What’s your opinion of bipolar people?

Sometimes I think they're alright. And sometimes I don't.

 

Lmao!

 

No moral outrage at all. What I'm saying is everyone is not alike and cannot manage like your friend. I think she is unusual to be able to do what she does. Some people are better at managing these situations than others. I also applaud your friend for being able to do what she does. But don't say people want easy outs or fixes because they can't do what she does. Illness is illness, whether it's from the brain or body. Sometimes medication saves people... just like it does in cancer treatment.

 

I don't see a correlation between cancer & bipolar disorder. One is a well documented physical ailment, the other a presumed chemical imbalance in the brain. We understand the human body very well but we still know very little about the brain & the mind isn't understood at all by modern medicine, isn't even acknowledged to exist.

 

Grandiose manic people can definitely be assholes. But my contestation is that the majority of assholes have absolutely no mental-illness excuses for their assholery

 

Mania seems to occur due to over or misfiring synapses and some lack of various brain chemicals that keep the brain in harmonious balance. Chemical imbalances cause brain malfunctions. Just as addictions cause brain and body malfunctions. Cancer is a cell-growth disorder. They are in some ways analogous, simply in different body structures. Just because more people have had cancer and it is more well documented and treated doesn't mean that mood disorders aren't real, treatable illnesses as well. And these aren't "presumed" imbalances. There are many studies on mood disorders that indicate these imbalances are real and some medications manage them. My only beef with what you say is that old dogma about alcoholism. If you just had enough willpower you could stop. You appear to know someone who can do this. I think the likelihood of being able to control the chemicals in your brain is just about nil. And doing it with no counseling and medication is also in the slim to none category. I have a schizophrenic cousin who roamed the streets for years. He finally got medication and medication management and lives in a family home and has visiting nurses who keep him from becoming a homeless person, like he practically was before. Schizophrenia is a mental illness too. No amount of willpower can fix it. Mood disorders are extremely challenging to manage and handle. Some get worse over time without treatment, some stabilize. It varies from person to person. Keep an open mind... Oh, if that even exists! Eh!

 

Well said, perhaps, but poorly researched and ill informed. To claim against fairly well substantiated evidence, that bipolar disorder does not exist, is poorly reasoned. Especially since he uses only anecdotal evidence (which is NOT evidence) to support his claim--not to mention he only uses one example (yikes). Perhaps his friend did not have bipolar or was able to control her bipolar, but that does not negate the very real and evidence-based fact that many people struggle with bipolar and are not able to control it sans medication. BP ruins lives and relationships, and to dismiss it as a fallacy and to attribute it to a character flaw not only belittles its legitimacy, but is the very reason folks may not seek effective treatment or delay treatment.

 

I know you weren't technically quoting me but you were directly disagreeing with my stance so here's a response. I'll keep the spiel short because this is about to touch on philosophical & spiritual thoughts.

It is my belief that will is the penultimate force driving the universe & reality itself. I have concluded that all we see, touch, hear, & experience in our lives is, hmmm a simulation if you will, a construct born of consciousness & maintained by the will of that consciousness. I have evidence, albeit largely circumstantial, that this is true however I'm not going into that here on an unrelated thread. This belief system substantiates my statements in this thread.

I also believe that doctors, or at least the most highly respected ones, know that will can & does directly effect the health of a person but because they want the money their jobs provide they cover this up. That probably would be be better suited to the conspiracy section so I'll leave it there.

 

I should have directly quoted you originally, so that is what I am doing now.

And fair enough. I don't think you are wrong in that human will is a powerful force; but I also believe that to apply that too heavily to medical and health issues is a dangerous and often biased path.

