness, hopelessness, and emptiness
irritability
inability to take pleasure in activities
fatigue or loss of energy
physical and mental lethargy
changes in weight or appetite, such as gaining weight and eating too much, or losing weight and eating too little
problems with sleep, such as sleeping too much or too little
problems focusing or remembering things
feelings of worthlessness or guilt
thoughts about death or suicide
How to help during a depressive episode
Just as with a manic episode, doctors may suggest a change in medication, an increase in medication, or a hospital stay for a person having a depressive episode with suicidal thoughts. Again, you’ll want to develop a coping plan for depressive episodes with your loved one when they’re not showing any symptoms. During an episode they may lack the motivation to come up with such plans.
You can also help a loved one during a depressive episode. Listen attentively, offer helpful coping advice, and try to boost them up by focusing on their positive attributes. Always talk to them in a nonjudgmental way and offer to help them with little day-to-day things they may be struggling with.ADVERTISEMENTAffordable therapy delivered digitally – Try BetterHelp
Choose from BetterHelp’s vast network of therapists for your therapy needs. Take a quiz, get matched, and start getting support via secure phone or video sessions. Plans start at $60 per week + an additional 10% off.FIND A THERAPIST
In general, feel free to help the person as long as they don’t appear to be posing a risk to their life or the lives of others. Be patient, attentive to their speech and behavior, and supportive in their care.
But in some cases, it’s not always possible to help a person through a manic or depressive episode and you’ll need to get expert help. Call the person’s doctor right away if you’re concerned about how the episode is escalating.HEALTHLINE NEWSLETTERGet our weekly Bipolar Disorder email
To help support your mental wellness, we’ll send you treatment advice, mood-management tips, and personal stories.Enter your emailSIGN UP NOW
If you think your loved one is considering suicide, you can get help from a crisis or suicide prevention hotline. One good option is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.
But if you think someone is at immediate risk of self-harm or hurting another person:
Call 911 or your local emergency number.Be sure to tell the dispatcher that your loved one has a mental health condition and requires special care.
Stay with the person until help arrives.
Remove any guns, knives, medications, or other things that may cause harm.
Listen, but don’t judge, argue, threaten, or yell.
Bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition. At times, it can be a real challenge for both you and your loved one — so be sure to consider your own needs as well as theirs. It can help to keep in mind that with proper treatment, coping skills, and support, most people with bipolar disorder can manage their condition and live healthy, happy lives.
has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations. We avoid using tertiary references. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy.
Therapy is an important part of treating bipolar disorder. Seeking therapy with a qualified therapist you trust is crucial to good mental health. Use these pointers to help choose the right therapist for you.
Therapy is offered in both private and group settings. Choosing the right therapy format for you will help you feel relaxed and willing to share.
If you prefer a private setting, a one-on-one talk therapy session might be the best option.
If you want to know you’re not alone in your condition, group therapy may help you overcome those feelings. It may also help you feel more connected to others who are experiencing similar problems.
Most mental health professionals will begin with a phone consultation. This is a time for you to describe why you’re seeking treatment and to discuss the details of your condition. You can ask any questions you’d like during this consultation. Try to think of some questions that you’d like to ask the therapist before the consultation: What is their general philosophy? How do they connect with their patients? What is their experience?
You can also ask for a face-to-face consultation so that you can meet a potential therapist in person. This can make a big difference in your assessment. It’s perfectly normal to meet a therapist in person and not click with them right away. If you get even the slightest hint that you may not feel comfortable with the therapist, politely state that you don’t believe the relationship will work out. But don’t give up. Instead, continue your search until you find someone who suits you.ADVERTISEMENTAffordable therapy delivered digitally – Try BetterHelp
Choose from BetterHelp’s vast network of therapists for your therapy needs. Take a quiz, get matched, and start getting support via secure phone or video sessions. Plans start at $60 per week + an additional 10% off.FIND A THERAPIST
To get the best therapy available, you must have a good working relationship with your therapist. Several factors contribute to this, including your therapist’s listening skills and how closely your values align.
For example, you may not enjoy certain techniques, such as hypnotherapy. Also, you don’t want to seek therapy from anyone you feel is judgmental or unsupportive of your efforts. Similarly, some therapeutic orientations may feel uncomfortable for you if they’re more directive than others.
All therapy takes time, so be wary if your therapist gives you quick fixes without providing you with the tools you need for long-term stability. This could include being too eager to please you, such as always blaming others for your problems. A therapist should be on your side, but should also challenge you to confront your own role.
Just as important as the style of therapy is how you can fit it into your life. When choosing a type of therapy, there are some important logistical concerns.
Find a therapist that’s easy to get to. The easier it is to travel to therapy, the less likely you’ll miss an appointment. You’ll also be able to arrive to the appointment in a calm mood and ready to share.
When you first meet your therapist, agree on a price for your sessions and how often you will see each other. If the cost is way beyond what you can afford, you should negotiate the price or find something that better suits your income. The financial impact of therapy shouldn’t be yet another stressor.
Ask about your therapist’s educational background. You should feel satisfied that they have the knowledge they need to help you. Make sure they have a license as well, and don’t be afraid to research them on the Internet.
Training and experience are two different things. Ask your therapist how much experience they have, including years in the field.HEALTHLINE NEWSLETTERGet our weekly Bipolar Disorder email
To help support your mental wellness, we’ll send you treatment advice, mood-management tips, and personal stories.Enter your emailSIGN UP NOW
Trust is the cornerstone of any good relationship, especially one where you’ll be telling someone your deepest emotional troubles and secrets.
Tone, demeanor, and other factors can affect the way we view someone. If you’re not clicking with your therapist, you should mention it to them. If they’re truly professional, your therapist will help find someone else for you to see. If they take offense, then you know it’s time to find another therapist.
Therapy involves teamwork, so it’s important that you feel that you and your therapist are on the same team.
It’s often difficult to reach out to a professional if you’re having mental health problems. But therapy can be a highly effective method of treatment. Therapists are trained to help people just like you. Knowing which questions to ask and what to look for can help you find the perfect therapist.
Therapy is an important part of treating bipolar disorder. Seeking therapy with a qualified therapist you trust is crucial to good mental health. Use these pointers to help choose the right therapist for you.
Therapy is offered in both private and group settings. Choosing the right therapy format for you will help you feel relaxed and willing to share.
If you prefer a private setting, a one-on-one talk therapy session might be the best option.
If you want to know you’re not alone in your condition, group therapy may help you overcome those feelings. It may also help you feel more connected to others who are experiencing similar problems.
