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#Post#: 19123--------------------------------------------------
Have you ever met a Bipolar person? What do you think of that?
By: Sepideh Date: August 13, 2019, 7:44 pm
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"Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that causes dramatic
shifts in a person’s mood, energy and ability to think clearly.
People with bipolar experience high and low moods—known as mania
and depression—which differ from the typical ups-and-downs most
people experience.
The average age-of-onset is about 25, but it can occur in the
teens, or more uncommonly, in childhood. The condition affects
men and women equally, with about 2.6% of the U.S. population
diagnosed with bipolar disorder and nearly 83% of cases
classified as severe.
If left untreated, bipolar disorder usually worsens. However,
with a good treatment plan including psychotherapy, medications,
a healthy lifestyle, a regular schedule and early identification
of symptoms, many people live well with the condition."
#Post#: 19124--------------------------------------------------
Re: Have you ever met a Bipolar person? What do you think of tha
t?
By: Aliph Date: August 13, 2019, 7:59 pm
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Sepideh, since when do you copy and paste long medical
descripions in your posts? Usually you just publish a brilliant
question with no comment at all.
#Post#: 19129--------------------------------------------------
Re: Have you ever met a Bipolar person? What do you think of tha
t?
By: Sepideh Date: August 14, 2019, 3:49 am
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Hi Sofia, :)
I thought members might not be familiar with this concept and
that is why I copied a description ;D
#Post#: 19131--------------------------------------------------
Re: Have you ever met a Bipolar person? What do you think of tha
t?
By: Nikola Date: August 14, 2019, 6:05 am
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I don't think I've ever met anyone with Bipolar Disorder but
maybe I have and just wasn't aware of it. I guess you have to be
quite close with someone to discuss mental health. What about
you, Sepideh? Have you met anyone with Bipolar Disorder?
#Post#: 19132--------------------------------------------------
Re: Have you ever met a Bipolar person? What do you think of tha
t?
By: Aliph Date: August 14, 2019, 9:41 am
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I do not have in my family and in the circle of my close friends
anybody who suffers from this condition.
I think that Carrie Mathison from the famous American series
Homeland is the most well known and talented fictional character
having a Bipolar disorder. As a CIA officer in the Middle East
she must prove that not all conspiracies are theories.
HTML https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Mathison
On Wikipedia there is a list of real people from singer Mariah
Carey to writer Patricia Cornwell (whose books I enjoyed reading
for a while) who are functioning successfully in their job and
in their life despite this diagnosis.
#Post#: 19134--------------------------------------------------
Re: Have you ever met a Bipolar person? What do you think of tha
t?
By: SHL Date: August 14, 2019, 10:27 am
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[quote author=Sofia link=topic=1332.msg19132#msg19132
date=1565793717]
I do not have in my family and in the circle of my close friends
anybody who suffers from this condition.
I think that Carrie Mathison from the famous American series
Homeland is the most well known and talented fictional character
having a Bipolar disorder. As a CIA officer in the Middle East
she must prove that not all conspiracies are theories.
HTML https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Mathison
On Wikipedia there is a list of real people from singer Mariah
Carey to writer Patricia Cornwell (whose books I enjoyed reading
for a while) who are functioning successfully in their job and
in their life despite this diagnosis.
[/quote]
Bipolar disorder is probably over-diagnosed in the US, but many
musically talented people were bipolar, like Nina Simon. And
others.
#Post#: 19135--------------------------------------------------
Re: Have you ever met a Bipolar person? What do you think of tha
t?
By: Sepideh Date: August 14, 2019, 10:49 am
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"What about you, Sepideh? Have you met anyone with Bipolar
Disorder?"
The first time I heard of that was the time I was listening to
people's questions from a well-known phycologist. The
phycologist explained about bipolarity and told them that you
are a bipolar person.
#Post#: 19136--------------------------------------------------
Re: Have you ever met a Bipolar person? What do you think of tha
t?
By: Nikola Date: August 14, 2019, 11:49 am
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[quote author=Sepideh link=topic=1332.msg19135#msg19135
date=1565797762]
The phycologist explained about bipolarity and told them that
you are a bipolar person.
[/quote]
Well that's not very nice, the psychologist doesn't even know me
:D
#Post#: 19140--------------------------------------------------
Re: Have you ever met a Bipolar person? What do you think of tha
t?
