Posted on 06/22/2022 6:22:26 PM PDT by nickcarraway
RICHARD DREYFUSS, the Close Encounters of the Third Kind actor, first recognised he was a manic depressive as a teenager. Over his life, he has spoken candidly about the condition - including how he questioned whether marijuana was the cause.
The Jaws actor, who was in plenty of popular films in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, first figured out he had bipolar at the age of 11, although he thought the condition name was “too neutral and stodgy”. Dreyfuss, born and raised in Beverly Hills, California, said: “I have surfed my manic depression since I was 11-years-old. I enjoyed it and made it work for me and have not known the world without it, so it’s my only known existence.”
Bipolar, or manic depression, is generally diagnosed to people who experience periods of intense depression, that follow or precede periods of “mania” where they may be full of energy, or become easily distracted and delusional.
Despite his embrace of the condition, in the past, Dreyfuss questioned its cause – wondering if the condition could’ve been prevented if he hadn’t taken marijuana.
He told Piers Morgan in 2013 on his old program Piers Morgan Live: “I said to my sister, ‘I wonder what would’ve happened to me if I had never taken any drugs’ and she said, ‘Why are you asking?’
The effect of marijuana on mental health is controversial. Some studies have shown cannabis is linked to the development of bipolar disorder – while others play down its effect.
The University of Warwick found evidence of a significant relationship between cannabis use and the onset of mania symptoms.
Another study of 6,800 people who experienced psychosis in Denmark found almost a third developed either bipolar disorder or schizophrenia over the next 20 years.
Other studies have found cannabis can make bipolar symptoms worse later on.
Dr Ranj Singh's 'suicide pain' condition - trigeminal neuralgia However, on the other side of things, some researchers believe cannabis can improve bipolar symptoms.
Dreyfuss may have doubted the causes of his bipolar disorder, but in later interviews, he talked about how he was against the Bipolar Disorder’s “stigma” and concluded it was something he was born with that he doesn’t feel guilty about.
In a documentary alongside Stephen Fry called “The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive”, he said, “Stigma is silly; stigma is stupid; stigma is what other people think about you.”
He has even recalled a sense of relief about finally having a reason for some of his unusual behaviours.
"It took away all of my guilt because I found out it wasn't my behaviour — it was something I was born with," Dreyfuss said on the TODAY show in the US.
Dreyfuss has described the symptoms he developed as a young man.
"Every once in a while, when I was talking, I would find myself getting up and talking louder and faster and louder and faster and louder and faster, until my friends would say, 'OK, OK. Let's get the big circus cables and throw them around his ankles and pull him gently back to Earth," Dreyfuss said.
Although bipolar disorder can be a challenging condition, it is manageable in most cases, and the NHS has posted guidance on how to cope with the condition.
The health body recommends talking about the condition, whether to friends or helpful organisations.
“Many organisations run self-help groups that can put you in touch with other people with the condition,” states the body.
“This enables you to share helpful ideas and helps you realise you're not alone in feeling the way you do.”
Some organisations the NHS recommend are Bipolar UK, Carers UK, Mind, Rethink, Samaritans, and SANE.
It also points out there are courses available for people who feel “distressed” or “uncertain” about their condition. The organisation Self Management UK runs such courses.
I thought that was pretty strongly established.
London researchers determined that Long term cannabis users developed brain damage in the same area of the brain that bipolar and schizophrenia patients show damage.
Never was one’s favorite actor but one admires his honesty in the matter.
Yes, smoking dope hurts you in the brain.
Living in San Francisco, I’ve seen far too many stoners progress to psychosis to have any doubts whatsoever that there’s a causal relationship in a not insignificant share of users.
Ask Obama and Trudeau ? LOL
I miss the “normal America” of my youth.
China revels in America’s abnormalities.
No he is just a moody lil bitch
Big assumption that typical street marijuana does not contain other psychoactive drugs. Big mistake. Lot of weird drugs can aggravate existing conditions of all kinds when used to ‘strengthen’ marijuana.
When I read this, I thought: Are most actors mentally ill?
And all this time, I thought he was just born an a$$hole. So it was the marijuana that turned him into a Rat tard. I wonder what Alec Baldwin’s excuse is?
Excusing bad behaviour
If he knew it at 11, it’s doubtful that he was smoking pot then.
Were they only using weed their whole lives?
Have been attacked here on FR discussing the genetic linked schizophrenic/schizoid response studied and proven to have susceptible gene coding to reaction to THC and other psychotropic cannabinoids. Whereas pure CBD cannabidiol is a wonder drug... that is the CBD that has 0% THC.
