Here, we share material from the World Bipolar Day website. We encourage everyone to visit the website and get involved in education, research and advocacy for the 60 million people worldwide who are affected by bipolar disorder.
WORLD BIPOLAR DAY 2024
The vision of World Bipolar Day (WBD) is to bring world awareness to bipolar disorders and to eliminate social stigma and discrimination. Through international collaboration, the goal of WBD is to bring diverse populations around the world information about bipolar disorders that will educate and improve sensitivity towards the illness, including access to the latest research and the best treatments.
Since inception, WBD has officially been recognized on March 30th, the birthday of famous Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh, who was diagnosed after his death as likely having bipolar disorder. Once again, this year, the International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) will encourage global awareness of bipolar disorder on March 30th. This is a day when we, as a collective of people wanting to improve science and society for people with bipolar disorder, can unite to celebrate World Bipolar Day with friends, family, research communities and organizations. WBD is a day to remember our strength, our resilience and our successes, as well as acknowledge that much work remains ahead.
March 30th will continue to officially mark WBD; however, in the spirit of honoring the wide spectrum of diverse experience that comes with a global celebration like WBD, it is important that we also acknowledge cultural, spiritual, and regional traditions that may occur during this time. This year we recognize that WBD coincides with a time when many will observe a religious holiday, while others will need to make accommodations to host the event in a way that honors both their personal commitments as well as the needs of the larger community they wish to engage. Therefore, we want to emphasize that any events held within the period surrounding March 30th will be celebrated and promoted, and the reality is that the aspirations of WBD must be lived out throughout the year in our thoughts, words and actions.
We continue to encourage all of our allies around the world to plan events to celebrate WBD, and, importantly, to share these events with us at wbd@isbd.org, so that we and the global community can share in your celebrations and successes. We also wish to take this opportunity to recognize the strength and courage that so many in this community, including those with lived experience and their supporters, show every day, and we at ISBD are inspired by the many stories you share of living well with bipolar disorder.