“Yeah, because you're bipolar and you're hard to stay friends with. People are just gonna fall by the wayside. And that's life- for you.” (“No Friend Left Behind”, Lady Dynamite). Americans at an average watch about 5 hours of television a day, making television a principal factor in shaping how the US views the world. “5.7 million American adults have bipolar disorder”, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (National Institute of Mental Health), and yet there are very few prime-time programs that include characters living with bipolar. Adding to the lack of bipolar characters both fictional and non-fictional, even less are depicted accurately. However, one show gives a positive realistic depiction of the everyday life of an …show more content…
(DSM-5) Carrie Fisher, famous for her role as Leia Organa in the Star Wars franchise, describes her bipolar disorder to a little boy in a Q&A panel at Indiana Comic Con in 2015: It is a kind of virus of the brain that makes you go very fast or very sad, or both. Those are fun days. So judgement isn't, like, one of my big good things. But I have a good voice. I can write well. I'm not a good bicycle rider. So, just like anybody else, only louder and faster and sleeps more. That's it. Bipolar disorder is often misrepresented in television shows and in ways that do more harm than good. Most popular long-term television programs at some point have a character with bipolar subtext. These television shows have characters exhibiting behaviors similar to someone with bipolar disorder but the writers never confirm if they are, like in the case of Naomi Shropshire from “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.” Naomi’s introduction to the series is the one of the main protagonists, Rory Gilmore, is hired by Shropshire to write a book and the first scene we ever see of Naomi is the two characters meeting together in a restaurant to brainstorm topics for the book. Naomi takes food that isn’t hers from a waiter all while she’s talking rapidly, spitting out one idea after the next with no connection to one another (“Winter,” Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life). In a manic or hypomanic episode, a person often has excessive self-esteem (Naomi steals food that
In pop culture Bipolar Disorder is described as someone quickly switching emotions. The term gets flown around easily without evidence of the alleged diagnosis. This publication changed my perspective on mental illness due to always hearing society's opinion on the phrase. Kay’s experience shows an individual who suffered tremendously behind doors that no one else could relate to, having episodes last days to months not switching every minute like society's stereotypes. It is obvious that there is not control and while medication helps, there is a significant consequence when missing treatment. Additionally, material learned within this book can help fundamentally determine someone suffering this illness. For example, if someone has manic highs and lows that force them to change their daily lifestyle for a period of time and developes changing impulsive decisions there could be an underlying illness. Even though there are few details that can fall into the category of Bipolar, it is still rare and unless diagnosed by a doctor one should never jump to conclusions about another
One of the most distinguished psychological disorder shown in this movie was bipolar, which is considered to
In my previous experiences and conversations with various individuals, the overall interpretation or misconception of bipolar disease is that the person is “”crazy. What do people really consider or mean by the term crazy? As displayed by Team B’s behavior presentation, Bipolar disorder
Furthermore, Monica is also diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM), Bipolar Disorder is characterized as a mood disorder consisting of major depressive and manic episodes (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). One must display at least 5 of the following symptoms of a major depressive episode within a 2-week period which must include a depressed mood most of the day or a diminished interest or pleasure in daily activities (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The manic episode must persist for one week in which the individual displays an irritable or euphoric mood (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Based
Carrie Fisher’s image of Princess Leia is recognizable to people who have never even seen a Star Wars film. She became an instant world star. Yet, with all the success Carrie Fisher had a dark secret. She was ill. She wasn’t going to die, but she was mentally ill suffering from bipolar disorder (Memoirs 12).
Bipolar disorder has been gaining more and more attention over the last few years. With shootings on the rise, or at least the publicity of them, people are often pointing their fingers at mental diseases including bipolar disorder. An ongoing issue regarding mental illnesses, however, is the population has failed to fully understand what they truly are, the symptoms, and how to treat them.
There are different disorder and some disorders have different levels to them some not as severe. With bipolar 1 disorder there is somewhat of an emotional roller coaster. Susie is a person that is unaware of the fact that she has a disorder. But yet she continues to live the way she sees fit. Bipolar disorders take over a person and does not given them back, through the right treatment the disorder can be tamed. Bipolar 1 disorder has many different areas that come into play with a person and who he or she become with the disorder and how her or she acts or reacts towards different scenarios.