The UK pioneered these studies and they have proven it.
The genetic linkage has been mapped— one gene one enzyme response.
“I have surfed my manic depression since I was 11-years-old. I enjoyed it and made it work for me and have not known the world without it, so it’s my only known existence.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My mother was bipolar and she also enjoyed her manic phases, so much so that she wouldn’t take her medication all the time.
She never smoked marijuana.
To each his own.
But I’ll guaran-darn-tee ya I’d a never let Suzanne Somers drive off in that white T-Bird...
That’s his problem, right there!
Dreyfuss is one of the good guys.
From Mosaic News this past April:
Richard Dreyfuss: Woke Will Kill America
Most Hollywood actors, from rising stars to A-listers alike, are sitting out the fight to save free speech.
Even on Oscar night, when celebrities use their podium time to promote pet causes, free speech doesn’t get a close-up. Many celebrities have cheered on social media titans for banning select leaders.
Others wish Fox News, the popular cable channel serving right-leaning audiences, would be banished from nationwide.
Richard Dreyfuss is a startling exception to all of the above.
The star of Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, “The Goodbye Girl” and What About Bob? joined right-leaning podcaster Megyn Kelly this week to tackle the subject head on.
And he didnt hold back during the robust, and frank, conversation.
The man behind The Dreyfuss Civics Initiative, born to instill a sense of the American experiment in students, railed against Big Techs attempts to silence debate.
Need a chilling example?
Facebook censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story is despicable, Dreyfuss said. Twitter similarly banned The New York Post from sharing its blockbuster story weeks before the 2020 presidential election.
Its breaking the most fundamental part of the First Amendment, he added.
Social media giants attempting to “protect” citizens from information does us all a disservice.
There is a lack of trust in the brains of our young people. We think theyll be putty in the hands of an influencer or social network owner, the actor said. This has been happening since social media has been our constant companion.
The Dreyfuss Civics Initiative, a passion project for its creator, offers a different message than what Hollywood churns out today. Patriotism matters. So does the kind of critical thinking that leads to an informed populace.
We have ethics and values right smack in the middle of the Constitution, said Dreyfuss, who has leaned to the Left over the years quit the Democrat party in 2004. Now, he’s eager to hear both sides of the political debate without partisan bickering. You have to trust the system.
Dreyfuss repeatedly referenced the current woke ideology during the conversation, even if he didn’t mention that word by name.
It wasn’t necessary.
Weve all been trained to use certain words and not use certain other words, he said, something that matters especially given events in Ukraine. Its why censoring either side of the conflict is a mistake.
Both sides in a war make mistakes or do something you dont approve of, he noted.
Kelly shared a troubling story of how her childs school teacher, when pressed on a challenging subject, essentially stopped the lad cold.
Im uncomfortable with this conversation. Im shutting it down, Kelly recalled of the teacher’s reaction.
That didnt sit well with Dreyfuss.
Intellectual curiosity is the goal of American public schools, he said, adding the current cultural trends spell doom for his beloved country.
If you want America to continue to exist as the country that has a specific meaning which its had now for 200 years … if you want to kill it, do what youre doing now, he said.
The Oscar winner also weighed in on Will Smith’s assaulting Chris Rock at the March 27 Academy Awards gala. Dreyfuss blamed the culture for Smith’s inability to reign in his impulses.
“Will Smith would no more have approved of his own behavior had this been 10 years earlier than he would have jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, but there’s no boundaries anymore because no one is teaching them to us.
“No one is teaching the Bill of Rights and that, ultimately, is the society’s picture of proper behavior. No one is teaching that and no one is calling for it. That is the worst decision a society can come to.”
He wasn’t finished.
“It’s not just Will Smith. It’s not just the Academy Awards. It’s who we are and how did we get to this clownish place,” he said.
Dreyfuss’ self-named Initiative features this quote from the actor on its home page:
Teach our kids how to run our country, before they are called upon to run our country. If we dont, someone else will run our country.
I think CBD is a marketing scam. It’s the new HFS. And it’s chock full of pesticides.
When go ahead and mention it without any medical science to back it up it’s the equivalent of “push-polling.” Your obvious intent is to embed and unproved point in the reader’s mind in the effort to make them agree with your opinion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push_poll
When someone tells me that grass is harmless, I ask them if they can spot a long-term stoner and they always say yes. Then I tell them to think about it - the reason you can notice behavioral changes in long-term users is because they have damaged their brain.
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