Ah, maybe I can provide some insight? Or rather, a sad validation that the stigma is very much there. I'm a nurse, only a couple of my coworkers know that I am "a person with bipolar" Every so often we have a patient who is silly enough to list it on their medical history... Silly enough to think it won't matter. Sadly it does... Even though it is completely unrelated to their admitting diagnosis. I don't think they receive different treatment from the docs or their orders... But some of the folks I work with- no, they don't get it. I don't directly observe them while they're providing care, but I'm fairly confident in assuming that they're providing it from a distance... With kid gloves... Because who knows how that bipolar patient might react, right? •_• I assume this because I hear their comments... At the desk, in shift report... "They're bipolar..." As if it matters. Any behavior displayed by that person, "they're bipolar..." Not "they're a sick person who is scared, who is worried about their job/kids/pets while they're hospitalized for what could be a potentially serious health problem." I speak up, to an extent. I try to put the focus on the situation, I tell them that the diagnosis is irrelevant. But ignorance is bliss and I can say it until I'm blue in the face... It doesn't change their opinion, their preconceived notions, it doesn't make them realize how incredibly stupid they sound. How incredibly judgmental they are. How very little they really know. And I don't even know their complete thoughts on it... What they really think bipolar is...

Maybe next time ill ask... Hmm.

Yeah ill get back to you