From Bipolar Diagnosis To Bestselling Author — ‘I Do Not Consider Myself Unwell’

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental health condition that causes extreme shifts in mood. Raje describes two poles: mania, with high energy and little sleep, and depression, with low energy and low spirits. Long stretches of stability can occur between episodes. The condition needs medical treatment and ongoing management.

Everyday mood changes are not enough to indicate bipolar disorder. Raje stresses that everyone has mood swings, but bipolar disorder involves extreme swings and very specific behavioural changes. During mania, she experienced barely sleeping, delusions of grandeur, and sometimes psychosis. During depression, she spent several months feeling low after recovering from psychosis.

Her diagnosis also separated her personality from her illness. She came to see herself as having a normal personality alongside a medical condition. That understanding supported self-acceptance, treatment, and a fuller life. The article presents her experience, not a test for diagnosing other people.

Aparna Piramal Raje first experienced symptoms in 2000, when she was in her mid-20s. Her bipolar disorder remained undiagnosed for more than a decade. The diagnosis came after a severe episode in March 2013, when she was at a yoga ashram in Bihar.

At the retreat, she slept no more than three hours a night for several days. She talked to herself, heard voices, and could not organise her thoughts. She was experiencing a psychotic breakdown. After the retreat, she could not travel back to Mumbai alone, so her husband came to escort her home. A psychiatrist then diagnosed her and prescribed medication.

The diagnosis brought relief because it gave Raje and her family a roadmap for treatment and management. It also helped her recognise patterns in earlier years. Work demands and repeated deadlines had pushed her toward mania, but those experiences had not previously had a clear explanation.

A manic episode can bring intense energy, very little sleep, and delusions of grandeur. In Raje’s experience, mania sometimes progressed into psychosis. She also identifies psychological triggers and disrupted sleep as closely connected to her mood episodes. The result can be a serious loss of control and functioning, rather than simply feeling unusually cheerful.

At a yoga retreat in Bihar in March 2013, she slept no more than three hours a night for several days. She talked to herself, heard voices, and found her thoughts scattered and disorganised. When the retreat ended, she could not manage the journey to Mumbai alone. Her husband had to collect and escort her home, where a psychiatrist prescribed medication.

She later recovered from the psychosis but entered depression for several months. The experience finally gave her condition a name. It also showed why monitoring sleep, recognising triggers, and seeking medical help matter when symptoms escalate.

Bipolar disorder can be difficult to recognise because symptoms may appear in episodes, with long stretches of stability and normalcy between them. A person may study, work, raise a family, and achieve highly during stable periods. Those strengths do not rule out illness, but they can make earlier episodes seem unrelated or explainable in other ways.

Raje was raised in Mumbai and London, studied at Harvard Business School and Oxford University, and worked in business and journalism. Looking back, she saw that too many projects and deadlines had repeatedly pushed her toward mania. Yet the pattern stayed undiagnosed from 2000 until 2013, when psychosis made the problem impossible to ignore.

Her experience shows why a diagnosis may come only after a crisis. It also shows why observing behaviour, sleep, triggers, and mood over time matters. Once diagnosed, she and her family had a roadmap for treatment. Stability then became something to manage and protect, not proof that nothing had happened.

Raje describes seven connected supports that helped her heal and recover: the right medication, a trustworthy doctor, supportive family and friends, a manageable job, a spiritual practice, self-reflection, and fulfilling lifestyle pursuits. Together, they address treatment, relationships, work demands, meaning, insight, and daily wellbeing.

She calls three of these broader areas essential, especially in a crisis. Medical therapy includes seeing her psychiatrist, taking additional medication when needed, and continuing talk therapy. Love therapy comes from her husband, two sons, and sister. Lifestyle therapy includes regular exercise, games, nutritious food, and a disciplined routine, with sleep treated as “religion.”

Her account presents recovery as an ongoing system rather than one cure. She still sees her therapist every fortnight and relies on family care when unwell. The article’s wider message is that support must fit the person’s needs and remain active beyond the immediate crisis.

Regular sleep matters especially to Raje because disrupted sleep is closely linked to her mood episodes. She says that if she has not slept well for five nights in a row, she is likely to tip into hypomania. Sleep is therefore not a minor wellness preference in her routine. It is part of managing a serious, recurring condition.

Her 2013 breakdown shows the danger of prolonged sleep loss. At the Bihar retreat, she slept no more than three hours a night for several days. She began talking to herself, hearing voices, and struggling to organise her thoughts before developing psychosis. She later connected sleeplessness with psychological triggers that therapy helps uncover.

Raje calls sleep “religion” and describes a regular sleep routine as the single biggest factor in her stability. Her experience supports combining lifestyle care with medical treatment and therapy. It also makes changes in sleep an important warning sign for her and those who support her.

A long-term mental health condition may require several kinds of help at once. In Raje’s account, medication addresses the medical side, while psychotherapy helps identify psychological triggers, understand patterns, and manage mood swings. Family support provides care and acceptance during illness. Lifestyle changes protect daily stability through sleep, exercise, food, and routine.

Raje sees her psychiatrist, takes additional medication when needed, and continues talk therapy. She has seen therapists for two decades and still sees hers every fortnight. Her husband, two sons, and sister look after her when she is unwell. She also exercises, plays games, eats a nutritious diet, and maintains a regular sleep routine.

These approaches work together because each meets a different need. Raje says the three essential therapies—medical, love, and lifestyle—cannot be substituted. Her current reality is ongoing management, supported by self-acceptance and trusted care. The article does not present recovery as stopping treatment, but as building a life that supports stability.