In Other Words: Five metaphors for mental illness

Here at Rethink Mental Illness, we're passionate about providing a platform for real, authentic stories of living with a mental illness.

Over the next five weeks, we'll share five stories. Each one is written by a real person who describes their experience of mental illness as a metaphor. We'll be updating this page every week, so keep an eye out for the next story.

We think there isn't enough awareness or understanding of what it means to be severely affected by mental illness.

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Together, we can raise awareness of the realities of being severely affected by mental illness.

A light switch - Shanice

Living with bipolar disorder is like being a light switch wired wrong.

Sometimes, you're flipped on but the bulb blazes, too bright, almost buzzing with heat. You clean the house at 3 a.m., rearrange your furniture twice, call old friends with new plans, start five projects at once. You’re electric. You don’t sleep because who needs sleep when you feel like daylight?

Then suddenly — click — you’re off. Not dimmed. Just off. No spark, no glow. Even standing up feels like rewiring the entire house. Things you love sit in shadows. The room is the same, but you can’t see it anymore. You forget what light even felt like.

And the worst part? You don’t control the switch. It flips on its own — unpredictably, sometimes violently — leaving you wondering when the next surge or blackout will hit.

But over time, you learn where the fuses are. You add a dimmer here, a breaker there. You don’t always control the current, but you begin to understand it.

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