just manic enough

on bipolar disorder

The Not So Secret Life of the Manic Depressive 10 Years On BBC Documentary 2016 from Joe moonblue on Vimeo.

Part 1



Part 2

bipolar discrimination

Medical student drops program due to bipolar disorder saddled with $170k in debt. Story here.

The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive

Here.

whopper

“You will inevitably be disappointed and more than likely sent into a manic-depressive state for days” - Chef Anthony Bourdain on ordering a room service hamburger when you’re alone.

cow

Sting and Stewart Copeland in AIR Studios Montserrat, 1981. Photo: Andy Summers

"Happiness is a bovine concept. They get it. We don't"
- Sting

machinery of the universe

Dr. Bromfenbrenner

Patient shows no ambition, no get-up-and-go, no vim.

He is riding the grand loopen-ze-loop ... that goes from the height of delusional gaiety ... to the trough of despair.

He is now near, but not yet at his lowest point. When he reaches bottom, he may erupt und pose a danger to himself ... and others.

Sidney J. Mussburger

Diagnosis, Dr. Bromfenbrenner?

Dr. Bromfenbrenner

Patient is eine manic-depressive paranoid, type B ... with acute schizoid tendencies.

exuberance

Kay Redfield Jamison on the pros and cons of exuberance and how moods are contagious.

bipolar disorder magazine

conveyance of mental confusion

Portrait of Virginia Wolf by her sister Vanessa Bell, 1912

"The method of writing smooth narrative can't be right. Things don't happen in one's mind like that. We experience, all the time, an overlapping of images and ideas, and modern novels should convey our mental confusion instead of neatly arranging it. The reader must sort it out."
- Virginia Woolf [1882-1941]

8 of the 15 were manic-depressive*

"Blessed are the cracked for they let the light shine through."

Group portrait of American Abstract Expressionists in 1950, "The Irascibles." From left, rear: Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Ad Reinhardt, Hedda Sterne; (next row) Richard Pousette-Dart, William Baziotes, Jimmy Ernst (w. bow tie), Jackson Pollock (in striped jacket), James Brooks, Clyfford Still (leaning on knee), Robert Motherwell, Bradley Walker Tomlin; (in foreground) Theodoros Stamos (on bench), Barnett Newman (on stool), Mark Rothko (with glasses).

* www.obad.ca

garden variety

Agent Starling

If you didn't kill him, then who did, sir?

Dr. Lecter

Who can say? Best thing for him, really. His therapy was going nowhere. His dress, make-up...

Agent Starling

Raspail was a transvestite?

Dr. Lecter

In life? Oh, no. Garden-variety manic-depressive. Tedious, very tedious.

M*A*S*H

Spearchucker, Trapper John, Hawkeye Pierce, Frank Burns

In the television show M*A*S*H, Major Frank Burns is routinely ridiculed by Captains Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John. 

In one episode, Hawkeye identifies Frank as an "M.D." - waits a beat - then clarifies that he means Manic Depressive. Hawkeye finishes his thought with the quip that Frank is also Schizoid.

Harsh insensitive words especially from the revolutionarily tolerant, liberal, enlightened, gifted medical doctor character on the most watched series in the history of television. 

Personality development is affected by genetic tendencies as well as environmental factors, particularly during childhood. Factors that increase the risk of developing schizoid personality disorder include:

• Having a parent or other relative who has schizoid personality disorder
• Experiencing a childhood environment of neglect or scorn
• Suffering child abuse or mistreatment
• Having an emotionally detached parent

More on Schizoid Personality Disorder here.

