I'm Bipolar. Now What? Recovery, Stability, and Living Well. – Details, episodes & analysis

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I'm Bipolar. Now What? Recovery, Stability, and Living Well.

Louise Barnett

Health & Fitness

Frequency: 1 episode/11d. Total Eps: 135

I'm Bipolar. Now What? is the podcast for anyone living with bipolar disorder and wondering what comes next. Hosted by Louise Barnett, a Jay Shetty Certified Life Coach and author of Tainted Love: A Bipolar Memoir, this show combines lived experience with practical tools for addiction, recovery, stability, and living well. Each week, you'll find honest conversations about bipolar disorder, medication, therapy, routines, relationships, sobriety, and building a life worth living. Recovery is possible. Stability is possible. Living well is possible.

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Data updated on 23/09/2026

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🇨🇦 Canada - Mental Health
23/09/2026
#93

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https://go.louisebarnett.com/suta-drinking-type-results
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133. The FOUR Types of Bipolar Disorder: What’s Actually the Difference? And Why it Matters

Episode 130

Monday, September 21, 2026 • Duration 38:06

The FOUR Types of Bipolar Disorder: What's Actually the Difference?

Bipolar I, Bipolar II, Cyclothymia… what do these diagnoses actually mean? And is Bipolar II really a milder form of Bipolar I? (Spoiler alert: NO!)

In this episode of I'm Bipolar. Now What?, Louise breaks down the four diagnostic categories of bipolar disorder, explains the specific criteria for each, and shares her personal experience living with Bipolar I.

In this episode, we cover:

The four types of bipolar disorder and what distinguishes each diagnosis.
The specific diagnostic criteria for mania, hypomania, and major depression.
Can Bipolar II turn into Bipolar I?
Hypomania vs. mania vs. psychosis: What's the difference, and can one escalate into another?
Why Bipolar II is NOT simply a milder version of Bipolar I.
What to do if you think you might be bipolar.
How to support someone you love who may be experiencing symptoms of bipolar disorder—without trying to diagnose them yourself.
Why understanding your own warning signs and mood patterns is so important.

Whether you're newly diagnosed, have been living with bipolar disorder for years, or love someone who is, this episode is here to help you better understand bipolar disorder and feel less alone.

Because the goal isn't to become terrified of every good mood or productive day. It's learning the difference between feeling good and becoming unwell.

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132. Bipolar: The Male Perspective & Marriage

Episode 132

Monday, September 14, 2026 • Duration 01:01:34

What does bipolar disorder look like in men? And what role can a spouse play in helping someone build and protect stability?

This conversation brings together two perspectives we need more of: men speaking openly about living with bipolar disorder, and honest conversations about what it means to love someone who lives with it.

In this episode of I’m Bipolar. Now What?, I reconnect with Ken Walsh, five years after we first met through sharing our stories of mental health and recovery.

Since then, Ken has made an incredible career transition. After 25 years in corporate leadership, he left that world to become a licensed mental health counselor. His perspective combines professional training with deeply personal lived experience: Ken lives with bipolar II disorder, is in long-term recovery from addiction, and has experienced profound loss, including losing both his mother and sister to suicide and his best friend to an overdose.

Together, we have an honest conversation about what bipolar II actually looks like, particularly for men, and the vulnerability it can take to acknowledge you’re struggling and ask for help.

We also dig into a side of bipolar that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough: the role of the spouse. What does healthy support actually look like? How can a partner recognize changes, encourage treatment, and help protect stability without becoming responsible for managing someone else’s bipolar disorder?

