Is being bipolar really a disorder?

[CaptainArlong]

I'm bipolar and yeah, the creativity is great, but here's something else: harnessing that creativity is rare. I have to be either manic angry, or.. yeah.. that's about it. When my mood swings to depressed, I don't want to do anything, and when I have manic happiness, I don't want to work. And it sucks, you get depressed or angry, then when your mood just swings to happy, you don't know why the hell you were feeling the way you did in the first place.

It's not some beneficial thing since, you know, you have to deal with some messed up depression. You're a time bomb.

[Flyingmoney]

It's a problem

[Deleted]

Frequently people with bipolar disorder are more successful and creative than normal people. This begs the question is bipolar disorder really a disorder at all?

Like Asperger's, it's called "disorder" for a reason, but naturally it depends. If the person is forced and restricted under the norms of "normal" people, it quickly becomes a burden. But if the person gets some room to act more in his/her own way, the results may be brilliant. Their brain just handles things differently - and usually in a good way, finding unusual new angles, depths and approaches. But it's sometimes incompatible with a rigid education system that forces people into same molds.

[Somewowguy]

I've met a lot of people who claim to be bipolar. If they dont have meds or if they dont get what they want, they have out bursts that involve yelling, tantrums, and violence. It also gets used as an excuse all the time, some guy punches someone in the mouth, but he didnt do it, it was "the bipolar".

For thousands of years we have called these people jerks, assholes, and jackasses. Now we have to coddle them and say "It's ok to act out, it isnt your fault".

Bipolar is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. None of us have the same ratio of chemicals in our brain, it's called nature. It's called the human condition. Some people act and react differently to different situations. There are mental illnesses, this isnt one of them.

This disease is really caused by money. Drug companies make biiiiig bucks off people with nothing wrong with them. They are simply jerks, looking for an excuse to be jerks without taking the blame for it.

ps: im a jerk, and im fine with it.

[Faeker]

I've met a lot of people who claim to be bipolar. If they dont have meds or if they dont get what they want, they have out bursts that involve yelling, tantrums, and violence. It also gets used as an excuse all the time, some guy punches someone in the mouth, but he didnt do it, it was "the bipolar".

For thousands of years we have called these people jerks, assholes, and jackasses. Now we have to coddle them and say "It's ok to act out, it isnt your fault".

Bipolar is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. None of us have the same ratio of chemicals in our brain, it's called nature. It's called the human condition. Some people act and react differently to different situations. There are mental illnesses, this isnt one of them.

This disease is really caused by money. Drug companies make biiiiig bucks off people with nothing wrong with them. They are simply jerks, looking for an excuse to be jerks without taking the blame for it.

ps: im a jerk, and im fine with it.

If someone is violent and acts like an asshole, then yeah they are an asshole. I live on an emotional pendulum. I can't control these things. I try day in and day out without the aid of medication because I can not afford it at this time but it doesn't always work. Hell, it almost never works. Am I a jerk or an asshole because of this?

[Wikiy]

Yeah, I think it's a disorder.

However, just because someone's different doesn't automatically mean it's a disorder. Thankfully, homosexuality has been removed from the list, but things like Asperger's Syndrome should be as well if you ask me. I've got Asperger's and I don't have issues with operating normally. I'm simply different. What's so disorderly about, for example, heavily focusing on one area of life as a potential career (you know, far from being characteristic of a disorder, something like that makes your life a lot easier... I've known since i was 13 or 14 that I want to study physics, while most of my friends still have no idea what they want to do), requiring some alone time every day (charging the social batteries, so to speak... this isn't characteristic of a disorder, it's characteristic of an introvert), having an above-average intelligence or being extremely skilled in languages at early ages?

Sure, there's the lack of empathy and the slight difficulty at social interactions, but this isn't necessarily something inherently deviant, it's something deviant from the current social standards. What I don't understand is why should everyone fall into those social standards without question and have everyone else be labeled as disorderly. I don't know, some day, even bipolarity might actually be removed from the list of disorders.

So yeah, to me it seems as if something like homosexuality or genius-level intelligence could as easily be listed as disorders as Asperger's Syndrome is. And, of course, that would be ridiculous.

[imabanana]

What's so disorderly about, for example, heavily focusing on one area of life as a potential career (you know, far from being characteristic of a disorder, something like that makes your life a lot easier... I've known since i was 13 or 14 that I want to study physics, while most of my friends still have no idea what they want to do), requiring some alone time every day (charging the social batteries, so to speak... this isn't characteristic of a disorder, it's characteristic of an introvert), having an above-average intelligence or being extremely skilled in languages at early ages?

These two last points have nothing to do with Asperger's. Asperger's can have under average intelligence and being totally bad at learning other languages.

Btw, Asperger's will no longer be listed as a disorder separated from autism in next DSM version (in about 3 months), as every disorder, each people is affected differently. Saying that you don't see the point because you don't feel like it makes your life significantly harder doesn't mean anyone with the same syndrome will be the same. I've met/talked to lots of people having few troubles living with Asperger's, but also some who had huge troubles in life, most often was being almost unable to get a job, or family life troubles.