Most mental health professionals will begin with a phone consultation. This is a time for you to describe why you’re seeking treatment and to discuss the details of your condition. You can ask any questions you’d like during this consultation. Try to think of some questions that you’d like to ask the therapist before the consultation: What is their general philosophy? How do they connect with their patients? What is their experience?
You can also ask for a face-to-face consultation so that you can meet a potential therapist in person. This can make a big difference in your assessment. It’s perfectly normal to meet a therapist in person and not click with them right away. If you get even the slightest hint that you may not feel comfortable with the therapist, politely state that you don’t believe the relationship will work out. But don’t give up. Instead, continue your search until you find someone who suits you.ADVERTISEMENTAffordable therapy delivered digitally – Try BetterHelp
Choose from BetterHelp’s vast network of therapists for your therapy needs. Take a quiz, get matched, and start getting support via secure phone or video sessions. Plans start at $60 per week + an additional 10% off.FIND A THERAPIST
To get the best therapy available, you must have a good working relationship with your therapist. Several factors contribute to this, including your therapist’s listening skills and how closely your values align.
For example, you may not enjoy certain techniques, such as hypnotherapy. Also, you don’t want to seek therapy from anyone you feel is judgmental or unsupportive of your efforts. Similarly, some therapeutic orientations may feel uncomfortable for you if they’re more directive than others.
All therapy takes time, so be wary if your therapist gives you quick fixes without providing you with the tools you need for long-term stability. This could include being too eager to please you, such as always blaming others for your problems. A therapist should be on your side, but should also challenge you to confront your own role.
Just as important as the style of therapy is how you can fit it into your life. When choosing a type of therapy, there are some important logistical concerns.
Find a therapist that’s easy to get to. The easier it is to travel to therapy, the less likely you’ll miss an appointment. You’ll also be able to arrive to the appointment in a calm mood and ready to share.
When you first meet your therapist, agree on a price for your sessions and how often you will see each other. If the cost is way beyond what you can afford, you should negotiate the price or find something that better suits your income. The financial impact of therapy shouldn’t be yet another stressor.
Ask about your therapist’s educational background. You should feel satisfied that they have the knowledge they need to help you. Make sure they have a license as well, and don’t be afraid to research them on the Internet.
Training and experience are two different things. Ask your therapist how much experience they have, including years in the field.HEALTHLINE NEWSLETTERGet our weekly Bipolar Disorder email
To help support your mental wellness, we’ll send you treatment advice, mood-management tips, and personal stories.Enter your emailSIGN UP NOW
Trust is the cornerstone of any good relationship, especially one where you’ll be telling someone your deepest emotional troubles and secrets.
Tone, demeanor, and other factors can affect the way we view someone. If you’re not clicking with your therapist, you should mention it to them. If they’re truly professional, your therapist will help find someone else for you to see. If they take offense, then you know it’s time to find another therapist.
Therapy involves teamwork, so it’s important that you feel that you and your therapist are on the same team.
It’s often difficult to reach out to a professional if you’re having mental health problems. But therapy can be a highly effective method of treatment. Therapists are trained to help people just like you. Knowing which questions to ask and what to look for can help you find the perfect therapist.
Last medically reviewed on March 16, 2016
Please Stop Believing These 8 Harmful Bipolar Disorder Myths
What do successful people like musician Demi Lovato, comedian Russell Brand, news anchor Jane Pauley, and actress Catherine Zeta-Jones have in common? They, like millions of others, are living with bipolar disorder. When I received my diagnosis in 2012, I knew very little about the condition. I didn’t even know it ran in my family. So, I researched and researched, reading book after book on the subject, talking to my doctors, and educating myself until I understood what was going on.
Although we are learning more about bipolar disorder, there remain many misconceptions. Here are a few myths and facts, so you can arm yourself with knowledge and help end the stigma.
Fact: The highs and lows of bipolar disorder are very different from common mood swings. People with bipolar disorder experience extreme changes in energy, activity, and sleep that are not typical for them.
The psychiatry research manager at one U.S. university, who wishes to stay anonymous, writes, “Just because you wake up happy, get grumpy in the middle of the day, and then end up happy again, it doesn’t mean you have bipolar disorder — no matter how often it happens to you! Even a diagnosis of rapid-cycling bipolar disorder requires several days in a row of (hypo)manic symptoms, not just several hours. Clinicians look for groups of symptoms more than just emotions.”
Fact: There are four basic types of bipolar disorder, and the experience is different per individual.
Bipolar I is diagnosed when a person has one or more depressive episodes and one or more manic episodes, sometimes with psychotic features such as hallucinations or delusions.
Bipolar II has depressive episodes as its major feature and at least one hypomanic episode. Hypomania is a less severe type of mania. A person with bipolar II disorder may experience either mood-congruent or mood-incongruent psychotic symptoms.
Cyclothymic disorder (cyclothymia) is defined by numerous periods of hypomanic symptoms as well numerous periods of depressive symptoms lasting for at least two years (1 year in children and adolescents) without meeting the severity requirements for a hypomanic episode and a depressive episode.
Bipolar disorder otherwise not specified does not follow a particular pattern and is defined by bipolar disorder symptoms that do not match the three categories listed above.
Choose from BetterHelp’s vast network of therapists for your therapy needs. Take a quiz, get matched, and start getting support via secure phone or video sessions. Plans start at $60 per week + an additional 10% off. FIND A THERAPIST
Fact: Bipolar disorder is a lifelong illness and there currently is no cure. However, it can be well-managed with medication and talk therapy, by avoiding stress, and maintaining regular patterns of sleeping, eating, and exercise.
Fact: In some instances, a manic person may feel good at first, but without treatment things can become detrimental and even terrifying. They may go on a big shopping spree, spending beyond their means. Some people become overly anxious or highly irritable, getting upset over small things and snapping at loved ones. A manic person may lose control of their thoughts and actions and even lose touch with reality.
Fact: Treatment often allows you to think more clearly, which will likely improve your work. Pulitzer Prize-nominated author Marya Hornbacher discovered this firsthand.
“I was very persuaded I would never write again when I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. But before, I wrote one book; and now I’m on my seventh.”
She has found that her work is even better with treatment.