Clive James and Stephen Fry

God Diagnosed With Bipolar Disorder

NEW HAVEN, CT–In a diagnosis that helps explain the confusing and contradictory aspects of the cosmos that have baffled philosophers, theologians, and other students of the human condition for millennia, God, creator of the universe and longtime deity to billions of followers, was found Monday to suffer from bipolar disorder.
Rev. Dr. J. Henry Jurgens, a practicing psychiatrist and doctor of divinity at Yale University Divinity School, announced the historic diagnosis at a press conference.
"I always knew there had to be some explanation," Jurgens said. "And, after several years of patient research and long sessions with God Almighty through the intercessionary medium of prayer, I was able to pinpoint the specific nature of His problem."
Bipolar disorder, or manic-depression, is a condition that afflicts millions. Characterized by cycles of elation followed by bouts of profound depression and despair, the disorder can wreak havoc on both the sufferer and his or her loved ones, particularly if it goes undetected and untreated for an extended period. Though the condition is estimated to affect, in one form or another, 5 percent of the world's population, Monday marks the first time it has been diagnosed in a major deity.
Evidence of God's manic-depression can be found throughout the Universe, from the white-hot explosiveness of quasars to the cold, lifeless vacuum of space. However, theologians note, humanity's exposure to God's affliction comes primarily through His confusing propensity to alternately reward and punish His creations with little rhyme or reason.
"Last week, I lost my dear husband Walter to the flood," said housewife and devout churchgoer Elaine Froman of Davenport, IA. "I asked myself, 'Why? Why would God do something like this, especially when He had just helped Walter overcome a long battle with colon cancer, and we were so happy that we finally had a chance to start our lives anew?'"
New York attorney Ruth Kanner also gained firsthand knowledge of God's wild mood swings.
"Last Saturday, on a gorgeous spring afternoon, I was jogging in Central Park with my daughter. We were marveling at the beauty and majesty of nature, and I remember thinking what a wonderful world we live in. Then, out of nowhere, I heard the gunfire," said Kanner, speaking from her hospital bed at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. "All they took was a measly $17, and for that, the doctors say my daughter will never walk again. If only Our Holy Father didn't have those mental problems, my precious Katie might not be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life."
Jurgens stressed that God's earthly subjects need to understand that, because of His bipolar condition, He is not in control of His actions and does not realize how they affect others.
"What He needs from us is understanding and patience," Jurgens said. "To paraphrase the words of the Lord God Himself, 'Humans, forgive Him, for He knows not what He does.'"
While such drugs as Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft have proven effective in the treatment of bipolar disorder among humans, there is no modern earthly medicine that can be prescribed for a deity as vast and complex as God. Jurgens is in the process of forming a support group, "Living With A Bipolar Creator-Deity," for all of humanity to "get together and discuss their feelings about living in a universe run by an Omnipresent Loved One not fully in control of his emotions."
Jurgens said he believes God's essential condition is seasonal, as evidenced by the bursts of energy and elation associated with springtime and summer, followed by the decay and bleak despair of fall and winter. Sometimes, however, the condition cycles even faster.
"The average person with bipolar disorder may go through as many as 10 or 12 cycles of mania and subsequent depression in a lifetime. In severe cases, a sufferer may experience four or more per year, which is known as 'rapid cycling,'" Jurgens said. "We believe God suffers from the even rarer 'ultra-rapid cycling,' which would account for the many documented cases in which He alternates between benevolence and rage toward humanity within a matter of seconds. For example, last week, He brought desperately needed, life-giving rain to southern Mali while simultaneously leveling Turkey with a devastating earthquake."
Further evidence of God's manic-depression can be found in the Bible, in which the erotomania of the Song of Songs sharply contrasts with the sadness and existential despair of the Book of Ecclesiastes. The Book of Job, Jurgens noted, marks the best example of His condition. The book begins with the bleak lamentations of Job and ends with a full-blown manic episode by God, complete with such classic bipolar symptoms as the illusion of omnipotence and delusions of grandeur.
"One of the major 'heresies' of Christian history is the Gnostic belief that the Creator, or 'demiurge,' of this troubled world is a blind, idiot god who is insane," Jurgens said. "This idea surfaces in many religious traditions around the globe. As it turns out, they were only half right: God has His problems like anyone else, but He is essentially trying His best. He just has a condition that makes His emotions fly out of control at times."
"So it's up to us to make the best of God's emotional problems," Jurgens continued. "Thus, mankind is born to trouble, as surely as sparks fly upward." [The Onion]

The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive

Stephen Fry's BBC documentary on Bipolar Disorder is available below in 7 nine minute sections.

The bipolar spectrum is vast. Fry takes no meds and functions at a high level but others aren't in that situation. The science is still in the early stages of sorting this out:

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6


Part 7