Mariah reveals battle with bipolar disorder

SHE IS known as much for her diva demands as her string of hit records. Now Mariah Carey has revealed she is being treated for bipolar disorder.

The US singer, 48, says she was first diagnosed in 2001 while being treated for a physical and mental breakdown but “didn’t want to believe it”.

She is now in therapy and receiving treatment. Carey told People magazine: “Until recently I lived in denial and isolation and in constant fear someone would expose me. It was too heavy a burden to carry and I simply couldn’t do that any more.

“I sought and received treatment, I put positive people around me and I got back to doing what I love – writing songs and making music.”

Carey, whose biggest hits include Without You and All I Want For Christmas Is You, said the medication she is taking for type two bipolar disorder is having a positive effect.

“It’s not making me feel too tired or sluggish or anything like that. Finding the proper balance is what is most important.”

The mother of six-year-old twins said she first thought she was suffering with insomnia as she could not sleep, and that she was “working and working and working”.

She was “irritable and in constant fear of letting people down” and later learned she was experiencing a form of mania.

“Eventually I would just hit a wall,” she said. “I would feel so lonely and sad – even guilty that I wasn’t doing what I needed to be doing for my career.”

The singer, who has sold more than 200 million records worldwide and is worth an estimated R125 million, said she was now in “a really good place” and hoped talking about her experiences would help lift the stigma surrounding the disorder.

Bipolar disorder, characterised by extreme mood swings, usually develops in the late teens and affects one adult in 100 at some point. – Daily Mail

Mariah Carey