to think it suddenly seems 'the in-thing' to suffer with bi-polar?

[Champersonice]

This is really getting to me. Perhaps these 'celebs' really are suffering with bi-polar but I remember the days when it was the biggest taboo. My mother suffers with this illness and it is just awful.

There have been so many and whilst I really believe some I really do not believe Kerry Katona and now Catherine Zeta-Jones. Apparantely, CZJ booked herself into a psychiatric hospital for becoming manic-depressive following her husband's cancer, and now, according to her publicist is "feeling great and looking forward to starting work this week on two upcoming films". Perhaps Ms Zeta-Jones should visit a real psychiatric hopsital (not a detox clinic) and see real life patients suffering with this terrible, terrible illness.

AIBU?

I agree about the highs of celebrity and bipolar, often going hand in hand.

I'd go so far as to say they are frequent but very damaging fuck buddies

I go back to my sister again, not as a 'shining' example of bipolar of course, but she has a craving for fame and notoriety. In the midsts of her more creative episodes, she writes letters to famous people (not often posted thank goodness) as if they are her peers, she arranges 'viewings' of her art-work. Has set up numerous online businesses.
I thank a higher being she has not been 'discovered' by a publicist.

To turn the original argument on it's side, maybe we should be raising awareness of how bipolar sufferers are expoilted in the name of entertainment?

It's not called Munchausens any more; it was changed to FIS (Fictitious Illness Syndrome)- also fabricated or factitious depending on user's origin.

According the DSM criteria, anyway.

I can imagoine caring for someone with cancer would push someone with managed BiPolar over the coping edge tbh.

My next door neighnbour has bi-polar. Her children told me that she 'puts it on' sometimes for attention. I have helped her when she had an episode and it was a terrible sad sight. Walked her dog naked in the park at 5am. Myabe the 'putting it on' sometimes her children describe is the actual bi-polar too. She has a serious official diagnosis and was on lithium for some time.

"Well I do care about their health, not about the media interpretation of it. I will care about that the day it negatively affects the public perception of the illness. Maybe that day is today if accusations of faddiness are being flung about."

Your dad fits the truer picture of the Disorder - and I think public's perceptions needs orietating to reality. Bi-polar as an illness seems to be minimised and trivilaised as a bunch of mood swings.

Squeaky, definitely! My mum has a fantastic(?) way of covering up her illness when she isn't in the extremes of it, of course. By then, there is nothing she can do to hide it. She can be in the depths of despair and anxiety but she will talk to someone on the phone or see them for half an hour and they say, "isn't your mum great?" as if we are making the whole thing up! Which is pretty hard on us (her family). In the early days and when it was even more of a taboo then it is now, she wouldn't let anyone know about her illness. Whenever I made friends at school she would always ask me not to mention her illness. It was a very private/secret illness. In later years, she has been more open and some of her friends that she has known for years were in shock as they had no idea about her bipolar. This is when she was being managed by lithium but unfortunately, she can no longer take it. It has had a detremental effect on her kidneys and now, the other drugs just aren't working

Beaker, I will say it once again, in case you missed it. I am really sorry about your sister. I also like what you say about "maybe we should be raising awareness of how bipolar sufferers are expoilted in the name of entertainment?" Not just bipolar but look at how many people are exploited on shows like Britain's Got Talent/X-Factor ect. It can be a cruel world.

Sancti, thanks for the update on the new name. Don't you think names are being re-branded all the time?

"Many sufferers are perfectly capable of keeping it very well hidden."

Maybe during remissions - but not in the accute phases.

Youare, I was thinking the same when I started to read your thread. It has taken a long time for me to understand my mum's bipolar. It is right, that we may think they are 'acting up' when in reality it is the illness. It truly is horrendous.

My maternal mother's mother died at a young age, when my grandmother was about 16. My grandmother said to my mum once, "when I was told that your diagnosis was manic depression, it hurt me me far more than when I was told my mother died". That pretty much sums it up for me and the pain my grandmother must have felt.

How awful it is for me to see my mum suffering but how much worse for my grandmother to see her child suffer?

Ditto, Animation.

After my FIL died, so many people said "oh but we never knew he was ill".. and this is people who had known him for most of his life.. they knew he could be moody, and impulsive, and a bit grumpy sometimes, and very helpful at other times.... and that was the extent of what they saw.

Only my MIL saw the darkest moments, and she was unable to talk to anyone about them, because he rarely let her out of his sight.

Is she in a high or low, Beaker? It must be so very hard on you and your family. Not least hard on your sister!!

I'm going to announce my depression on facebook right now, just so people know how trendy I am. Or does it only count with bipolar? I don't know how fashionable my own mental health problems are - panic attacks, y/n? Anxiety disorder y/n? PTSD? Dammit, I'm still not cool.

I think part of my childhood was fantastic because of my mum and how she managed her illness. Lots of parents role-play and stuff but with my mum, she would really go on a tangent and we would have the most amazing scenarios and role-play! It was fantastic. Looking back, I can see she was probably a little high. Don't get me wrong though, there were awful times. Times when I lived with other family when she was in hospital. Times when I had to visit her in a secure psychiatric ward at the age of 1 up to 5 and then at 7-8. I spent the first 9 months of my life in locked nursery on a secure psychiatric ward because the doctors wanted me and my mum to bond. They didn't want to separate us. I was 2 weeks old.

The very rich all have advisers; and they will tell them when it is to their advantage to publicise things.

I gather this is not a current story but a story from some time ago.

I am intereted in posters accounts of their illnesses

But very famous people are different. They use the press, like
Cameron is using the press today.

I tend to think the press is too powerful

I still don't agree with the argument that all this publicity of bipolar raises awareness - it really doesn't. What it does is make people think bipolar is a less serious mental illness than it is.

Altinkum, this isn't meant derogatory but you say you "assumed" your mum was ok. She very cleary wasn't. How old were you when this happened and how well did you understand her illness at the time? My mum can pull the wool over our eyes in the early stages but when it is acute, there is no denying the fact. Also, when she can fool friends and not-so close family, me and my direct relations can't be fooled. Like the time she jumped in front of an incoming tube train, we knew she was deeply depressed and anxious at that time. Thankfully, she was at the wrong end (mum debates whether it was the wrong or right end!) of the platform and the driver was able to stop a foot away from her. Luckily too she didn't electrocute herself.

Here, here, Lesley33 - well said!

People are coming out and telling others that they are bi-polar because it is no longer as big of a taboo as it was. YABU it should not be kept behind closed doors.

I don't agree with lesley, well- I do with the current article and the way it has been reported, absolutely: few days in a unit? Ridiculous!

However generally I think decent coverage raises awareness: it did with autism and ASD which is at least as severe an illness (and indeed often also linked to deopressive disorders).
The publicity I am thinking of is forst hand testimonials by people like Temple Grandin and Luke Jackson, real stories from the frontline. Not tat-mail stories like this one.

Keepingup, when exactly did I say it should be kept behind closed doors??

Manatee- yes, hysteria happens, it's now called "conversion disorder".

Animation- sure, drugs and alcohol and not sleeping can be the cause of mood swings. Mood swings can be the cause of drug and alcohol use. One of the symptoms of Bipolar Disorder is severe sleep disturbance. In Mania, they act as if on speed or Coke.
Drugs can exacerbate or bring to the fore existing/ subclinical mental illness. So can stress.
The verdict is out on this one, but I doubt it's "fash". May make it sound a bit more serious and interesting then "reactive depression", though.