Manic Monday IV
March 24, 2008 by pistolpete
This edition of “Manic Monday” is presented to you from an undisclosed location where I am receiving intensive, necessary therapy myself.
Celebrity gossip blograg In Case You Didn’t Know reports that “Courtney Love Blasts Bipolar Claims“. Love remarks, ” i hear now i am “Bi Polar” uhhhh…thats more nuts than I will ever be.”
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Not to be outdone in “outing” celebrities for potentially having Bipolar, My Depression Space.com cites New York governor Eliot Spitzer (”Bipolar disorder? New York Governer Eliot Spitzer, fierce prosecutor of organized crime, linked to prostitution ring? My heart goes out to his family.“)
“People often behave recklessly during a bipolar episode – gambling away savings, engaging in inappropriate sexual activity, or making foolish business investments, for example”
According to this criteria, nearly everyone in Vegas and on Wall Street has Bipolar.
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Courtney Love? Eliot Spitzer? But wait! There’s more, Vagus Nerve Stimulation concludes -
“It is now clear to me that Heath Ledger was self-medicating with benzodiazepines, pain killers and sleeping pills. This was the wrong medicine. He needed to be treated with mood stabilizers which would have managed is “uncontrollable” energy. Instead he never got the correct diagnosis, which would have enabled him to get the right treatment. Now it is too late.
First, we “out” him as being homosexual in Brokeback Mountain, now we ”out” him as being Bipolar in his death. There just isn’t a big enough closet to contain this guy.
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In Slurping Life…Feeling the Love, a mother describes in wonderfully prosaic detail a particularly challenge day in the life of her son who has Bipolar. She writes,
Lee breaks down sobbing uncontrollably to his dad. His words come between gulps of tears…”I don’t want to be different. I don’t want to have a problem. I try so hard to do better.”
The piece is called “We Are All Looking For a Happy Ending (Again)“. I think you’ll find it very moving.
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Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry: A Closer Look “‘Not Much Money’, KOLs, and Child Bipolar Disorder“. The article contends that the parntership between clincians and drug providers is much closer than suspected, concluding -
When academics turn into industry spokespeople, or become information launderers, or become medal winners in the conflict of interest department, why on Earth should we simply trust them as if they had no skin in the game?
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Pole to Polar: The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive in “The Definition of Scundered” describes in wonderfully intimate detail the conundrum Bipolars face wanting to “come out” yet knowing the consequences may be less than desirable.
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regular jen has A Positive Post on Coping which provides her personal experience through her mental illness and journey in treatment from the US and the UK.
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Ever look at somone and wonder - “Are they mad? Sad? Glad? Afraid?” You could have Bipolar, according to a recent article in Anxiety, Depression, and Addiction Treatments called, appropriately enough - Difficulty Identifying Emotions Could Indicate Risk for Bipolar Disorder“.
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Appalachian History digs up a story “Zelda Fitzgerald dies in a hospital blaze” Which purports that she did not suffer from schizophrenia, but untreated Bipolar Disorder.
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Women Need Their Own Room posted in 37 Days, is a well written, stirring account of Virginia Woolf through her life and writings. Author Patti Digh clearly knows and deeply admires her subject.
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other Manic Mondays…..
You’re in my thoughts and prayers.
Love you brother.
The Pistol fires back: Thanks. Your prayers are most appreciated.
Wow … You know, I’ve had days where I was happy and sad pretty close together. Maybe I’m bipolar.
I remember one of my last appointments with my counselor, and I remarked that I’d felt very sad over the past couple weeks. He took some notes, asked some questions, and then said, “You know, this stuff would make anyone sad. It might not be a depression symptom so much as a perfectly normal emotion. I’d be worried if this didn’t make you sad.”
The Pistol fires back: Yeah, not all sadness is depression and not all gladness is mania. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference, though.
Love the post about coming out.
I met a man, 12 years into his diagnosis, who said that if he had it do all over again he would not tell a single soul.
I’m all out on my blog hiding under a pseudonym but in real life I have told 3 people outside of my therapy.
I don’t feel I am ashamed but I must be since I am so unwilling to tell people.
The Pistol fires back: I’ve now come out publically and people have responded very well.
I often worry about assumptions regarding my son as he gets older. I worry about him a lot, and I always love and appreciate him.
Great post. Thank you for including mine. I’ve completely enjoyed reading the links you’ve provided.
The Pistol fires back: Great of you to visit. Come back again, soon and often.
This is a great post. Thank you Pistol Pete for sharing, I loved reading the Zelda and Virginia W. sites.
Blessings to you
The Pistol fires back: And blessings to you as well.