Steve Wilson - Teetering on a Tightrope: Living 70 Years with Bipolar II, Childhood Trauma, and the Hope Nobody Tells You About

Steve Wilson is a first-time author, retired clothing business owner of 50 years, and mental health group facilitator who was sexually assaulted at nine years old, misdiagnosed for nearly a decade, and spent decades searching for the right treatment before finally reclaiming his life — and only shared his full story publicly when his book came out, months ago.Most people assume that someone who's lived with bipolar disorder for 60 years must have figured it out early. Steve didn't. He was misdiagnosed as clinically depressed for eight years, given medications that made him worse, worked with a psychiatrist who dismissed his childhood assault, and spent much of his adult life hiding his illness from everyone around him — including his wife of 50 years, who didn't find out until 2015. But here's what makes his story unusual: he didn't just survive it. He built a business, ran it for half a century, and then at 70 — an age most people are winding down — started writing and facilitating mental health support groups. His conclusion, after all of it, is simple and uncomfortable: there is hope, but the system will fail you before it helps you, and most people give up right before the turning point.Expect to learn what the real difference between Bipolar I and Bipolar II actually is, why so many people with bipolar are misdiagnosed for years before getting the right treatment, how childhood sexual trauma can go unaddressed for decades and what that silence costs, why men in particular carry assault in isolation and the shame that makes it worse, what it means to "manage" a condition that has no cure, why skipping medication and adjusting dosage on your own is one of the most dangerous things a sufferer can do, how to find a psychiatrist or therapist who actually fits your specific situation, what support groups offer that individual therapy cannot, and what it looks like to finally have a good life after a lifetime of mental illness, and much more.This conversation will challenge the idea that healing has a finish line.