[minteK917]

Look at this.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/12500...ntal-disorders
There are two with bipolar disorder on that list.

First, the list clearly says (possible). Second, most humans will hit a mental disorder at some point in their lives. Some are more servere then others, some are real illness. They have depression on that list, majority of humans have that disorder at some point in their life.

[Deleted]

Well seeing its quite well documented, studied and it has diagnoses and it is able to be diagnosed by doctors due various means, and there are meds specifically to use with such disorder..So, yes. It is disorder.

If you question it not being disorder you also need to question all the vast amounts of data and studies that has been done by more qualified people on that field than 99.9% of users in the forum. Not just "because I feel like it" or that "someone mis-used the term when they were happy hour ago but now sad".

So yeah.

[Sunseeker]

Frequently bipolar people can barely lead normal lives at all. The fact that a few of them suffer so minimally from the disease that they're able to be successful is not proof it's not a disorder.

[Dezerte]

I've met a lot of people who claim to be bipolar. If they dont have meds or if they dont get what they want, they have out bursts that involve yelling, tantrums, and violence. It also gets used as an excuse all the time, some guy punches someone in the mouth, but he didnt do it, it was "the bipolar".

For thousands of years we have called these people jerks, assholes, and jackasses. Now we have to coddle them and say "It's ok to act out, it isnt your fault".

No, we called them possesion; be it demons, ghosts, spirits or whatever was popular at the time.

[Raiju]

No, we called them possesion; be it demons, ghosts, spirits or whatever was popular at the time.

You'd be surprised, I imagine, at the amount of 'respected' psychologists who believe in things like the Earth-spirit theory as the real cause of mental disorders, especially schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder.

[minteK917]

You'd be surprised, I imagine, at the amount of 'respected' psychologists who believe in things like the Earth-spirit theory as the real cause of mental disorders, especially schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder.

That would be pseudo psychology, never the less threating mental disorder is not psychology, its Psychiatry a real science.

[Raiju]

That would be pseudo psychology, never the less threating mental disorder is not psychology, its Psychiatry a real science.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. Psychiatry is just a specialized field of psychology..

[minteK917]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. Psychiatry is just a specialized field of psychology..

hmmmmmm, no? Psychiatry is the branch between psychology and neurology. Helping a rape victim to regain confidance is psychology. Threating a man with schizophrenia is psychiatry, there is no amount of psychology that will help this individual with a family history of schizophrenia. This thread is about Bipolarism, a disorder that again has nothing to do with psychology, no amount of psychology will resolve the manic/depressive issues, its a neurolagical problem.

It is a branch to psychology, because neurology knowledge can help mitigate psychological problems, with medicine.

[Shennanigans]

It is a disorder and a disability. It can be controlled with medication in most instances, but not all and well controlled ppl can have a normal life.

[MatadorMedia]

Bipolar is a mental illness, yes. It doesn't always interfere though. Manic periods can be highly creative, but since you don't sleep you can be hospitalized from exhaustion and since you spend money rapidly you go broke.

I know someone with schizophrenia (unmedicated) who gets along fine; I mean they are obviously crazy but they make it work.

[minteK917]

Bipolar is a mental illness, yes. It doesn't always interfere though. Manic periods can be highly creative, but since you don't sleep you can be hospitalized from exhaustion and since you spend money rapidly you go broke.

I know someone with schizophrenia (unmedicated) who gets along fine; I mean they are obviously crazy but they make it work.

Schizophrenia is pretty serious though,i had 3 suicide in my family due to schizophrenia. The thing is most of them tried to get along fine and made everyone else believe they were, but its very hard condition long term and 2 of my cousins where unmedicated, one killed himself in his 20s. The other held out longer but she ended up driving off a cliff.

[Raiju]

hmmmmmm, no? Psychiatry is the branch between psychology and neurology. Helping a rape victim to regain confidance is psychology. Threating a man with schizophrenia is psychiatry, there is no amount of psychology that will help this individual with a family history of schizophrenia. This thread is about Bipolarism, a disorder that again has nothing to do with psychology, no amount of psychology will resolve the manic/depressive issues, its a neurolagical problem.

It is a branch to psychology, because neurology knowledge can help mitigate psychological problems, with medicine.

Are you seriously implying psychology is just therapy and has nothing to do with medicine? Wow. Just wow.

[Deleted]

That would be pseudo psychology, never the less threating mental disorder is not psychology, its Psychiatry a real science.

Beg to differ. Psychiatry is literally just the means to medically treat someone, psychology is still a science and they are very interwoven.

Inb4 'hurr durr physics, chemistry and biology are real science'. It wasnt until the discovery of the elements and their properties that chemistry became a hard science and wasn't until the discovery of genes and DNA that biology became a hard science either. In the current scope of things, with the introduction of MRI's, fMRI's, psychologists can see and predict behavior purely on the basis of what is displayed on a computer screen.