 

Of course will, desire and ego strength have a lot to do with being healthy. But if someone is so mentally confused or deranged that they are not aware of how ill they are, as per example, my schizoid cousin, and in cases of extreme mania or clinical depression, will, desire and ego are not factors. It is true that if someone is physically sick and doesn't care to live, they will usually die sooner rather than later. I don't find mental illness so analogous. If someone is unaware that they are sick, they will have no will to be or get better. In those cases, especially when someone is a danger to themselves or others, hospitalization and medication may help them realize what is happening and give them that will. Good doctors want their patients to be well. There might be money grunging doctors, but most want the best health for their patients and don't cover up information to make more money. There are plenty of sick people to keep them employed. Otherwise I'd never have to wait for an appointment.

 

What's my opinion? I don't really have an opinion on bi-polar people. I don't understand the question. I acknowledge their existence and their affliction--because unlike some posters here, I recognize my expertise in mental health is severely limited and I am not qualified to dismiss their disorder.

But none of that is an opinion

 

Yeah I don't get the question either, I'm not going to read the responses. I have bipolar and like, I don't think it makes me anythjng for somebody else to hold an opinion against. My struggles are all mine, not theirs. If they got a problem with me, that's their burden and not something I'm going to waste my time on.

 

I am bipolar myself. I will try to explain you what it means. The first thing is you are, well, bipolar. It means sometimes you feel high like you are under the effect of cocaine, sometimes you feel down and have depression and suicidal thoughts like you got heroin. Not nice either, I can tell you. Depression is pain and sadness, often leads not only to thoughts but to real suicide or self distructive behavior, like drug or alcohol addiction. Also having a high is not nice at all, even though it might seem so. The behaviour becomes compulsive, ridiculous, absurd. You buy things you don't need, you act like a stupid and people start talking at your back. Girls sometimes tend to have sex with people they don't even like, almost like if they were totally drunken. Most people don't understand the cause of this, they just think you are stupid. Others understand it but they don't care or they insult you like "he is mad", "asshole", and so on.
Another thing that dominates your life is thoughts rushing in your mind. You can't focus on anything at work, or study, or any kind of complex activity that requires attention. You can spend a whole afternoon doing nothing, just following the thoughts that haunt your mind. This thing consumes and destroys the strength. I would say the brain is an organ just like the muscles or the lungs, or the heart. If it is always under pressure, it kind of grows older at an early age. Also, the more you get old, the more it's difficult to face your demons, to keep strong to fight, just like the legs can't be the same when you are 20 or when you are 40 and you can't run as fast as in the youth.
To people who are bipolar I would like to say get medical help. It doesn't solve the problem, but it helps.
To the others I would like to say keep in mind it's an illness. Bipolar people already suffer by themselves, many of them kill themselves to stop this pain when they feel it's unbearable. Don't add more suffering to all of this, there is no need

 

One of my best friends had bipolar and schizophrenia. It was hard sometimes because when it was bad she not herself. Horrible depression and paranoia got the point she does not even trust you. She would always ask people if they had poisoned her drink. That is more schizophrenia but it was sad. Like why would your friends potion you? She did not get it.

But if you are really someones's friend you accept the bad and good. She was a wonderful and kind person so when times got bad I tried to see the good still.

 

Thank you so much for sharing. I'm actually surprised at the level of hostility and judgment on this topic and I think that makes you even braver.

 

Eh, you'll get used to it.

 

I am bi polar and hate it .One day your up next minute your suicidal or crying for no reason or wondering what the hell life is about .You cant plan as you never know how your gonna feel .

 

They have a real hard time.

 

Are you getting any help for the situation: counseling, medication to help? It is trial and error for most part, but might be worth your time to get to some kind of balance...

 

All mental health diagnoses are bullshit definitions created by the psychiatric industry and big pharma. They function to repress natural and healthy emotional and mental states essential to being an actual human being. The psychiatric industry is an Ideological State Apparatus designed to flatten out and tame anyone who doesn't fit into the rules and roles created by the concensus society. Madness is a sane response to an insane world. Embrace madness and reject any further sub-divisions. It is the suppression of natural instincts, thought processes and energetic behaviours that causes the neuroses to fester. Enjoy your symptom. All research is valid.