Bipolar Happens

It is quite possible you know someone, even yourself, that has bipolar disorder. There are a shocking number of people who suffer from it whether they are actually diagnosed or not.

If you don't know and it's quite possible you don't, bipolar is considered a mood disorder that gravely affects how you feel. There are two poles or extremes involved, depression is a total withdrawal from life and mania or hypomania is a super elevated 'high' that goes beyond any concept of feeling good.

Bipolar disorder is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. This is believed to be hereditary in nature but exactly how it works is still unknown.

It is classed as a disorder and not a disease, no part of the body will be preyed on and there are no outward signs other than the behavior during extreme ups and downs.

Contrary to popular belief, bipolar is not contagious in any way, shape or form. There is no way to catch it from germs, bodily fluids, or any contact.

Also someone who suffers from bipolar is not crazy, whacked, psychotic or any other labelling word you can come up with. They are not weak of character, slow or stupid. They never did anything to deserve it nor are they bad people.

If you know someone that shows signs of being depressed or manic it is highly recommended to encourage them so see their doctor about it and be honest with them. This may not go over well, but it the best course of action to take.

Please note here that I am not talking about the ups and downs of life, which everyone has. Depression can be a total withdrawal from life or losing interest in things that were enjoyed before. Mania or hypomania (lesser degree) is like an uncontrollable 'high' that can affect judgement. Both can last varying amounts of time and both can be dangerous.

It is important to see a doctor as soon as possible as bipolar is a very difficult diagnosis to make, there are a lot of factors that need to be looked at. There are also different levels, type I is more severe and may be harder to treat. I am fortunate that I am 'only' type II, many are far worse off than me.

The bad news is that bipolar has no absolute cure, the good news is that it can be treated and managed. A very common treatment that is effective for many is Lithium which is a mood stabaliser. It does not work for all and some won't take Lithium because of the side effects. There are also many other medications, many of which are anti-depressants.

Now the odd thing about being on a medication for life is that they come to be resented. There will be time(s) when its decided, you know I don't need these darn things. This never turned out to be a good plan, every time I ended up in another depression. That is far worse than hating the medication you are on. Yes to this day I still hate mine but they are effective.

So life is interesting to say the least. I don't see the need to complain or whine about it (ok maybe the odd time...), it won't serve any great purpose. Life throws things at you, you can either cope or not cope, I choose to cope.

The chemical nature of bipolar means that the root of the problem is physical. There are physical problems based on genetic traits, anyone having these traits will be prone to whatever the problem is.

This is exactly how bipolar works, if it's in your genes then you have it. It is not a character flaw or a weakness and trust me anyone that is bipolar sure did not ask for it.

However because of the way bipolar manifests itself, the extreme highs and lows, the perceived behavior problems, it is mostly seen as a mental problem.

This is where we get to one of the ugliest words I know, stigma. Stigma basically comes down to a combination of two more ugly words, prejudice and ignorance.

Even in the medical world, knowledge of mental or 'thought to be mental' problems is vague at best. As far as science has come with the understanding and treatment of the body any comprehension of the mind leaves a lot to be desired. Outside the medical or scientific world, where most just don't have that training, it gets even worse.

It does slowly get a bit better, less than 200 years ago it was not uncommon for mental patients to be tortured. The reasoning was that they had to be possessed by demons. Torture was the best way to get rid of the demons and if it killed the patient, well they did not have to worry about it anymore.

I can appreciate that a lot of people have no grasp of 'mental' issues and this can lead to a fear factor. Yes the unknown can cause unease.

What amazes me is how people with so little understanding of something can have so many opinions on it. This is based on things that have been said to me.

"Well I can't imagine anything like that happening, you must be making it up."

"If you got more fresh air I'm sure you would feel better."

"It doesn't sound that bad to me, just don't worry about it."

Or the ultimate one "Why don't you just suck it up and get over it?"

These and many others are based on ignorance and it gets even worse when prejudice is added in. Some prejudice is learned from others and some is from our own beliefs. Either way it is a dangerous thing.

So if we take ignorance (not knowing) and prejudice (pre judging) together, we come up with stigma. Now you can see why I said stigma is an ugly word.

Happily there is more acceptance of purely physical problems these days. Knowledge has been gained and it is understood that there is a reason behind the differences.

Now if only that was the case with 'mental' problems. Say someone was under too much pressure, could not cope and acted unusually. They would be taken to a mental hospital as a regular hospital is not equipped to handle that.

Many would say oh this person 'cracked up' or what is the problem? they looked healthy enough. There must be something wrong with them, people just don't act that way.

If you put enough pressure on an arm, it will break. Put enough pressure on a mind and some scary things can happen. The big difference is no one considers the person with a broken arm defective. What if it was considered unacceptable to have a broken arm? Well you would have to hide the cast and whatever you do, don't talk about it ever, it is too nasty to hear about.

It is very interesting that some people are more interested in how animals are treated than other humans. Companies are now so proud to announce that this product was not tested on animals. Well that is great, animals are our friends. It would be even better if the same consideration was given to humans.

What a lot of people don't realize is bipolar sufferers tend to be highly intelligent, with many running in the gifted to genius range. I always thought this was to balance out some of what life would hand to them.

Another trait that is not as common is creativity, some bipolar people have proven that their best quality and highest quantity work was done in a manic state. It is not unheard of for them to refuse treatment, so this 'edge' is not lost.

I am not going to put a list here but if you are curious try an online search for "famous people with bipolar". You may be surprised at the names, and I'm sure you know some of them, even if not personally.

If you are bipolar or know someone who is, even if you suspect they are, I would encourage you to find out more. There are some awesome resources online or I'm sure your friendly librarian would help you as well.

I did not put any links or book information here because I am not promoting any site or book. That was not my intention. In my search to find out and understand more, I have read things that both moved and saddened me.

So I wrote this to speak my piece from my point of view. I would be happy if you found something in this that you found useful.

Thank You
Ross