Bit of an AIBU... Zosia's storyline in Holby City

[AnotherGirlsParadise]

I just really don't like how the bipolar disorder storyline is being handled. I'm bipolar myself so am probably a little oversensitive about the whole thing, and I can't fault Camilla Arfwedson's acting (she plays the part beautifully), but their portrayal of the illness is just so cliched and almost embarrassing. The tipping of the salt/sugar on the canteen table and drawing in it was a particularly daft thing, and the diagnosis happened SO fast - it's not normally like that. The way they're showing it, it makes it look like a bit of heartbreak is what brings it on.

I dunno. I just had to vent!

I know what you mean. I really cringe at most portrayals of MH on TV. How about they show someone being diagnosed, taking their medication regularly, engaging in therapy and getting on with things the best they can? Oh, right, not dramatic enough.

That's so true. I think the only bipolar storyline I've really approved of was Stacey Slater's in Eastenders - Lacey Turner was absolutely phenomenal, she had me in tears more than once.

I really don't understand why mental health storylines are handled so badly - surely the scriptwriters need to speak to actual sufferers in order to write something sensitively?

Just saw this and realised that this is what Zosia is doing now. Taking meds, getting therapy and getting on with it. Also was mentioned over course of storyline that Zosia had been behaving oddly since her mothers death. So it had been going on nearly a year by the time she joined Holby.