“When I was working on my second book, I was not yet treated for bipolar disorder, and I wrote about 3,000 pages of the worst book that you have ever seen in your life. And then, in the middle of writing that book, which I just somehow couldn’t finish because I kept writing and writing and writing, I got diagnosed and I got treated. And the book itself, the book that was ultimately published, I wrote in 10 months or so. Once I got treated for my bipolar disorder, I was able to channel the creativity effectively and focus. Nowadays I deal with some symptoms, but by and large I just go about my day,” she said. “Once you get a handle on it, it’s certainly livable. It’s treatable. You can work with it. It doesn’t have to define your life.” She discusses her experience in her book “Madness: A Bipolar Life,” and she is currently working on a follow-up book about her road to recovery.HEALTHLINE NEWSLETTERGet our weekly Bipolar Disorder email
To help support your mental wellness, we’ll send you treatment advice, mood-management tips, and personal stories.Enter your emailSIGN UP NOW
Fact: People with bipolar disorder can experience long periods of even, balanced mood called euthymia. Conversely, they may sometimes experience what’s referred to as a “mixed episode,” which has features of both mania and depression at the same time.
Fact: It might take some trial and error to find the medication that works for you. “There are several mood stabilizers/antipsychotic medications available to treat bipolar disorder. Something that works for one person might not work for another. If someone tries one and it doesn’t work or has side effects, it’s very important that they communicate this to their provider. The provider should be there to work as a team with the patient to find the right fit,” writes the psychiatry research manager.
One in five people is diagnosed with a mental illness, including bipolar disorder. I, like so many others, have responded extremely well to treatment. My daily life is normal, and my relationships are stronger than ever. I haven’t had an episode for several years. My career is strong, and my marriage to an extremely supportive husband is a solid as a rock.
I urge you to learn about the common signs and symptoms of bipolar disorder, and talk to your doctor if you meet any of the criteria for diagnosis. If you or someone you know is in crisis, get help immediately. Call 911 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255). It’s time to end the stigma that prevents people from getting the help that can improve or save their lives.
Mara Robinson is a freelance marketing communications specialist with more than 15 years of experience. She has created many forms of communication for a wide variety of clients, including feature articles, product descriptions, ad copy, sales materials, packaging, press kits, newsletters, and more. She also is an avid photographer and music lover who can frequently be found photographing rock concerts at MaraRobinson.com.
Bipolar disorder is a psychiatric condition which can cause severe shifts in mood.
People with bipolar disorder can “cycle” from high moods (called mania and hypomania) to extremely low moods (depression). These mood shifts, along with other symptoms of bipolar disorder, can create a unique set of challenges in someone’s personal and social life.
Bipolar disorder and other mental health conditons have the potential to make it difficult for a person to find and keep a job or to function at work, especially if symptoms are currently affecting day-to-day functioning.
In one survey, 88 percent of people with bipolar disorder or depression said their condition has affected their work performance. About 58 percent of them quit working outside the home altogether.
There are many challenges related to having bipolar disorder and keeping a job. However, experts say that work can actually be quite helpful to people with bipolar disorder.
Work can give people a sense of structure, reduce depression, and increase confidence. This may help to enhance overall mood and empower you.
There is no one-size-fits-all job for anyone. This is also true for people with bipolar disorder.
Instead, people with the condition should look for work that suits them as an individual. Here are some things to consider when deciding what kind of job is right for you:
What’s the work environment like?
Will this job support your lifestyle and help you grow as an individual, or will it be too challenging in terms of stress and erratic hours?
For many people with bipolar disorder, a quiet and relaxed workspace can help them to maintain regular schedules which can improve overall functioning.
What’s the schedule like?
Part-time work with an adaptable schedule can be helpful for people with bipolar disorder. It can also be helpful to work during the day.
Overnight and night shifts, or jobs that require you to be on call at night, may not be a good idea because sleep is very important. Maintaining a normal sleep/wake pattern can be beneficial with bipolar disorder.
What will your co-workers be like?
Seek a job where your co-workers have values in line with your own, and who also embrace work-life balance, as this is important to your overall health and well-being.
Having supportive co-workers is also helpful for feeling understood and coping during stressful situations, so seek out those that will support you.
Is the job creative?
Many people with bipolar disorder do best when they have a job where they can be creative. It can be helpful to find a job where you can be creative at work or a job that gives you enough free time for creative projects.
Once you’ve answered these questions, you should dig a bit deeper to try to better understand yourself so you find a job you’d enjoy.
Think about your:
interests
strengths and abilities
skills
personality traits
values
physical health
limits, triggers, and barriers
Once you narrow down your job choices, do some more in-depth career research. You can look at O*NET to learn more about each job’s characteristics, including:
working duties
required skills
required education or training
required license or certificate
usual work hours
work conditions (physical demands, environment, and stress level)
salary and benefits
opportunities to advance
employment outlook
If you can’t find a job that suits you, perhaps you may want to consider starting your own business. You can create your own job that allows for more creativity and flexibility than you may find if you work for someone else.
However, running your business has its own set of challenges. Depending on what you feel you need, you may prefer a regular structured schedule if you’re living with bipolar disorder.ADVERTISEMENTAffordable therapy delivered digitally – Try BetterHelp
Choose from BetterHelp’s vast network of therapists for your therapy needs. Take a quiz, get matched, and start getting support via secure phone or video sessions. Plans start at $60 per week + an additional 10% off.FIND A THERAPIST
listen to relaxing music or a recording of nature sounds
take a walk around the block at lunch
talk to your support network if you need help
take time off of work for therapy and treatment when necessary
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can also help reduce your work stress. Exercise regularly, eat healthy, get plenty of sleep, and be sure to stick to your treatment plan.HEALTHLINE NEWSLETTERGet our weekly Bipolar Disorder email
To help support your mental wellness, we’ll send you treatment advice, mood-management tips, and personal stories.Enter your emailSIGN UP NOW
Legally, you don’t have to tell your employer any of your health information, unless you could put others at risk.
While generally people are more open today about discussing mental illness, there’s still a stigma. It’s not right, but people may treat you differently if they know you have a psychiatric condition — and this may include the people you work with.
On the other hand, there are many people who are understanding of mental health conditions and the challenges they can cause at work. For this reason, in some cases it can actually be helpful for you to share your bipolar diagnosis with your boss and the human resources department.
If those who work with you are aware of your condition, they may be more likely to accommodate you in ways that will reduce your workplace stress and make your overall working experience more enjoyable.
No one can discriminate you for living with bipolar disorder in the workplace. This is illegal.
Sometimes you’ll be able to find a great job by yourself — but if you’re having trouble, it can be very helpful for you to seek professional assistance.
