On my journey as a writer, I have followed in the steps of F. Scott Fitzgerald. I followed his steps right into the mental hospital. In truth, it was a ramp. After all, it was a hospital. Many people speculate that Fitzgerald was bipolar. Some people, namely my shrink, speculate the same thing about me.

I want to present some “out there” ideas about bipolar disorder. Granted, these are crazy ideas, but in my case, eating Golden Grahams for breakfast was a crazy idea. It’s madness.

Roughly 2.3 million Americans have the disorder, hovering around 1.2 percent of the population, according to the National Institute for Mental Health, and the rate of diagnosis is on the rise.

There are two very sensible ideas why this number is growing: we have either better diagnosis techniques, the disease is being overly diagnosed, or some combination of the two. I would like to preface my next statement with the assumption that these theories are, in fact, true, and that what I am about to say is just there to raise some serious questions about the way mental health is dealt with in this country.

Here it goes: The rise in bipolar disorder has nothing to do with advances or faults in medicine. The rise in bipolar is caused by the simple fact that crazy is cool. I’ve been on the forefront of many scenes. I was in on the “dotcom” thing before is went south, I listened to Death Cab for Cutie before KWOD picked them up, and I swear that my obsession with digital photography is picking up some serious steam.

I was there before you all of those times, but the problem with Bipolar is that there is no real way for me to “drop out” of it like I did with the whole Pog craze. Those kinds of things always burn out in a few years.

I am diagnosed as Type 1 Bipolar, the most severe form of the illness, so at least I’m on top of the trend. Unlike the short trends where I can ride the crest of the wave and get out before the bottom, I’m locked in on this lifestyle.

At least I have company. Celebrities like DMX, Ben Stiller, Ernest Hemmingway, and a whole bunch of other people cooler than you are reportedly or speculated to be bipolar, according to About.com. Matchbox 20’s hit song “Unwell” glamorizes mental illness along with Harvey Danger’s “Flagpole Sitta,” an ode to the madman in all of us.

Mental illness is sexy, and the symptoms of bipolar disorder are commonly displayed. Between the dark depression and out of control manic episodes often lies some quality “normal” time. Some ordinary people, fewer than you think, can fake normal, maybe even you. Welcome to the scene.

So the next time you watch “Marvin’s Room,” put on a Nirvana album or read some Virginia Wolfe, appreciate these trendsetters for who they are and remember that suffering is always cool, at least for a little while.