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Mental health

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Original poster

Annoyed by the current celebrity 'fashion' of saying they have bi-polar!!

29 replies

Champersonice · 14/04/2011 10:23

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.

OP posts:

ladysybil · 14/04/2011 10:24

agree with you on this one. its a fad, and will fade out, i hope

Original poster

Champersonice · 14/04/2011 10:39

Oh dear, I also put this thread on AIBU and I am getting a thrashing!!

OP posts:

MarthaMayBeMad · 14/04/2011 10:52

Being bipolar is shit, have no idea why anyone would want to lie about having it

Original poster

Champersonice · 14/04/2011 10:57

I agree. I also don't know how a celeb can say they have it, go to a detox clinic for one week and then come out and be ready for film work.

As for Kerry Katona, I think being a class A drug user, you get high and feel shit on the come down. "Oh yeah, MUST be bi-polar because I am up and down." Nwim?

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GypsyMoth · 14/04/2011 11:02

kerry doesnt take drugs now?

AlpinePony · 14/04/2011 11:02

I think KK has borderline - she had a fucking miserable childhood and she was a heavy drug-user choosing to have relationships with "inappropriate men". Still, it's easier to "diagnose" bipolar than BPD.

I think CZJ was probably jsut feeling exhuasted/worn-out/"tired & emotional"/drunk and checked in for a detox/massage/publicity thing.

More psychiatric evaluations available - just ask!

bittersweetvictory · 14/04/2011 11:12

Well sorry but i dont agree, i dont think its just a fad that will fade out, bipolar is bipolar though you are a tramp living on the street or a multi millionaire, it doesnt pick and choose.
Why on earth would someone want to lie about being bipolar, its been known for years that KZJ suffers from bipolar and im sure she would have rather dealt with it privately than having it splashed all over the news and papers.
Yes it used to be a taboo subject but in this day and age it should be recocnised as the illness that it is and have the research and funding it deserves.
As for Kerry Katona, maybe she is a class A drug user BECAUSE of bipolar.
No doctor would diagnose and medicate someone for biploar if they did not have it.

AlpinePony · 14/04/2011 11:19

Actually the drugs for bipolar and pretty much the same for borderline.

When in the throes of BPD I was on Zyprexa and Effexor and was offered Lithium.

Crawling · 14/04/2011 11:38

I dont know if each star has bipolar or not but it is over diagnosed with celebrities you never hear books from celebrities about my struggle with scizophrenia or BPD or NPD. Bipolar has been made to be thought of as the glamourus MI and as a result many of the general public are unaware of how serious it is thinking it is just a bit rock and roll.

I am sure I once heard a filmstar claim they had a cocaine addiction and deny a heroine addiction because heroine was dirty and cocaine was expensive. Also since a few stars have come out as Bipolar doctors have experience almost double the numbers of people walking in and claiming to have it and when further checked they dont.

Original poster

Champersonice · 14/04/2011 11:44

bittersweet, we are not saying bi-polar is a fad...more like the current trend of celebs being 'diagnosed' with bi-polar is a fad.

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steps101 · 14/04/2011 11:54

Bipolar isn't hyphenated.

AlpinePony · 14/04/2011 11:54

Oooh crawling - now there's a conundrum - does Wayne Rooney (for example) want to be known as i) that thoughtless selfish prick or ii) poor Wayne with Antisocial Personality Disorder?

There is a media portrayal I think which glamourises bipolar to an extent, those glam party girl highs, the depression - but as someone said elsewhere in MH - I've yet to hear KK (or any famous woman with bipolar) say "oh god yeh, I was pulling a train - sometimes 6 men in a day"!

Hell will freeze over before we get to read Angelina Jolie's autobiography entitled "My life as a sociopath". Jack Nicholson's "NPD - Daddy's "not" home". Amanda Seigfried's "I'm a sociopath and used to skin live cats".

VivaLeBeaver · 14/04/2011 11:58

Can Kerry Katona taking drugs and having relationships with inappropriate men not be a symptom of bipolar? My mum has bipolar and has inappropriate relationships and makes reckless decisions though thankfully not cocaine.