Some free and low-cost sources of help include:
vocational rehabilitation
your school or alma mater
government or employment services
It’s not always easy to find and keep work if you have a mental health condition that disturbs your day-to-day functioning, but with extra effort it’s possible to find a fulfilling job.
Keep this in mind as you move forward with your job hunt.
The President of Raise Your Voice Saint Lucia has expressed disgust at the continued sharing of graphic and at times embarrassing videos on social media.
Catherine Sealys is also concerned about the sharing of ‘intimate videos’ without the consent of the subject.
“Don’t share the video. It is wrong!” Sealys advises.
Sealys recalls that in the past several videos have appeared on social media, featuring among other things, mothers beating children and a man taking advantage of a naked woman who appeared to be intoxicated.
And most recently this week, the Raise Your Voice Saint Lucia President noted that a video had appeared on social media of a female accident victim in Vieux Fort.
Someone records the woman as she lies in pain on the ground with her skirt lifted.
“Your first duty is to save someone’s life, not to record them,” Sealys told St Lucia Times.
“For a woman to be in an accident and to be injured and to be on the ground suffering and somebody is videotaping her and then circulating that video, speaks to our tendency to absorb trauma, to be unempathetic,” she explained.
“Because if you are looking at this woman suffering, your first duty is to see how can you help her,” Sealys stated.
“I do not know what has happened to Saint Lucia, but everybody seems to feel anything that happens just take out my phone and start to video,” she lamented.
Sealys expressed concern over the national threshold for doing things that are unacceptable.
But she also condemned the hypocrisy of people who condemn the viral videos but share them anyway.
According to the Raise Your Voice Saint Lucia President, the relatives of victims continue to suffer.
“The persons in the video – they’re all over the place, not in the most dignified manner. We need to check ourselves in this country,” Sealys declared.
“This has to stop,” she asserted.
The Computer Misuse Act of Saint Lucia states:
Malicious communications
(15. — (1) A person shall not use a computer to send a message,
letter, electronic communication or article of any description that —
(a) is indecent or obscene;
(b) constitutes a threat; or
(c) is menacing in character,
with the intention to cause or being reckless as to whether he or she causes annoyance, inconvenience, distress or anxiety to the recipient or to any other person to whom he or she intends it or its contents to be communicated.
(2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or both and in the case of a subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding twenty thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both.
According to the law, “computer” means a device that accepts information, in the form of digitalized data, and manipulates the information for some result based on a program or sequence of instructions on how the data is to be processed.
THE EU could threaten the UK with sanctions or a closed border over a fierce grace-period extension row.
European law professor Francesco Rizzuto warned the EU could be forced to react to Britain if the grace period goes on for too long. The UK unilaterally decided to extend a grace period in border regulations to allow easier trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. However, by doing this the EU has insisted the UK has breached the Brexit deal and threatened legal action.
EU to threaten UK with new checks if Boris fails to stand down on grace period extension (Image: GETTY)
The EU could threaten the EU with sanctions or a closed border over a fierce grace-period extension row. (Image: GETTY)
“I think the UK is playing a game of poker here.
“This is because quite clearly if the UK unilaterally continues with this extension, of course, the UK is arguing circumstances but if it pushes for this six months, eight months or 10 months it will force the EU to do something at the border.
“This will be done to stop what the EU is afraid of, to stop goods coming into the EU by the backdoor.”
Former
Brexit negotiator Lord David Frost on Wednesday insisted the UK
Government was committed to defending Britain against the EU.
EU news: While speaking on RT with Bill Dod, Professor Rizzuto argued the EU could implement tough checks at the Northern Ireland and Ireland border. (Image: GETTY)
Boris Johnson on Brexit trade deal ‘teething problems’
Lord
Frost said: “These measures are lawful and consistent with the
progressive and good faith interpretation of the Northern Ireland
Protocol.”
Lord Frost was supported by Lord Caine who insisted the EU was behaving hysterically.
He said: “Does my noble friend agree that the somewhat hysterical reaction of the EU demonstrates yet again their one-sided inability to recognize legitimate unionist concerns and to see the Belfast agreement through?
“This is an agreement that their intransigence now threatens to undermine.
EU news: Former Brexit negotiator Lord David Frost on Wednesday insisted the UK Government was committed to defending Britain against the EU. (Image: PTV)
“Can the noble friend
assure me he will robustly defend any legal action brought by the EU
and that this unionist Government will take whatever measures are
necessary to guarantee Northern Ireland’s place as an integral part of
the UK internal market?”
Lord Frost replied: “We will, of course, consider very carefully any legal process launched by the EU. We will defend our position vigorously.
“The protocol is explicit in respecting the territorial integrity of the UK and we will ensure that is sustained.”
Year after year, particularly in the spring and fall Americans lament Daylight Saving Time, an antiquated way of adjusting the time to help preserve as much light as possible. Many believe it was due to the U.S. agrarian society, but according to the History Channel’s factoids, the agriculture industry actually opposed it.
Germany was the first country to implement the idea on April 30, 1916, and the U.S. first did it in 1918, with Congress attempting to repeal it in 1919.
Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), James Lankford (R-OK), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Cindy Hide-Smith (R-MS), Rick Scott (R-FL), and Ed Markey (D-MA) are all endorsing the Sunshine Protection Act, according to a release. Fifteen states have changed their Daylight Saving Time rules and dozens more are also considering doing it. States include Arkansas, Alabama, California, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
The time was once isolated to just a few states, but now that there are more states it can create more confusion. The growing list of states is causing more problems as Americans start traveling again and have no idea whether a state is observing the time change or not.
This advice is that people with a previous history of severe allergic reactions to any ingredients of the vaccine should not receive it. People who receive the vaccine should be monitored for at least 15 minutes afterwards.
See below the summary of the full
version of the above link.
Summary
At the time of this report, more
than 120,000 people across the UK have died within 28 days of a positive test
for coronavirus (COVID-19). Rates of
COVID-19 infection and hospitalisation remain high.
Vaccination is the single most
effective way to reduce deaths and severe illness from COVID-19. A national
immunisation campaign has been underway since early December 2020.
Two COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccines, are currently being used in the UK. Both have been authorised for supply by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) following a thorough review of safety, quality, and efficacy information from clinical trials. In clinical trials, both vaccines showed very high levels of protection against symptomatic infections with COVID-19. We expect data to be available soon on the impact of the vaccination campaign in reducing infections and illness in the UK.
