While on paper Wentz and Klein may seem like they don’t have a whole lot in common, that couldn’t be further from the truth: Like Wentz, Klein has bipolar disorder. “I love that he talks about his bipolar disorder openly,” Klein tells Parade.com. “Surrounding myself with people who have had a similar experience to me is helpful.” Here, Klein shares exactly how she arrived at her bipolar disorder diagnosis, and how she’s learned to thrive with it.
Arriving at a diagnosis after years in therapy
Bipolar disorder is famous for being one of the most difficult mental health conditions to diagnose, and Klein says she was in therapy for years before a doctor correctly diagnosed her. “I’d been in therapy for six years before I was diagnosed,” she says. “I finally met with a psychiatrist when I was having these really big things that were manifest as extremely manic behavior. When I met with a psychiatrist I was in the worst depressive episode I’d ever had, and he figured it out immediately. It was kind of crazy to have a name to put on it and label after so many years of being lost and confused about why I was the way I was. Up until that point, I had just chalked it up to my personality.” When she started on medication, Klein says she felt like a new person. “I still struggle every day, but that part of it was so clearly correct,” she says. “It’s obviously something I still have to monitor, and it’s still very much being worked on in therapy with my doctors.”
“Some of my most interesting life experiences have come from my mental illness”
Klein is careful not to romanticize mental illness. But at the same time, she makes sure to take some quiet moments to celebrate some of the unique, interesting things that bipolar disorder has brought to her life. “When I’m manic, I write a lot,” she admits, which is certainly convenient when you’re making your living as a writer. “There’s a lot of criticism of making sure you don’t romanticize mental illness, but if we have these mental illnesses that do change our perspectives and lives and insert themselves in negative ways, we should be able to celebrate the ways those things make us stronger. It’s just another facet of the illness. It doesn’t have to be doom and gloom all the time. Some of my most interesting life experiences have come from my mental illness.”
The “constant homework” of managing bipolar disorder
Yes, medication helps—but that’s only half the battle of managing bipolar disorder, according to Klein. “It’s constant homework,” Klein says. “You don’t take a pill and feel suddenly evened out. You’re constantly working out how to rebound faster and minimize damage. At the same time, it can feel like the waves get bigger, so knowing it’s something you have forever and you never get a day off from is complicated and weird. but at a certain point, it’s also your reality. I’d much rather be working on it and knowing what’s going on.” She adds that although people are becoming a lot more open about mental health, it’s still a “weird” experience to tell someone you’re bipolar, which is one of the reasons she enjoyed working on “Everything’s Fine” so much. “I realized that maybe I could have gotten to my diagnosis or a conclusion faster if [bipolar disorder] hadn’t been so stigmatized,” she said. “I wrote ‘Everything’s Fine’ because it was hilarious, but also tragic, experience. I wanted to create some sort of stepping stone or olive branch for younger people who don’t know a lot about bipolar disorder. Since Snapchat has such an amazing grasp on Gen Z, it was a perfect fit.” Next up: 10 Unexpected Lessons I’ve Learned Living With a Mental Illness