According to the Mental Health Commission of Western Australia, stigma can cause patients to feel shame, hopelessness, distress, and make them not seek help in fear of being labeled as “crazy.” Media depictions of mental illness and bipolar disorder can cause a vicious cycle. According to Atkins, stigma and prejudice against bipolar disorder can lead television and movie writers to focus on “scary, out-of-control people who do bad things” (Atkins PAGE NUMBER), which then further convinces the public that people with mental illness are dangerous. The seriousness of mental illness can also be downplayed because of stigma. By using the word “bipolar” to refer to everyday mood swings, the public may not think that bipolar disorder exists or that it is a serious ailment. According to Mikayla DeLeon, the word is used “jokingly” among her friends. In her experience, “it [is] an insult… [It’s] not really taken seriously”. These contrasting misconceptions can make people who are suffering with a mental disorder not want to seek help. They may also fear telling their loved ones because they fear being seen differently by their friends and coworkers, being labelled as “crazy,” and losing opportunities at work. Jessica Blaikie, a young woman that suffers from mental illness says that, because of the misconceptions surrounding mental illness, “I was so afraid to say anything
exaggerating symptoms and stereotyping individuals with a mental disorder. For example, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film Psycho, in which man with schizophrenia murders guests in a hotel, influences viewers to believe that all individuals suffering from schizophrenia are dangerous. However, that is rarely the case (Polatis, 2014). Therefore, it is refreshing to find a movie that accurately portrays the true personality of and individual living with a mental illness. The movie Silver Linings Playbook chronicles the experiences of Pat Solitano, a man suffering from undiagnosed bipolar disorder who was recently released from a psychiatric facility. Although this paper focuses on Pat’s experiences, it is important to note that the film not only takes on the task of portraying bipolar disorder, but also mental illness in general with other major characters suffering from a mixture of psychological or personality disorders. The film opens with Pat at Karel Psychiatric Facility in Baltimore, Maryland. We later learn that Pat was institutionalized for nearly beating to death the man with whom he caught his wife Nikki cheating on him. The rest of the film details
"because previous generations were less likely to diagnose bipolar disorder, affected family members may have ben written off as the "crazy Auntie", with troubling behaviors such as alcoholism, frequent periods of unemployment, dysfunctional personal relationships, bankruptcies or imprisonment.
Victoria Maxwell, a comedian, actress, and writer, uses comedy to educate others by sharing from her personal experience of living with bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder, commonly referred to as manic depression, is a mental illness characterized by a fluctuation in behavior or mood, between periods of mania (high) and depression (lows). There are five different types of the disorder: bipolar I didorder, bipolar II disorder, bipolar disorder not otherwise specified, cyclothymic or cyclothymic, and rapid-cycling disorder, each with symptoms that vary according to the length and severity of mania and depression (“NIMH RSS”). Currently, the mental disorder affects almost 6 million Americans (Chillag). Maxwell suffers from bipolar 1, the severest
Bipolar disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), is “a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, and activity levels,” and
There is a dark stigma surrounding mental illness in general, and bipolar disorder is no exception. According to the Mental Health Commission of Western Australia, a stigma is “a mark of disgrace that sets someone apart.” Bipolar disorder is incredibly misunderstood by society at large, which leads to this stigma, prejudice, and discrimination. In everyday conversation, the word “bipolar” is frequently used to describe how someone is feeling at that moment. If a person is sad one moment and
Before I truly understood Bipolar disorder, it was still a fairly common word in my vocabulary. Anytime I thought someone was being moody or fluctuating between emotions, I joked by claiming that person to be bipolar. Several incidents of this involved one of my roommates who seemed to be happy one day, and quite the polar opposite the next. However, it was not until my clinical experience on the psychiatric unit that I realized what true bipolar disorder was, and that she did not fit the criteria. Even though I always thought my roommate was bipolar, I quickly found after being exposed to a diagnosed bipolar patient that my roommate was instead just moody. I decided to write this paper on bipolar disorder, not because I have struggle with it or know a friend or family member with this disease, but because I had several misconceptions about what it entailed.