I've been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder

[rubytuesday]

Originally Posted by blackroses

I believe most of us are somewhat "bipolar". It's the new term for moodiness. Every decade they come up with some new way of diagnosing fairly normal human reactions and behavior. Almost everyone I know would probably be diagnosed with this if they put themselves in the position of being analyzed by some psychiatrist or health care professional. Yes, many people have extreme moodiness which interferes with their life and should be treated, but it's only a matter of degree. Honestly, anyone who can live in this crazy world and not be moody or somewhat "bipolar" is probably a corpse (and yes, we do have some of those walking amongst us too ). But all the creative geniuses...musicians, artists, poets, and so on, most likely have some degree of this. Not to worry David. You're in good company.

My best friend is a clinical psychologist who works with one of the most well-known psychiatrists in the country. They believe this is just another one of the latest diagnosis fads. Not cancer by a long shot. Just normal human reactions to life, and they do not believe it should necessarily be termed a "disorder" unless the behavior is highly disabling and bizarre. Anyway, just another perspective to consider.

Sure, there are fads when it comes to children and teenagers (ADHD was the previous one) but that could be taken the wrong way. Like ADHD is a real illness and not just a lack of attention span or a hissyfit, bipolar is not just feeling down one day and feeling happy the next, it's a very serious illness and one that has a very lengthy recovery, if at all. It's usually something people live with for life and is not really a case of just a normal response to today's hectic lifestle.

You should watch that documentary I posted for David a few posts above. It's very insightful into the extremes of what bipolar is for a sufferer on a day to day basis. The suicide rate for sufferers is sadly relatively high so a proper diagnosis of it is nothing to talk down as being no more than what everyone deals with in today's fast-paced society.