All vaccines and medicines have some
side effects. These side effects need to be continuously balanced against the
expected benefits in preventing illness.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was
evaluated in clinical trials involving more than 44,000 participants. The most frequent
adverse reactions in trials were pain at the injection site, fatigue,
headache, myalgia (muscle pains), chills, arthralgia (joint pains), and fever;
these were each reported in more than 1 in 10 people. These reactions were
usually mild or moderate in intensity and resolved within a few days after
vaccination. Adverse reactions were reported less frequently in older adults
(over 55 years) than in younger people.
The Oxford University/AstraZeneca
vaccine was evaluated in clinical trials involving more than 23,000
participants. The most frequently
reported adverse reactions in these trials were injection-site tenderness,
injection-site pain, headache, fatigue, myalgia, malaise, pyrexia (fever),
chills, arthralgia, and nausea; these were each reported in more than 1 in 10
people. The majority of adverse reactions were mild to moderate in severity and
usually resolved within a few days of vaccination. Adverse reactions reported
after the second dose were milder and reported less frequently than after the
first dose. Adverse reactions were generally milder and reported less
frequently in older adults (65 years and older) than in younger people.
The MHRA’s role is also to
continually monitor safety during widespread use of a vaccine. We have in place
a proactive
strategy to do this. We also work closely with our public health partners
in reviewing the effectiveness and impact of the vaccines to ensure the
benefits continue to outweigh any possible side effects.
Part of our monitoring role includes
reviewing reports of suspected side effects. Any member of the public or health
professional can submit suspected side effects through the Yellow Card scheme. The nature of
Yellow Card reporting means that reported events are not always proven side
effects. Some events may have happened anyway, regardless of vaccination. This
is particularly the case when millions of people are vaccinated, and especially
when most vaccines are being given to the most elderly people and people who
have underlying illness.
This safety update report is based
on detailed analysis of data up to 14 February 2021. At this date, an estimated
8.3 million first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and 6.9 million doses of
the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine had been administered, and around 0.6
million second doses, mostly the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, had been administered.
This represents an increase of 2.8 million on the previous week.
As of 14 February 2021, for the UK
26,823 Yellow Cards have been reported for the
Pfizer/BioNTech
31,427 have been reported for the Oxford
University/AstraZeneca vaccine
177 have been reported where the brand of the vaccine
was not specified
For both vaccines, the overall reporting rate is around 3 to 5 Yellow Cards per 1,000 doses administered.
In the week since the previous summary for 7 February 2021, we have received a further 2,616 Yellow Cards for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, 10,999 for the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine, and 64 where the brand was not specified. A higher number of doses of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine were administered in the last week than the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
For both vaccines, the overwhelming
majority of reports relate to injection-site reactions (sore arm for example)
and generalised symptoms such as ‘flu-like’ illness, headache, chills, fatigue
(tiredness), nausea (feeling sick), fever, dizziness, weakness, aching muscles,
and rapid heartbeat. Generally, these happen shortly after the vaccination and
are not associated with more serious or lasting illness.
These types of reactions reflect the normal immune response triggered by the body to the vaccines. They are typically seen with most types of vaccines and tend to resolve within a day or two. The nature of reported suspected side effects is broadly similar across age groups, although, as was seen in clinical trials and as is usually seen with other vaccines, they may be reported more frequently in younger adults.
Severe
allergy
On 9 December 2020, the MHRA issued preliminary guidance on severe allergic reactions after the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine due to early reports of anaphylaxis. Following a further detailed review, this advice was amended on 30 December to the current advice. This advice is that people with a previous history of severe allergic reactions to any ingredients of the vaccine should not receive it. People who receive the vaccine should be monitored for at least 15 minutes afterwards.
Widespread use of the vaccine now
suggests that severe allergic reactions to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are very
rare. Anaphylaxis can also be a very rare side effect associated with most
other vaccines.
Following very substantial exposure
across the UK population, no other new safety concerns have been identified
from reports received so far.
Conclusion
The increases in the number of ADR reports reflects the increase in vaccine deployment as new vaccination centres have opened across the UK
The number and nature of suspected adverse reactions reported so far are not unusual in comparison to other types of routinely used vaccines
The overall safety experience with both vaccines is so far as expected from the clinical trials
Based on current experience, the expected benefits of both COVID-19 vaccines in preventing COVID-19 and its serious complications far outweigh any known side effects
As with all vaccines and medicines, the safety of COVID-19 vaccines is being continuously monitored
Further information on the type of
suspected adverse reactions (ADRs) reported for the COVID-19 mRNA
Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and the COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca is provided in
Annex 1. It is important to read the guidance notes to ensure appropriate
interpretation of the data.
John Sullivan claims that he was at the Capitol insurrection as a neutral journalist. Others say he was a riot chaser who urged the mob to “burn this shit down.”
Sullivan has made a habit of blurring the lines between activism, advocacy journalism, and opposition research. Illustration by Jon Key; Source photographs from John Sullivan / YouTube (portrait 1, 2); Preston Crawley (portrait 3); Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu Agency / Getty (crowd)
John Sullivan, also known as Jayden X, calls himself an activist, a reporter, or an entrepreneur, depending on who’s asking. When I first reached him by phone, he told me that he was “a video journalist, or maybe a documentarian, or whatever you would say—going out there and just live-streaming the events that are transpiring, so that people can see it on the Internet.” He lives near Salt Lake City, but, until recently, he spent most of his time on the road, looking for the next riot: Portland, Seattle, New York. He has tried to associate himself with the Black Lives Matter movement, but many organizers have disavowed him; others have gone further, accusing him of being an “agent provocateur,” a “con artist,” or a “thrill-seeking instigator.” “Riots are meant to bring change, so purge the world with fire,” he tweeted in December. But he has not always been clear about what kind of change he has in mind. “I’m not Antifa,” he told me recently, although he went out of his way to mention that he often wears all black to protests, as many antifascists do. “And I’m not with the Trump supporters,” he continued, although he was among the Trump supporters when a mob of them assaulted the Capitol, on January 6th. Using a Samsung phone mounted on a gimbal, he captured about ninety minutes of raw video—a chilling, near-comprehensive record of the siege. (Reviewing some of the footage, in Artforum, the film critic J. Hoberman called it “cinema as forensic evidence.”) Sullivan has since uploaded his footage to YouTube and provided it to law enforcement; he has also repeatedly tried and largely failed, to explain what he was doing there in the first place.
