This could be a revolution for diagnosing and treating the disorder
Cayenne Barnum is a 24-year-old artist and designer who has bipolar disorder.
While she was officially diagnosed at 20, Barnum struggled throughout her teenage years to get a clear diagnosis of her mental illness. “It takes so long to diagnose because it manifests in so many different ways,” she told BuzzFeed News.
Barnum is currently in the process of weaning herself off Seroquel, an antipsychotic drug that she was originally prescribed for her manic periods, but that had taxing side effects for her body. “It turned out that it had made me put on 18 kilos or something, so right now I’m getting off that and I’m on a weight-loss supplement that people with diabetes take so they’re not hungry.”
Bipolar disorder is a chronic mental health condition that’s characterised by extreme mood changes; people with the disorder cycle between manic, hypomanic, and depressive periods that can last a week or longer and severely affect thought patterns and behaviour. more