Original poster

Champersonice · 14/04/2011 11:59

Like it, Alpine!!

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purplerabbitofinle · 14/04/2011 12:05

"Poor Wayne with Antisocial Personality Disorder"

LOL that HAS to be the new buzzword - he's not allowed to be just a bit of a thoughtless knobcheese

I heard about CZJ on the radio this morning, and thought "Hang on, your husband just nearly died of a terminal illness and you're making it all about you"

How the fuck does she think the rest of us cope?

I've got a diagnosis of PTSD, Anxiety and Depression. 20 years ago I'd have been diagnosed as Had A Big Scare And Needs A Bit Of Time To Chill. The treatment options are the same (although Venlafaxine helps)

Cope.

Inpatient treatment.

Sell my story to the media? No ta. CZJ is obviously a couple of mill short and feeling the pinch

Please excuse the rant

bittersweetvictory · 14/04/2011 13:35

I still disagree, in fact i disagree even more now,
its been a well known fact that KZJ has been bipolar for many many years, before she got married to whats his face, she was by her husbands side all through his treatment giving him support so to suggest that shes making it all about her is one of the most ridiculous things ive ever heard and cant believe anyone thinks that no one knows what goes on behind closed doors, if the woman is ill she deserves to be treated for it the same as everyone else and not have pot shots thrown at her just because shes rich and famous, if i could afford it i would go private to get my depression treated but i cant so have to go through the NHS,
And yes hell will freeze over before we read Angelina Jolie's autobiography entitled "My life as a sociopath". because shes not a sociopath so i just dont get the sigificance of that at all, bipolar doesnt care how much money you have got in the bank.

bittersweetvictory · 14/04/2011 13:39

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1194028-to-think-it-suddenly-seems-the-in-thing-to-suffer-with-bi-polar?pg=1
this is the other thread it was posted on.

purplerabbitofinle · 14/04/2011 13:41

Sorry, bittersweet, I meant that it has suddenly hit the media, not the actual diagnosis.

That may be more of a reflection on society than on the individual iyswim

FAB5 · 14/04/2011 13:43

Maybe people just feel it is easier to admit to having a mental illness as they assume people will be sympathetic.

AlpinePony · 14/04/2011 14:10

Bipolar is a "media-friendly" mental illness.

How many people do you know in the public eye with schizophrenia?

Original poster

Champersonice · 14/04/2011 14:55

Gosh you guys are a lot easier going then the ones on AIBU!! Am impressed with all the interest it has caused though and thereby perhaps bringing mental illness to the fore.

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laptopwieldingharpy · 14/04/2011 15:06

Suffering or not, publicity all the same.
Why would you want to be front page if you are suffering?
And yes it does make the condition sound like a spoilt child on a tantrum. Which it is not

bittersweetvictory · 14/04/2011 15:31

Alpinepony...........How many people do you know in the public eye with schizophrenia?

www.schizophrenia.com/famous.htm

i think this answers the question, and the reasons why there are not many people in the public eye with schizophrenia.

Champersonice........... having read the other thread i agree that people on here are more easier going but you have to remember that AIBU is a lot faster moving and that this is a mental health thread and a lot of the people on here are very vulnerable and it takes a lot of courage for some people to post at all so you cant really compare the two as AIBU can be a free for all war zone at times.
I stick to what i say that bipolar is not interested in who you are or how much cash youve got, same as any other illness, and that KZJ deserves the same help as anyone else who is bipolar, has anxiety, depression, etc without being judged and nit picked.

Crawling · 14/04/2011 15:39

I agree that some stars have bipolar and deserve treatment but I dont think they all have it considering depression is much more common scizophrenia and BPD have roughly the same prevalamce rate as bipolar yet very few stars come out openly about other MI plus have you seen how many stars have bipolar here. Bipolar also had a young onset and is now believed most have symtoms in early puberty.

Original poster

Champersonice · 14/04/2011 15:56

Bittersweet, I never for one minute said bipolar doesn't effect rich/famous/beautiful people - that was someone else who misquoted me

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