Sullivan is twenty-six, lean and sharp-featured, and he moves with the lithe precision of a former athlete. He has three younger brothers: James, Peter, and Matthew. “We’re all Black, adopted, and our parents are white,” John told me. “We were raised in a sheltered household and taught to view the world as colorless. Then you grow up and suddenly realize, No, actually, I’m Black, and a lot of the people I grew up around were racist as fuck.” He told me that his father, John Sullivan, Sr., is a retired Army lieutenant colonel who now works in the freight-shipping industry and that his mother, Lisa, is a homemaker. They are conservative—“more conservative than Trump,” Peter told me—and are devout Mormons, although their three eldest sons no longer practice the religion. Growing up, John, Jr., was a nationally ranked speed skater, but he quit in 2018. (On one of his Web sites, he claims that he “competed in the 2018 Olympic Games”; in fact, he only got as far as the Olympic trials.) In 2016, he starred in a slickly produced Uber ad, the conceit of which was that athletes who train at odd hours might want to work part-time in the gig economy. A director’s cut ends with a shot of Sullivan skating to an abrupt stop, followed by the tagline “Find your hustle.”
After graduating from high school, Sullivan said, he thought about joining the Army Reserve and applied to be a police officer in a Salt Lake City suburb. He ended up working in corporate sales instead. Last year, feeling isolated and restless during the pandemic, he decided to start his own business. George Floyd had just been killed, and Sullivan’s social-media feeds filled with rousing images from street protests against police brutality. He went to a local Black Lives Matter protest, wearing a GoPro on his motorcycle helmet, and uploaded his footage to YouTube. After that, he established an L.L.C., called Insurgence USA. Later, on the Web site ActivistJohn.com, he posted a photo of himself raising a clenched fist, with the National Mall in the background, next to the words “John Sullivan is bringing the revolution.” He solicited donations on Patreon and PayPal, offered his services as a motivational speaker, and sold merchandise: black tactical gloves; protective goggles; red baseball caps that looked like Make America Great Again hats, but actually read “Made Ya Look / Black Lives Matter.” He started filling his YouTube channel with footage from street clashes, employing a gonzo-guerrilla aesthetic: balaclavas, billowing clouds of tear gas. “I put my body on the line to bring people the best documentation of history,” Sullivan said. “That’s my thing: When shit’s going down, you follow me and I show you exactly what it’s like.”
Last June, early in his new career as an activism entrepreneur, Sullivan attended a protest near a police station in Provo, Utah. A pro-police group had organized a “Back the Blue” rally; another group planned an anti-police-brutality demonstration around the same time. (Sullivan’s Insurgence USA organization reportedly promoted the latter event on social media.) The vast majority of Black Lives Matter protests last summer were peaceful—more than ninety-five percent, by some estimates—but, at this one, clashes broke out. According to criminal affidavits later filed in state court, one of Sullivan’s fellow-protesters shot a man who was driving near the protest, and Sullivan kicked a woman’s car and threatened to beat her up. (Sullivan claimed that his confrontation started because the woman was trying to run over the protesters.) Sullivan was charged with criminal mischief and “riot,” which was defined, in part, as assembling “with the purpose of engaging . . . in tumultuous or violent conduct.” Sullivan argued that he had simply attended the event as a journalist—not a credentialled and impartial journalist, perhaps, but a journalist nonetheless.
More than once, his brother Peter, who describes himself as “politically moderate,” asked John why he was drawn to potentially violent street actions. “He would talk about his business, how he wanted to be the best video journalist, and that meant taking risks,” Peter recalled. “He would also tell me, ‘You don’t understand, it’s such a surreal experience.’ In addition to the journalism element, I think that rush is something that he really craves.”
John Sullivan made a habit of blurring the lines between activism, advocacy journalism, and opposition research. He tried to stay abreast of where the next big protest or riot was likely to break out, monitoring activist group chats on Signal and Telegram. “I was able to collaborate with the left in their community to gather information,” Sullivan wrote in an unpublished draft of a memoir. “But I also can connect with the right and successfully be in their presence without them being combative towards me.” When he was surrounded by left-wing activists or right-wing activists, he sometimes gave the impression of being one of them; at other times, he implied that he was working undercover to expose one side or the other. In his recent conversations with me, he emphasized his neutrality. “I want to make sure my First Amendment rights as a journalist are not being forgotten,” he told me.
The First Amendment enshrines, separately, “the freedom of speech” and “of the press.” “If the Speech Clause is the Court’s favorite child, the Press Clause has been the neglected one,” Sonja West, a legal scholar at the University of Georgia, wrote in the Harvard Law Review, in 2014. As a result, West told me, “this remains a fuzzy area of the law.” Can an undercover reporter misrepresent herself in order to get a story? Should a journalist in pursuit of publicly useful information be allowed to do certain things—push past a police barricade, say—that a normal citizen may not? “The Court has indicated that journalists have a special role that deserves protection,” West said. “But it has been very reluctant to say what those protections are.” If a professional reporter follows a crowd of protesters onto private property, the police may refrain from arresting her. If a whistle-blower leaks classified information to a journalist, prosecutors can treat this differently than if the information were leaked to a spy. In West’s Harvard Law Review article, she advocates what she calls “press exceptionalism,” suggesting a kind of checklist—eight “distinct qualities,” including “attention to professional standards” and “a proven ability to reach a broad audience”—that might distinguish the press from “press-like” members of the public. Sullivan checks about half of these boxes, depending on how generously you apply the criteria.
There has never been a clean way to delineate professional journalists from everyone else, and the boundary has only grown blurrier in the selfie-stick era. Defining the press too narrowly risks excluding freelancers and correspondents from nontraditional outlets; defining it too broadly could mean including anyone with a cell phone and a YouTube account. “If everyone has an equal claim to being a reporter, regardless of intent or track record, what it means in practice is that law enforcement won’t be able to tell the difference,” Lucy Dalglish, the dean of the University of Maryland’s journalism school, told me. “Suddenly, you have a situation where anyone can do any crazy thing—like break into the Capitol building, for instance—and then, when the cops show up, they can just take out their phone and say, ‘Hands off, I’m a documentarian.’ ” One of the people who invaded the Capitol on January 6th was Nick Ochs, a Proud Boy from Hawaii, who was later arrested for unlawful entry. “We came here to stop the steal,” Ochs said on a live stream the day of the siege. That night, however, Ochs told CNN that he had entered the Capitol as a professional journalist. He was associated with a far-right new-media collective comprising audio and video talk shows, published on YouTube and other platforms. The name of the collective was Murder the Media.
