You Aren't Bipolar, You're Just a Jerk!

Townhall.com ^ | July 22, 2009 | Mike Adams

[Kaslin]

Congratulations on your book and I think you have made the best decision

[DieHard the Hunter]

> Those reasons of death are self inflicted

...while suffering from a serious mental disorder that pre-disposes them to self-destructive acts. Rather like bulimia and anorexia do. It is not something that they do by free will.

> not because of a phsyical diease that you had nothing to do with getting other than bad genes.

It is unclear why people get Clinical Depression and Bipolar Disorder: it may be bad genes, it may be environmental — nobody knows. Alot more research needs to be done.

What is known is that they are serious disorders and that they occur due to an absence of necessary biochemistry. In that respect they are very much like diabetes.

> The ADA won a multi million dollar settlement against a mental health association to get them to stop using this comparison because it is false and misleading.

Bully for the ADA. The courts are hardly a valid forum to establish medical fact: lawyers and judges know as much about mental illness as they know about automotive engineering or rocket design.

And shame on the ADA for depriving the mental health association of much-needed donor funds thru a frivolous lawsuit. I hope it made them happy spending the multimillions that should have gone toward researching mental health issues and finding mental health treatments. If that doesn’t define “selfish” I don’t know what does.

The comparison is neither false nor misleading: it is quite accurate. Clinical Depression and Bipolar Disorder occur because the body does not create necessary biochemistry for the brain to function properly. Sorry, that is how it is.

> I’d ask the same from you.

I would like to accommodate your request, and if it made sense to do so I would. But it doesn’t, so I can’t and won’t.

I have a great deal of sympathy for those with diabetes, but at the end of the day that disease is their issue: mine are Clinical Depression and Bipolar Disorder.

And, at the end of the day, the ADA means little to me: they are an organization that advocates for diabetes: that’s great — I can support that at an intellectual level. It’s time that the organizations that advocate for mental disorders did as thorough a job as the ADA obviously does.

So on this issue we may have to agree to disagree.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> We are talking about long time off the drugs not a missed dose or two.

That being the case, yeah, your observation could easily be right — if you don’t take your meds for a long time then they can’t help you with your bipolar disorder.

Other people — like you — would probably notice the change in her personality long before she did. It is certainly observable.

It’s actually quite dangerous to stop taking your meds suddenly: if you stop taking them at all (I never will) then you are supposed to taper off your dosage under close medical supervision. This involves plenty of blood tests and quite a few weeks or months.

I’m quite happy to stay on my meds forever: they don’t have any side-effects that bother me, and the difference between feeling normal and feeling lousy is big enough that I’d never voluntarily be without them.

[DieHard the Hunter]

That should prove to be an interesting read. Thanks for writing the book, I look forward to it.

[YaZhynka]

Thank you for the encouragement. I know from experience the pain of bipolar. But I also know that there are symptoms that, when harnessed, can enhance our lives and be used for good.

If a person could decide which mental illness to have, bipolar would be the only sane choice.

[YaZhynka]

Thank you.

[Grampa Dave]

That was our observation and some of her family members, that she DCed her drugs for a period of time,relapse and went back into the behavior that drives away everyone.

As you noted, patients/people, who are titrated correctly on the drugs and take them as directed do very well.

Congratulations to you for doing what is right for you, your family and friends.

[Mom MD]

I have a son who is truly bipolar and struggles every day. Self absorbed articles like this by someone who has never seen true mental illness make me angry and sad.
I agree bipolar is the fashionable excuse for everything these days, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some out there who truly have it and need help.

[SMARTY]

This woman would throw her own mother under a bus if she thought it would do her any good. Every word she says is a lie - including ‘and’ and ‘the’. Unfortunately for her, a lot of people she used to fool, are now on to her and she can only run to the end of her chain and bark.