Mariah Carey opens up about her battle with bipolar disorder

Mariah Carey has revealed that she suffers from a bipolar disorder.

The singer-songwriter told People magazine that she was first diagnosed with the disorder in 2001, when she was hospitalised for a physical and mental health breakdown.

I didn't want to believe it... 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 anymore. 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 said.

The pop diva is now in therapy and taking medication for bipolar II disorder, which involves periods of depression as well as hypomania.

"I'm actually taking medication that seems to be pretty good. It's not making me feel too tired or sluggish or anything like that. Finding the proper balance is what is most important," she said.

"For a long time I thought I had a severe sleep disorder. But it wasn't normal insomnia and I wasn't lying awake counting sheep. I was working and working and working I was irritable and in constant fear of letting people down. It turns out that I was experiencing a form of mania. Eventually I would just hit a wall. I guess my depressive episodes were characterized by having very low energy. I would feel so lonely and sad even guilty that I wasn't doing what I needed to be doing for my career," she added.

Carey said she decided to come forward because she wanted to remove the stigma attached to the bipolar disorder.

"I'm just in a really good place right now, where I'm comfortable discussing my struggles with bipolar II disorder. I'm hopeful we can get to a place where the stigma is lifted from people going through anything alone. It can be incredibly isolating. It does not have to define you and I refuse to allow it to define me or control me," she said.