In July, Sullivan returned to the Provo police station for another demonstration. Standing on a small promontory and holding a megaphone, he gave a short speech. Then, spotting members of the Proud Boys and other far-right groups in the crowd, he improvised a kind of olive-branch gesture. “I want to understand you,” he said. “That’s what we’re about here. Getting to know people . . . because then you love them just like your family.” The megaphone was passed to several far-right activists, including a burly Proud Boy in a camouflage vest. The following month, Sullivan, wearing body armor and carrying a long gun, led a few dozen Second Amendment enthusiasts, including both left-wing activists and members of the Utah Constitutional Militia, on an armed march to the state capitol.
The more prominence he gained in local newspapers and TV-news segments, the more vocally left-wing organizers denounced him. (Lex Scott, a founder of Black Lives Matter Utah, told me, “He’s a thorn in our side. We learned to stay away from him long ago.”) Some wondered whether he was a police informant or a spy for a far-right militia. Among their reasons for suspicion was Sullivan’s brother James, a right-wing activist in Utah who had ties to the Proud Boys. (When asked if he had ever collaborated with James, John said, “I have barely spoken to that man in years.”) James currently runs a right-wing Facebook page called Civilized Awakening, which, in addition to the usual links about Trump and voter fraud, seems to specialize in anti-John Sullivan content—for example, a crudely Photoshopped image of John receiving a creepy neck massage from Joe Biden. Recently, on Facebook, James wrote, “I got into activism for one reason, and that was to take down my brother.” An activist from Portland floated a simpler explanation for John Sullivan’s antics: “He came off as someone that was a bit lost and looking for a family/following anywhere he could find it.”
According to left-wing activists, John Sullivan promoted his work online using a fluctuating assortment of handles: @ActivistX, @BlackFistNews, @FascistFighter, @WatchRiotPorn. Sometimes, he appeared to log in to multiple accounts simultaneously, using one to corroborate another. During one group chat on Signal, an organizer warned, “Activist X is not to be trusted.” Sullivan, who was in the chat, brushed it off. “Lol the fuck?” he wrote, using the display name Activist X. “I’ve known Activist X,” the next comment read. “Sounds like a lot of bullshit to me.” This was supposed to appear under the display name Tiger Wolf, but other activists claimed that they could see that it was actually posted by Sullivan, from another one of his phone numbers. “Why did you respond to yourself?” one asked. Another wrote, “I’m burning this chat lol.” (Sullivan denied using the handle Tiger Wolf and others, saying, “People are trying to hack my accounts and misrepresent me.”)
During the fall and winter, as Black Lives Matter protests fizzled and pro-Trump protests grew, Sullivan followed the momentum, live-streaming from far-right events in Washington, D.C., and at the Oregon state capitol. On Election Day, he witnessed a group of Proud Boys, normally implacable supporters of law enforcement, chanting “Fuck the police.” “That was shocking,” he wrote in a draft of his memoir; in his view, the far right’s turn against the police marked “a paradigm shift.” In December, he started to notice chatter on Parler and Telegram indicating that Trump supporters planned to descend on the Capitol. He booked a trip to D.C. In the memoir draft, he recalled thinking that Trump supporters who were angry about the outcome of the election, especially those who “overcame this barrier of supporting the police,” might “unite with Black Lives Matter. . . . I felt that perhaps they would come and fight together against the government.”
In the first shot of Sullivan’s main video from the Capitol, he is standing outside, underneath a set of bleachers erected for Joe Biden’s Inauguration. He angles his camera to take in the crowd behind him: red MAGA hats, yellow Gadsden flags, a man in a fur pelt. Suddenly, the crowd surges up a flight of stairs and toward a line of police barricades. The officers, most of whom do not have helmets or shields, are vastly outnumbered; they hold the line for a few seconds, but they’re quickly overtaken. “This shit’s ours!” Sullivan shouts as the invaders swarm onto a terrace. “We accomplished this shit. We did this shit together! Fuck, yeah!”
Looking over a balustrade to the lawn below, he sees a roiling crowd of thousands of people. He lets out several wonder-struck cheers, his voice cracking with exertion and emotion. “That’s beautiful shit!” he shouts. “Let’s go!” People are climbing up the walls, and he offers one of them a hand up. “Holy shit, dude, that was awesome,” he says. “Let’s burn this shit down.” A few seconds later, Sullivan rests his camera on a ledge and turns to a woman next to him, who is also filming. “I’m just gonna rely on you for footage from now on, is that chill?” he says. “Or should I just keep recording?” But then he presses forward, still taping, following the group through a broken window.Inside the Capitol, Sullivan wanders from room to room more or less at random, as if playing a first-person video game with no clear objective. He marvels at the palatial digs (“This is surreal”; “I’m shook at this!”; “What is life?”) and fantasizes about their destruction. “We’ve gotta burn this,” he says. “We’ve gotta get this shit burnt.” When he is surrounded by Trump supporters, he provides encouragement or advice. When confronted by police officers who ask him to leave, he says, “I’m just filming,” or “No freedom of the press now?” A few times, he tries to persuade police officers to abandon their posts. “We want you to go home,” he tells an officer. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
In the Rotunda, he stops to admire the domed ceiling, watching the afternoon light streaming in from above. “Damn,” he says, relishing the moment. Then, gesturing toward the fresco on the ceiling, he asks the man next to him, “What is this painting?”
“I don’t even know, but I know we in this motherfucker,” the man responds.
“Gang shit, bro,” Sullivan says.
“Make sure you follow me on Instagram,” the man says.
Sullivan continues past Corinthian columns and ruffled red-velvet curtains, into a marble hallway packed with insurrectionists, where the mood turns dark. A woman with a gray ponytail stands inches away from a police officer, vibrating with rage. “Tell fucking Pelosi we’re coming for her!” she shouts. “We’re coming for all of you!” She stops and stares the officer down, as if preparing for battle. “You ready?” she asks.
“I’m ready, bro,” Sullivan says, perhaps to himself. “I’ve been to so many riots.”
Suddenly, the mob pushes past the police and into a small inner corridor. One of the insurrectionists grabs a megaphone and turns to face the others. “We need to remain calm now,” he says. “We’ve made our point. Let’s be peaceful.”
“Fuck that shit,” Sullivan says. “Push!” Several times
throughout the video, he can be heard saying, “I got a knife.” (He now
claims that he didn’t actually have a knife: “I used that to navigate
myself to the front of the crowd.”)
