Thursday, May 17, 2012

Conversations About Bipolar Disorder

Sara is a blog reader who wants to write about bipolar disorder.  She's interested in talking to people who have the condition, and she's started a blog called "Conversations about our Condition."
If you wouldn't mind talking to her, do visit her site!

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Her opening post has one factual error that should be corrected: Bipolar Disorder affects between 0 and 100 percent of the population, depending on how it is defined.

Flaumen said...

So I can make up a name, tell stories that may or may not have happened and have them included in a book based on the fact that some doctor somewhere decided I have bipolar, which these days, doesn't have a real meaning?

Anonymous said...

Is a bipolar person really qualified to be a psychiatrist? Seems to me they'd bring too much of their personal baggage into the room, making it difficult to listen to the patient in front of them. I wouldn't want a biopolar shrink, and I am bipolar.

Zig said...

Hi Anonymous,

I don't think my shrink (former) was bipolar but that didn't mean they did not bring a lot of their personal baggage into the room. It depends on how stable the person is. We tend not to hear about the people who are very stable on meds, healthy diet, etc. We do hear a lot about people who have trouble functioning in the world. I know bipolar people who have been living full lives for decades, on meds but I would probably trust one of these more than a person who was not bipolar and just a lousy shrink with no insight into their own stuff.

Anonymous said...

Zig, this is Anon again - I am completely stable on meds. I still wouldn't want a bipolar shrink. Nor would I want a bad shrink, bipolar or not. It's not like those are the only two choices. I have an excellent shrink, and the last shrink I had was also excellent. I seriously doubt either is bipolar.

zig said...

Anon, how would you feel about a shrink who was taking antidepressants for depression and anxiety and doing well on those meds? Is that better? What about a shrink who attends AA and NA meetings? I'm sure that bipolar, depressed, anxious, alcoholic and drug addicted shrinks and that their patients often wouldn't know so long as the shrink was stable, maintaining sobriety etc.
What about a narcoleptic shrink?

Dinah said...

An actively narcoleptic shrink is not good.

I imagine there are plenty of docs who meet criteria for Bipolar type II.

Please just help Sara, if you'd like, or not. She's a motivated, striving college student with dreams and plans and I like supporting idealists!

Sarebear said...

Plus, she's got a great name. ;^o

Anonymous said...

Zig,
No, I wouldn't want any of those. There are lots of careers out there, including as doctors, that I wouldn't mind them for - I don't care if my endocrinologist or OBGYN or PCP is bipolar or narcoleptic or a former addict. But not my shrink.

Anonymous said...

Most shrinks would not tell patients about their own medical, psychiatric history or to what degree they self medicate using any substance. There are probably plenty of shrinks who see shrinks for more than just getting through a divorce or a wee bit of depression.

Anonymous said...

Shrinks should not tell patients about their own medical conditions. I had a shrink who told me he was on zoloft. I already wasn't thrilled with him and that disclosure caused me to find a new shrink. Since then I only see wicked smart highly functioning psychopharmacologists wno couldn't possibly do what they do if they had some form of mental illness. And that works well for me.

Anonymous said...

Every shrink I ever had told me stuff I did not want to hear. That's pretty well how I know that they are not any more 'well' than most of their patients.

Anonymous said...

I would assume that psychiatrists and psychopharmacologists are more "well" than their patients because medical school is no walk in the park. But all the MSWs and PhDs out there - I assume they're mostly dealing with their own issues. Still, anon you say they told you things you didn't want to know - which supports my original point that they are likely to bring their baggage to the sessions and it interferes with their ability to treat patients.

Anonymous said...

Sure, I said they told me stuff I didn't want to know but it doesn't support the argument against a shrink with bipolar provided they are stable and have good supervision because not a one of the shrinks I am talking about had bipolar. Lots of shrinks out their with tons of baggage and personality disorders. I'd be far more worried about the narcissist shrink than the stable bipolar one.

Anonymous said...

Do you know who gets into med school? The most wound up, competitive, perfectionist students who live to drive themselves to an early grave.

Anonymous said...

A narcissist wouldn't become a shrink because it's not they type of profession that would give then glory and be all about them. They'd be a surgeon.

Anonymous said...

Many would be drawn to surgery, but plenty of narcissists would be drawn to psychiatry. They would be the one who love the fact that their patients get so dependent on them. They would have also have an audience in their patients who often idealize their shrink. Those types of docs are the ones you read about after they caught for sleeping with their patients. They are also the ones who use their patients for other things: make them feel more powerful and competent in comparison, etc.

Anonymous said...

How unfortunate that the stigmatized are doing the stigmatizing!

Anyone heard of Kay Redfield Jamison? How about Elyn Saks?

I would have no concerns with my shrink having a mental illness, provided it was being managed.

Anonymous said...

Sure, but they are both academics, not therapists.

Anonymous said...

The comments on this post make me sad.

They are based on anecdotes and not facts.

A stable shrink is a stable shrink.

Any shrink that tells you of their personal mental history is behaving in an unethical manner, probably ultimately hurtful and most likely NOT all that stable.

Also, none of these comments have addressed the original post.

Anonymous said...

An anecdote can be a fact.

Anonymous said...

Sure an anecdote can be a fact.
That was not my point.

We all know it is extremely dangerous to generalize an anecdote into a world view ("my shrink told me she/he takes SSRIs and is loopy, ergo all shrinks with diagnosed mental illnesses should not be shrinks, even if their conditions are well controlled are therefor loopy and should not practice.")

Anonymous said...

Rob Dobrenski, author of Crazy. Check out the inside flap of his book. You can do that on Amazon.Why does anyone think shrinks are mentally healthier than their patients?

Natalie Ross said...

That's a very promising blog about Bipolar disorder. It deserves to be bookmarked. :)

Anonymous said...

Harldy.

Carole said...

Just to clear up something...Key Redfield Jamison ran the bipolar center at John Hopkins, teaching med students to do therapy AND doing therapy herself. Yes, she has bipolar but she is stable and has been stable for decades.

Having a mental illness that is controlled is no reason for them not to be a physician. I would have other concerns such as... what do you call a medical student with the lowest passing grade? Doctor