‘Teen Mom OG’ Star Tyler Baltierra on Bipolar Disorder: ‘I Am Not My Diagnosis’

Tyler Baltierra is getting real about his mental health. The Teen Mom OG star took to Instagram Sunday to share a look into his mindset while dealing with a bipolar diagnosis.

“Bi Polar is like dancing on the edge of a cliff,” he wrote in a note on the social media platform. “The good moods are full of endless euphoric adrenaline, but the bad moods cause a reclusive crash with an abusive rift when there’s just too much emotions to go through & sift, which makes you trip down a long hard fall when you slip after you lose that grip once that adrenaline filled dance inevitably makes you tip.”

Regardless, Baltierra made it clear that he is more than just his mental health issues.

“I am not my diagnosis. I am in control of my perceptions and my reactions. #PoetryIsMyBrainsFreedom,” he captioned the post.

Baltierra and his wife Catelynn Lowell have long been open about their respective mental health struggles. In November, Lowell checked herself into a mental health treatment facility to address her suicidal thoughts and childhood trauma following a miscarriage.

Baltierra was candid about his feelings as he cared for the couple’s 3-year-old daughter Nova, crying in a video message shared with fans in February.

“Sometimes you just don’t even really know what to say to your children. I don’t ever cry in front of [my daughter] Nova or anything. I don’t want her to feel any of that,” he said in the video. “You have good days, then you have bad days. And today is just a bad day.”

When Lowell returned from treatment, Baltierra revealed he was still struggling.

“Laying in bed next to my peacefully sleeping wife. I can hear my daughter snoozing away through the monitor in her room. My dog is cuddled up on the floor next to me…& yet I feel so empty…so alone,” he wrote on Twitter in April. “#TheCruelIronyOfLife.”

His wife responded with empathy in a tweet the following morning, saying, “I am so sorry babe… I will do anything to help you… you are an amazing husband and father and are so caring, funny, and thoughtful…” she wrote. “Don’t let life bring you down because you are one strong man… I love you so much.”

The two have never shied away from leaning on one another, and we hope that Lowell is there to help her hubby through this low as well.

Photo credit: Instagram/Tyler Baltierra