In this episode, we talk about:

Ken’s experience living with bipolar II disorder
Men’s mental health and the stigma around vulnerability
Addiction, sobriety, and long-term recovery
The role spouses and partners can play in bipolar stability
Supporting someone without becoming responsible for their treatment
Learning to recognize your loved one’s individual patterns
Communication, accountability, and trust within a relationship
Grief after losing loved ones to suicide and overdose
Resilience and rebuilding a life after profound loss
Why vulnerability can be one of our most powerful tools for healing

Get In Touch with Ken:

KEN WALSH, LMHC: Licensed Mental Health Counselor| Recovery Advocate | Speaker

131. I Couldn’t Manage My Bipolar Until I Got Sober

Episode 131

Monday, September 7, 2026 • Duration 36:49

For years, I treated my bipolar disorder and my relationship with alcohol like two completely separate problems. It took me six years after my Bipolar I diagnosis to understand just how connected they were.

In this episode, I’m talking about addiction, sobriety, and why getting sober didn’t cure my bipolar disorder, but gave me the clarity I needed to finally learn how to manage it.

In this episode:

Why I used alcohol to numb the lows, fuel the highs, and escape reality
How being highly functioning kept me from recognizing I had a problem
Why success and functioning don’t necessarily mean you’re okay
Why I continued drinking for six years after my Bipolar I diagnosis
The connection between my addiction and bipolar disorder
What sobriety gave me that I had arguably never had before: clarity
Why getting sober did not cure my bipolar disorder
The eight-month depression I experienced three years into sobriety
Why stability doesn’t mean being symptom-free
Learning to ask “What do I need?” instead of “What the fuck is wrong with me?”
Why treating bipolar disorder requires looking at the whole person
The Six Pillars of Bipolar Stability that help me manage my disorder today

Sobriety didn’t fix my mental health. It removed something that had been masking, amplifying, and complicating what was already happening inside my brain. And for me, that changed everything.

🎧 I’m Bipolar. Now What?Real talk, real tools, real support for recovery, stability, and living well with bipolar disorder.

📖 Tainted Love: A Bipolar Memoir publishes October 6.

More: www.louisebarnett.com

130. The 1st Mood Tracking App for Bipolar Disorder: Steadyline with creator and founder Ravi Mishra

Episode 78

Monday, August 24, 2026 • Duration 41:46

My guest today is Ravi Mishra.

Ravi has been living with bipolar disorder for more than a decade. His journey began with childhood trauma and years of depression before he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2015.

A severe manic episode that required hospitalization became the first major turning point in his life. While rebuilding from that experience, he also faced the devastating loss of his mother.

Years later, despite building a successful career as a software engineer, Ravi experienced another profound depressive episode in 2022 that fundamentally changed the way he viewed his illness.

Ravi came to accept that while he couldn’t control having bipolar disorder, understanding it was something he could control.

By consistently tracking his moods, sleep, medications, and daily patterns, he developed the self-awareness to recognize early warning signs and reduce the severity and impact of future episodes.

That experience—and the frustration of trying to explain months of sleep, medication, and daily patterns in a short doctor’s appointment—inspired Ravi to create Steadyline, a mood-tracking app built specifically from his lived experience with bipolar disorder.

The app helps people track what actually changes over time and turns those patterns into a clearer report they can use themselves or share with their clinician. It can also pull in sleep data through Apple Health, helping users see connections between sleep, mood, medication, and other daily patterns.

In this episode, Ravi shares his story—from trauma, mania, hospitalization, grief, and depression to acceptance, self-awareness, and stability. We talk about recognizing early warning signs, understanding our individual patterns, and how tracking what is happening in our lives can give us valuable information about what may be happening in our brains.

Because while we may not be able to control having bipolar disorder, the more we understand ourselves, the better equipped we can be to manage it.

129. Six Pillars to Bipolar Stability

Monday, August 17, 2026 • Duration 49:36

When I was diagnosed with Bipolar I disorder, I thought medication was supposed to fix it.

It changed my life—but it wasn’t the whole answer.

In this episode of I’m Bipolar. Now What?, I’m breaking down the Six Pillars to Bipolar Stability that I’ve built over the last decade: medication, therapy + coaching, sobriety, lifestyle, emotional regulation, and nervous-system regulation.

