For three years, I was a facilitator for a popular bipolar/depression support group here in Denver, and it shocked me that nearly all participants kept their mental illness secret from as many people as possible. Even my best friend, who has BP1 has been married over seventeen years and has never told his wife. He, like so many others, just rationalize or justify their insanity with truckloads of handy excuses, "Oh, I thought we had far more money in our bank accounts then we apparently have, so that's why I bought that antique tobacco shop cigar Indian, besides it's a one-of-a-kind hand-carved collector's piece. It'll look great in our living room: don't you think honey?"

He'll never admit to her that he has a mental illness that sometimes causes him to do crazy things.

Why do you think that there's so much stigma surrounding mental illness? People fear what they don't know - and all most "normal" people know of mental illness they see on TV or as the worst untreated cases of the homeless. When one of us shoots up a theater of innocent people, and sits stoically mute at the defendant's table with copper-colored dyed hair. Observers say, "That's the face of mental illness." They don't see any of us invisibles raising a family, being productive contributors to our communities, going to church, etc. They don't know that we secretly suffer for those unpredictable symptoms of our illness.

The more of us who "come out of the closet," the more we can help each other erase the "freak" stereotypes. I think that you'll find almost everyone is receptive to candid honesty, and it's been my experience that most people shower me with "I got some questions that I've have always wondered about (the illness) but didn't know anyone who . . ."