‘I Was in Denial’: Mariah Carey on Struggle With Bipolar Disorder

Mariah Carey says that it was finally being in a good place that allowed her to talk about her bipolar disorder.

Singer and actor Mariah Carey opened up about her struggle with bipolar disorder in this week’s People magazine.

(Photo Courtesy: Mariahcarey/Instagram)

Singer and actor Mariah Carey opened up about her struggle with bipolar disorder in this week’s People magazine. Carey was diagnosed with bipolar 2 disorder in 2001. The diagnosis was followed by denial, she says.

I didn’t want to believe it...For a long time I thought I had a severe sleep disorder. But it wasn’t normal insomnia and I wasn’t lying awake counting sheep. I was working and working and working … I was irritable and in constant fear of letting people down. It turns out that I was experiencing a form of mania.

Carey recalls the period as one marked by very low energy levels and feelings of guilt, loneliness and sadness.

Eventually I would just hit a wall. I guess my depressive episodes were characterised by having very low energy. I would feel so lonely and sad — even guilty that I wasn’t doing what I needed to be doing for my career.

Mariah Carey

Carey says that being in a good place allowed her to finally talk about the disorder.

I’m hopeful we can get to a place where the stigma is lifted from people going through anything alone. It can be incredibly isolating. It does not have to define you and I refuse to allow it to define me or control me.

Mariah Carey

Bipolar disorder is a form of mental illness which is characterised by extreme mood swings. The two ends of the spectrum are depression and mania. The duration of these mood swings could be anything from a few days to several months. There are four different kinds of bipolar disorders, namely, bipolar 1, bipolar 2, cyclothymia and rapid-cycling.

(With inputs from People.)