World mental health day: Bipolar is like my body is a shell, like I'm not here

Will Page

As part of World Mental Health Day, Newsbeat's been hearing how it feels to have a mental health condition.

Will Page, 20, from Brighton, was diagnosed with bipolar type two about a year ago but says it wasn't a surprise.

"The most easy way to describe it is [as] really, really extreme mood swings, to the point of wanting to kill yourself, to having the most insane Kanye-level ego.

"In the lowest point [it's] almost like my body is a shell, like I'm not here.

"Everything is really far away. It's almost like I'm looking through my eyes out of a telescope or something.

"But on a high I'm buzzing, I'm making so much stuff, I don't sleep."

Going to a doctor

"It's been a good thing to get that help because before that I was kind of floundering.

"Now that I'm on medication I still get the highs and lows, but rather than being straight up in the sky, and then right down in the sea, it's more balanced out.

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Will was interviewed by Jordan from Rizzle Kicks, who's campaigning to get people talking about mental health

"It's really unpleasant, but within the last year-and-a-half I've been able to find out what that is and how to cope with it.

"So now when it happens I know that in a few days or in a few weeks it will go."

Managing it

"If I know I'm having a high then I will try and make sure to use the energy in a good way, like I'll go cycling for a whole day.

"Exercise is great for it."

Negative reactions

"Mainly it's been the medication. People have got total misconceptions about it, like, 'Oh you're on meds, you must feel totally zonked out.'

"Or [they'll say], 'Oh you must have no personality because it dulls you out.'

"But as a person experiencing [the effects of medicine] it's not that my edge is lost, it's that I'm actually stable for once."

There's advice on how to cope with mental health issues, or help someone dealing with them, on the BBC Advice pages.

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