These aren’t six ways to cure bipolar disorder. They’re six ways I support my bipolar brain—and the framework I come back to whenever I start feeling “off.”

We’re talking about why sleep matters so damn much, why sobriety is the hill I will die on, what emotional regulation actually looks like, why your nervous system belongs in the bipolar conversation, and how I use a simple Six-Pillar Audit to figure out where things might be getting shaky.

Because recovery, for me, stopped being about trying to become someone who wasn’t bipolar.

It became about learning how to live really fucking well as someone who is.

Get the Six Pillars + my recommended resources:
louisebarnett.com

Tainted Love: A Bipolar Memoir releases October 6, 2026.

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128. Why a Diagnosis Doesn't Need to Change Your Story with Candace Schoner

Episode 128

Monday, August 10, 2026 • Duration 43:14

What happens when life asks you to reinvent yourself over and over again?

In this episode, I sit down with Candace Schoner to talk about living with Parkinson's disease, ADHD, PTSD, and dyslexia—and why a diagnosis doesn't have to define the rest of your story.

Candace shares the emotional reality of receiving a Parkinson's diagnosis, the daily strategies that help her manage a chronic condition, and how she learned to pivot instead of giving up. We also explore the role of therapy, movement, writing, and self-awareness in building a meaningful life, even when circumstances aren't what you expected.

We discuss her new book, Recipes for a Happier Life, Apron Optional, her work founding Voices for Mental Health, and why embracing simplicity and authenticity can be some of the most powerful forms of resilience.

Whether you're living with a chronic illness, navigating a mental health diagnosis, supporting someone you love, or simply facing an unexpected life transition, this conversation is a reminder that hope isn't about having an easy life—it's about choosing how you respond.

In this episode, we discuss:

Living with Parkinson's disease, ADHD, PTSD, and dyslexia
The emotional impact of receiving a life-changing diagnosis
Finding purpose after an unexpected life pivot
Therapy, movement, and self-care as tools for resilience
Writing as a path to healing
Building a nonprofit to advocate for mental health
Why authentic living matters more than perfection

If this episode resonates with you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who could use a little hope today.

GET IN TOUCH:

https://voicesformentalhealth.org/

127. Getting Sober is Hard. Bipolar Disorder Makes it Harder. (Collaboration with Dr. Casey & Addiction Medicine Made Easy Podcast)

Episode 127

Monday, August 3, 2026 • Duration 42:53

You can look put-together, build a big career, and still be drowning the moment the door closes. That tension sits at the heart of our conversation with Louise Barnett, host of I'm Bipolar. Now What? Podcast and author of Tainted Love: A Bipolar Memoir. Dr. Casey hosted Louise on his Podcast Addiction Medicine Made Easy, where she walks us through what it feels like when bipolar I disorder first shows up, why it can take years to get the right diagnosis, and how shame quietly pushes people toward secrecy, self-harm, and substance use.

We talk honestly about addiction and bipolar disorder as a linked story, not two separate problems. Louise explains how alcohol and drugs played different roles across the mood spectrum: amplifying the invincible energy of mania, then numbing the crash of depression. She also shares what it meant to be “high functioning” in public while blacking out at night, and why appearance and performance can accidentally protect the illness from being seen.

The most practical part of this conversation is what stability looks like now. Louise breaks down the pillars that keep her regulated, including medication, therapy, lifestyle, sobriety, nervous system regulation, and emotional regulation, plus the boundaries that protect her energy as a parent and a creator. She leaves us with a simple, powerful invitation: find your people and start telling the truth, one safe step at a time.

Subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of mental health and addiction recovery, and if this resonates, share it with a friend and leave a rating or review.

