Does it bug you that bipolar is romanticized?

I can't think of any other mental illness that's romanticized as much as bipolar disorder. Just think about the reaction after Kurt Cobain couldn't take it anymore, when all the money and fame in the world just made his nightmare worse.

Does this get up your nose?

Yes it does get annoying. People think it makes you into an artist because of mania or something. They seem to think that the diagnosis is a sure sign of creativity without the downsides and the fact that most who experience hypomania/mania have difficulty finishing anything they start.

Looking at it in that way, yes it bothers me. Was Kurt Cobain actually diagnosed with bipolar? If anyone knew how much suffering I went through my depressions, they wouldn't romanticize it. I don't have mania's much. I've only had 3 in my lifetime. Doesn't mean I am done or that I can't have anymore. But that is what I have experienced.

I hate it when celebrities behave terribly, and then they excuse themselves by saying, "I'm bipolar, and therefore not responsible for my actions.

A few years ago a member of Canadian Parliament stole a ring from a jeweler. After brief therapy, he told the world he was bipolar and that somehow made the theft alright.

In the '90's there was a movie made about a construction worker who was bipolar. I'm sorry I can't remember the name of the movie. It focused mostly on the man's mania, making him out to be a free spirit. It didn't show him getting in trouble for his stunts or being held accountable. And of course the woman loved him in the end.

I'm with you. This stuff is nonsense and doesn't help anyone.

romanticized. seem to me its been more like demonized

When in hospital, I read "The Marriage Plot" by Jeffrey Eugenides. I must say if I had no clue about bipolar I'd probably find it a very good book. Unfortunately having experienced both the illness and lithium treatment I can see that Eugenides did most of his research on Wikipedia, came to the conclusion bipolars are basically beyond saving and *spoiler alert* at the end disposes of the character by having them move "somewhere in a forest with a friend" -- because that's what we unpredictable bipolars do.

I have never seen the Silver Linings Playbook or whatever it is called, because reviews made me understand I will not enjoy it.

I appreciate Catherine Zeta-Jones for talking about her illness. I don't appreciate the fact that she is always only shown at her good moments. You don't see a depressed Catherine slumped on the sofa with a box of chocolates, or manic Catherine running around unable to finish a sentence before another starts pushing out. This -- while good for her career -- gives people an idea bipolar is some sort of, yeah, creative illness that touches The Chosen Ones among us, but luckily once you pop a pill or two all gets sorted and you become a Zeta-Jones.

Even Stephen Fry got on my nerves when I watched his bipolar documentary. When they went to Apple store and he started getting all excited about... Mac Mini I think. This is not how it works. You do not go to a store while being rich and magically overspending switches on while cameras roll. Because you don't get the option to WAIT until cameras are rolling. Of course possibly this was cleverly edited, but it looked very much like "and now Stephen will perform the role of Big Spender in Bipolar The Musical".

Don't even get me started on Chris Brown apparently having bipolar.

Recently in Poland, where I come from, a man driving a Honda drove into a crowd, wounding if I recall correctly 27 people. On purpose. He drove around for 8 minutes trying to hurt people. He was sober, drug-free but said he was receiving psychiatric care. I am praying to all gods that it does not emerge that he is bipolar.

Sorry if half of this rant is off-topic. Obviously it DOES bug me.

YES! A thousand times yes!! Especially the depression part. Maybe because that's my worst side, but it angers me beyond measure!! Depression is NOT romantic! You know in movies when they show the depressed hero with a bottle of Jack, chain-smoking while images of the girl he lost fade away in the background? I hate that!! And then the next day everything's fine because he meets another girl and they live happily ever after? I hate that! That's not how it works! Show someone who's filthy because they haven't showered in days, someone dressed in old baggy clothes, someone who eats chocolate for dinner because the only effort involved is opening the package. Someone who gets fired because they don't show up for work for days, weeks at a time. Someone who nobody can stand being around. Someone who is utterly and completely broken. Don't make it seem like it's oh so romantic, oh poor troubled soul who just needs someone to love him!

And the manias? How fun is it to break a couple of fingers or toes punching or kicking a wall? How funny it is when you break your laptop and basically waste 1000€? How about when you alienate everyone around you just because you explode at, for example, your 93-year-old grandma? Oh, and how about that time when you punched and broke a faucet and then managed to break the water heater too? Oh, it was so funny having to shower at a friend's for a week until they fixed everything. Good times, I love it. Can I have some more??

Aaargh, sorry, this really gets to me! Good to know it's not just me, though. I sometimes avoid movies, TV shows and books just because someone there is bipolar. I watched the first episode of a tv show the other day and the main character is bipolar. Finished the episode, haven't watched the show again and don't intend to.

I'm guessing you mean "Black Box", in which a neurologist stops taking her pills to "switch on" mania, because then she's a genius.

So pretty much like all of us then.

Oliveira wrote:I'm guessing you mean "Black Box", in which a neurologist stops taking her pills to "switch on" mania, because then she's a genius.

So pretty much like all of us then.

You know me all too well! Yes, that is the one I was talking about. I actually liked bits of it, but they crammed everything in it! Too much going on at the same time. And, of course, she's beautiful and successful. Naturally.

Oliveira wrote:I'm guessing you mean "Black Box", in which a neurologist stops taking her pills to "switch on" mania, because then she's a genius.

So pretty much like all of us then.

God it's so tempting. The sheer sensuality of it is beyond amazing.