By: Susan Date: August 14, 2019, 7:43 pm
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I have known many, starting with my mother. SHL is correct that
it is probably very overdiagnosed in the U.S. In my opinion,
that is partially due to the way psychiatrists practice here.
Here is someone goes to a psychiatrist, it is overwhelmingly
likely that the psychiatrist will try to give them a
prescription for a psychoactive drug. Although many of the
persons with mood disorders are likely to be suffering
depression and/or irratability related to situational factors,
most psychiatrists will attach a label like Bipolar that
justifies the use of the medicine they give.
My mother´s case was severe and she was diagnosed in the late
50´s, back when it was a relatively rare diagnosis and the
diagnosis of schizophrenia was common. She had very obvious
classic symptoms. She would have periods of high energy when
she barely slept at all for days, and weeks of severe depression
where she struggled to get out of bed. She was also hard of
hearing but very good at reading lips. When she was too
severely depressed to put the effort into reading lips and was
very difficult to communicate with. When she was in her less
common hypomanic or manic phases, if she could see your lips you
would not have to make any special effort to communicate. As a
child I never understood why her hearing was so cyclical-- but
now I understand, after having worked with depressed people.
Because my mother´s case was so clear and obvious, I often fail
to distinguish it in higher functioning people and never
diagnose it myself without collaboration from someone else. My
tennis coach was diagnosed with it after I had been playing with
him weekly (and talking between breaks) for four years. I am
almost always am innately suspicious of misdiagnosis. It took
me quite a while to agree with his diagnosis, although he agreed
with it and had several family members with it. I personally
think many of the people diagnosed with Bipolar in the U.S.
either have Borderline personality disorder, have Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder, or occasionally have other disorders (or no
disorders.) The mood changes of Borderline personality tend to
be rapid and psychiatrists do not tend to diagnose personality
disorder unless they don´t like someone. Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder affects at least three parts of the brain (according to
SPECT scans and the writings of Dr. Daniel Amen) and in my
opinion unless there is obvious adult trauma in the history,
such as a war veteran, psychiatrists do not diagnose it. Many
of the survivors of childhood trauma are diagnosed bipolar
instead of PTSD. Bipolar disorder can be diagnosed in people
so functional that it does not seem to me to be a very good
diagnosis. The disorder runs in my mother´s family. Almost all
the relatives on her side of the family have achieved a lot--
usually both having a lot of education but also achieving things
because of a lot of periods of hypomania-- times of high energy,
ambition and creativity. Then there are the three members of
that side of the family who have committed suicide. It is kind
of a bad joke that in my mother´s family you either have to be
very successful or kill yourself-- possibly is part of the
culture of the family, but probably is also due to the
Scandinavian genes. It is known that Bipolar is more common in
Scandinavians than in most other ethnic groups.
#Post#: 19141--------------------------------------------------
Re: Have you ever met a Bipolar person? What do you think of tha
t?
By: SHL Date: August 14, 2019, 10:46 pm
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I don‘t know how a psychiatrist makes a bipolar diagnosis. I
knew a lady once who was officially diagnosed as bipolar, but
when she would slip and have an episode, she totally lost touch
with reality and had to be hospitalized. She was completely in a
different world, often for days, until the medications took
effect. (There were multiple combinations of medications.
Cypraxa rings a bell as an anti-psychotic they used. But that
was just one of several she took).
Then I‘ve met other people who would just have mood swings and
claim to have been diagnosed as bipolar. Otherwise they would
seem okay. I asked a psychiatrist once how the diagnosis was
made and he just smiled and shook his head and said, „It’s just
a seat-of-your-pants diagnosis.“
40 years ago you rarely heard of anyone being bipolar (which was
called „manic-depression“ in those days). Now, it very common to
run into people claiming to be bipolar, or their
partners/wives/husbands. That’s why I think it is
over-diagnosed.
When I read Nina Simone was bipolar it didn‘t surprise me. If
you watch her on-stage performance, she is odd. She would often
berate her audiences for not paying closer attention to her
performance. Or even stop in the middle of a performance to
complain someone was distracted or that they were letting their
child make annoying noises. Just bizarre behavior.
Watch her 1987 performance at the Montreux Jazz festival in
Switzerland where she sort of rambles on about her „friend“
David Bowie and says other strange things. There was something
definitely a bit off about her. They said it was a late bipolar
diagnosis with the disease having likely started in the 60s but
wasn’t diagnosed until later.
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