To learn more about Louise's work: https://www.louisebarnett.com/

To contact Dr. Grover: ammadeeasy@fastmail.com

To learn more about the podcast: https://www.addictionmedicinemadeeasy.com/

126. There's a Reason Your Meds Aren't Working: Pharmacogenetic Testing with Kristen Ruth Davis

Episode 126

Monday, July 27, 2026 • Duration 01:01:03

What if the reason your psychiatric medications haven't worked isn't that you're "too complicated"... but because they're the wrong medications for your genetics?

In this episode, Louise sits down with mental health advocate, speech-language pathologist, Founder of the I’m Not Crazy project, and author Kristen Ruth Davis, whose life changed after pharmacogenetic (PGx) testing finally matched her with medications her brain could actually use.

Despite growing up in a loving family with two physician parents, attending Duke University, and doing everything "right," Kristen spent years battling treatment-resistant depression, multiple psychiatric hospitalizations, involuntary holds, self-harm, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and countless medication trials that left her believing there was something fundamentally wrong with her.

Then genetic testing changed everything.

Together, Louise and Kristen unpack why some antidepressants fail, why treatment-resistant depression deserves a deeper conversation, and why pharmacogenetic testing should be a standard part of psychiatric care—not a last resort. They also discuss the dangers of trial-and-error prescribing, the stigma surrounding mental illness, the importance of trusting patients, and why praise and validation can become powerful tools in recovery.

The conversation ends with a thought-provoking question: What does "crazy" actually mean?

Whether you're living with depression, bipolar disorder, supporting someone you love, or simply curious about the future of personalized mental health care, this episode offers hope—and a reminder that sometimes the problem isn't the person. It's the treatment.

In this episode, we discuss:

Treatment-resistant depression
Pharmacogenetic (PGx) testing and personalized psychiatry
Why SSRIs and SNRIs don't work for everyone
Psychiatric hospitalization and involuntary holds
Self-harm and suicidal ideation
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
Medication stigma and shame

125. The Most Dangerous Lie About Mental Health with JeNoah Lee

Episode 123

Monday, July 13, 2026 • Duration 59:15

In this episode of Unmasking Sobriety & Mental Health, Louise sits down with JeNoah Lee — a 20-year-old entrepreneur, fashion creator, and mental health advocate whose life was shaped by severe racial bullying at just 10 years old.

What began as emotional trauma and suicidal ideation became the catalyst for something bigger: healing, therapy, self-discovery, and ultimately a mission to create change.

JeNoah opens up about:

The invisible damage of racial bullying

Wanting to change who he was to fit in

The role therapy played in saving his life

How fashion became his outlet for healing

Why mental health warning signs are often missed

What parents need to know when their child is struggling

This conversation is raw, powerful, and necessary — especially for parents, young people, and anyone who has ever felt like they didn’t belong.

Because sometimes survival is just the beginning.

Connect with JeNoah:

Instagram: @whoisjenoahlee

LinkedIn: JeNoah Lee

Website: whoisjenoahlee.com

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124. This Will Change How You Think About Recovery with Jeanne Foot

Episode 124

Monday, June 29, 2026 • Duration 53:16

What if recovery isn’t about addiction at all… but about the human experience?

In this episode of Unmasking Sobriety & Mental Health, I sit down with Jeanne Foot, founder of The Recovery Concierge, to challenge everything we think we know about healing.

Jeanne shares how her own journey through trauma, suicidal ideation, and traditional recovery led her to discover a deeper truth: abstinence isn’t the goal—emotional sobriety is.

Together, we unpack:

Why willpower alone rarely creates lasting change

How trauma lives in the nervous system

Why healing must go beyond the mind and into the body

The role of attachment wounds in addiction, relationships, and identity

What it actually means to redesign your life in recovery

This conversation is for anyone who has ever felt stuck, masked, or like the outside looked “fine” while the inside was falling apart.

Because recovery isn’t just for addiction.

It’s for all of us.

I'm Bipolar. Now What? Recovery, Stability, and Living Well. – Details, episodes & analysis

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