Stephen Fry - The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive BBC2 9PM

[ShiverMeMolesworths]

Tonight!

There certianly is, I am now single handedly taking the blame for MD comment on the other thread.

Fantastic post NumbskullNinja .

No you're not twinset, no-one is blaming you for MD's stupid remark!

Not blamed exactly but do seem to be carrying her can even though I don;t agree with her.

Am too tired, sensitive and frazzled to be on here tonight.

People are getting a little hysterical but that's not your fault. And none of your remarks here came across as egotistical. My eyes have really been opened about bipolar/manic depression, so thank you for posting

Thanks

Molesworth is right. As any fule kno.

Blu

I think Stephen fry did a great job in the programme, I guess it is a case of baby steps to raise awareness as there is a huge stigma attached...not least in gaining employment or even in misunderstanding as someone has said on this thread he can't be seriously bipolar if he can make a Tv programme and have a successful career..the whole point is that it is possible to do both.

Lulu Guiness is bipolar and certainly very successful.

But there are also a lot of people you will know who are bipolar and unable to "come out" for fear of losing jobs, friends etc

notasheep, I'm sorry about your cousin

It isn't always that serious - my mum is bipolar and can go for years without an episode in either direction. Even the 'manic' bits are just hypomanic - it starts with slightly crazy thinking and being much more hyper than usual and then winds up into a kind of overwrought state of anxiety. No hospitalisation at all AFAIK (although we did end up with an 'emergency' psychiatrist coming round to the house once to prescribe anti-psychotics).

I wish I'd seen this prog - is it on next Tuesday?

I thought it was brilliant.

I've just watched it this morning. There's another episode next week (I assume at the same time).

I really thought it was brilliant - an amazing insight into the minds of people with this illness.

Felt very sorry for the mum who daren't get pregnant again incase it induced a massive mania for her. And those poor American boys and all their medication - honestly, to be taking around 7 different types of medication (incl sleeping pills, antipsychotics etc. etc.) just seemed way way too much.

Also thought the professor from Cardiff was very interesting - until then, I hadn't realised there were different degrees of being bi-polar.

I think one of the hardest things about this illness is that every decision made has to be questioned, especially big decisions and risky decisions and a sort of mental paralysis can ensue when it is really hard to know whether enthusiasm is justified or it's a mania. And as stephen fry said the permanent fear of being ambushed.

Just a wee aside re: Robbie - thought it was quite useful to distinguish between depression and manic depression, their being quite different from each other. Dh was commenting that Robbie was a good example of someone who appears manic but it's classic depressive masking behaviour.

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Very, very interesting.

So thought-provoking, horrific in parts and moving too

Can't believe I missed it again

It must be repeated at some point - I want to watch it again!

Hi, I meant to watch the last episode but we had a 7hr powercut!
Glad to hear that they don't think there is a genetic link as i've been quite worried over that lately.
My mum is bi-polar and all through my childhood has "self-medicated", always had booze near her at ALL times so yes she is an alcoholic but luckily she never liked the strong stuff, just wine and cider.
At present she is in hospital under a 6 month section as she has had phycotic episodes and was going round neighbours houses and trying to put a healing spell on them, was convinced she was a white witch, better than being and evil witch i suppose.
But it was getting out of hand and she would wander for miles by herself and was brought home by police a few times.
Also emptied the savings and spent almost £30,000 on totall rubbish, stuff off TV .
When we visit her she wont sit still for more than a minute and during our visits she tries to "escape" at least 5 times in the space of an hour.
So of course now the hospital would rather we did not visit her so often as it seems to agitate her and gives them problems.
Just hope that she can come home one day and see the grandchildren they are missing her so much but they won't allow minors to visit and even i find it disturbing.
Adele.

I thought it was a fantastic program again. I have to say that I didn't think they said that there was no genetic link at all, quite the opposite. There is a definite genetic component to manic depression, but it's certainly not a single gene. Identical twins have about a 55-75% concordance rate (it varies from one study to the next), so that pretty much means there is a genetic component, but it's by no means a forgone conclusion, whatever genes you inherit.

I also thought it was a fantastic program. The people on it were all very brave to be so open about things that must be quite difficult to talk about. And totaly quashed so many steriotyped beliefs about mental illness. I loved the way they discused being sectioned with the woman who coped with her MD with dietary supplements and a 'slower' life style and then told you that she was a part time GP. First rate

What a fabster that Fry man is to be sure to be sure.