Some of the insurrectionists break away and find another small hallway, leading to a set of wood-and-glass doors. On the other side is a lobby leading to the House chamber. (The mob doesn’t know it, but several members of Congress, staffers, and journalists are still in the process of being evacuated from the chamber.) The insurrectionists use helmets and wooden flag poles to start beating down the door, smashing the glass, and splintering the wood frame. One woman, an Air Force veteran named Ashli Babbitt, starts to approach the door. A plainclothes police officer stands on the other side, wearing a mask and pointing a pistol in the group’s direction. “There’s a gun!” Sullivan says, but Babbitt doesn’t seem to hear. She starts to climb through an opening in the doorway. The officer shoots once and Babbitt falls to the ground, bleeding, eyes open. “She’s dead,” Sullivan says to the man next to him, who identifies himself as a correspondent from the far-right conspiracist network Infowars. “I saw, the light goes out in her eyes.”
“I need that footage, man,” the Infowars correspondent says. “It’s gonna go out to the world.”
“Dude, this shit’s gonna go viral,” Sullivan says.
From his hotel room, Sullivan uploaded his video footage to YouTube. He licensed parts of it to the Washington Post and NBC, and Anderson Cooper interviewed him on CNN. Right away, far-right conspiracy theorists started to use Sullivan for their propaganda efforts. Some tried to suggest that Sullivan was a left-wing plant who had somehow orchestrated the entire insurrection. Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s lawyer, tweeted a screenshot of what appeared to be a text conversation between himself and James Sullivan, who claimed, baselessly, that there were “226 members of Antifa that instigated the Capitol ‘riot,’ ” and added, “I’m currently working with the FBI to expose and place total blame on John.”
John Sullivan uploaded videos in which he spoke directly to the camera, attempting to justify some of the more incongruous parts of his Capitol footage. “I have emotions, and those moments are crazy,” Sullivan said. In another video, he added, “I was not there to be a participant. I was there to record. But I also have to blend my fucking Black ass into that crowd.” Many of his followers didn’t seem to buy it. When he tweeted, “#TrumpSupporters are making a hit list to take me out,” someone responded, “Stop acting like the victim. . . . You were obviously more involved than what you are playing out.”
“I mean, the FBI doesn’t think so,” Sullivan responded.
A week after the insurrection, James Sullivan says, he sent the F.B.I. tips about his brother. On January 14th, according to John, agents came to his apartment and seized two computers, two cell phones, and his camera equipment. Federal prosecutors announced that Sullivan was being charged with one count of knowingly entering a restricted building, one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct, and one count of interfering with law enforcement. “People are understandably angry and upset, but I’m hoping we don’t respond to mob violence with mob justice,” Mary Corporon, one of Sullivan’s defense attorneys, told me. “It’s going to take a lot of discipline to look at each individual case separately, to give each person a chance to be presumed innocent, but that’s what the Constitution requires.”
A central function of the press is to reveal significant information, including images that the public otherwise would not have seen. “People can say what they want, but nobody else got the footage I got,” Sullivan told me. “That shit was history, and I captured it.” The events leading to Ashli Babbitt’s death are of undeniable import, and we would understand them less well if Sullivan hadn’t documented them. In a dissenting Supreme Court opinion from 1972, Justice Potter Stewart argued that, in order to protect “the full flow of information to the public,” there “must be the right to gather news.” Sullivan and his lawyers may end up arguing that some of his actions on January 6th—shouting support for the mob, for example—were acts of newsgathering, necessary for Sullivan to get as far as he did. This theory would be less helpful, presumably, in explaining away some of Sullivan’s other actions, such as encouraging the invaders to push forward or claiming to have a knife. In Brandenburg v. Ohio, from 1969, the Supreme Court ruled that speech is not protected by the First Amendment if it is “directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.” This is a high bar, but it’s possible that Sullivan’s speech would clear it.
Sullivan spent the night of January 14th in jail. The next day, he was brought before a judge, who released him on the condition that he wear an ankle monitor and stay in his house except for pre-approved activities. Near the end of the hearing, the prosecutor asked that Sullivan be barred from using the Internet. The defense argued, “It is nearly impossible to find employment in the twenty-first century without some form of Internet access.” In the end, the judge ordered the prosecution and the defense to agree on “a list of social-media sites that you feel would be dangerous for Mr. Sullivan to use.”
Against his lawyers’ advice, Sullivan has called me nearly every day since his release, giving me a Zoom tour of his apartment and sending me a Google Drive of protest footage, snippets from his childhood vlog, and cell-phone recordings from his family’s Thanksgiving. I wondered whether these were acts of defiance or of self-sabotage, but it seemed more likely that he was trying to alleviate his boredom. He showed me his video-editing setup, which includes a ring light, a key light, and a professional microphone with a pop filter—but not his computers, which had been confiscated by the F.B.I. His rhetoric about his trip to D.C. was triumphant—“I think I really accomplished something”—but his body language seemed deflated. He told me that, when he closed his eyes, he still saw images of Babbitt’s shooting. “Even after all the wild stuff I’ve witnessed,” he said, “that was the first time I ever saw anyone die.” Internet sleuths continued to argue about whether he was a far-right plant or an Antifa double agent, but he sounded more like a confused kid who was in over his head.
During one of our conversations, he told me that he hadn’t yet received the list of social-media sites that he would be prohibited from using, but that he had been told to expect a far-ranging ban. “Maybe I’ll be allowed to use LinkedIn, maybe not even that,” he told me. “I’m just watching TV and meditating and trying to steer clear of all of it.” This may have been his goal, but he did spend at least some time lurking on Twitter. I know this because, on January 16th, he followed me. He used one of his old handles, @ActivistJayden. I clicked on the account’s profile and scrolled through its history. It was one of Sullivan’s lesser-used accounts; at the time, it consisted only of a few retweets. There was a live stream of a protest outside a federal prison and a video of a protester playing violin while tear gas spread around him. On New Year’s Eve, @ActivistJayden had retweeted a tweet that read, “Let’s make 2021 the year of political upheaval.” Replying to the tweet from a different account, Sullivan had written, “I’m fucking ready.”
The Capitol was breached by Trump supporters who had been declaring, at rally after rally, that they would go to violent lengths to keep the President in power. A chronicle of an attack foretold.
Joseph R. Biden Jr. was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.CreditCredit…Erin Schaff/The New York Times
Kamala
Harris is the first woman and the first woman of color to serve as vice
president. President Biden said he wanted to “restore the soul and
secure the future of America” in his Inaugural Address.
Watch live coverage of the inauguration ceremony for Joseph R. Biden Jr. as the next president of the United States.CreditCredit…Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Watch live coverage of the inauguration ceremony for Joseph R. Biden Jr. as the next president of the United States.CreditCredit…Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
