MAIN POST

Please share here the thoughts or feelings you are having about the assigned readings and videos. You are being presented with a variety of lenses through which to view the experience of bi-polar and the depressive disorders. Please link literature to practice as you offer examples, thoughts, quotes and citations.

CHRYSTAPHORS RESPOND

According to the DSM-5 (2013), bipolar disorder may be diagnosed when a person has extreme mood shifts from depressive to mania (which is noted by an inflated self-esteem and excessive involvement in dangerous activities).  Craighead, Miklowitz, & Craighead (2013) mentioned that the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin may be at play when someone is suffering from bipolar disorder.  I wonder if bipolar disorder is the body’s natural attempt to find a balance.  For example, someone goes through a period of major depression, then the body kicks up the production of dopamine and serotonin in order to bring the individual out of his/her depression and sends the individual into a manic state.  I feel like the body is naturally guided to bring itself back to homeostasis, and perhaps bipolar is a consequence of something the body normally does.

I am not attempting to downplay the debilitating effects of the disorder, simply hypothesizing that it may be more normal than mainstream science has described.  I like how Laura Bain, the woman living with bipolar disorder, mentions that she is a scientist who seeks formulas but believes “wellness is more like art” (TEDx Talks, 2011).  Yes, there is a science behind treating people with bipolar and certain “formulas” have been proven successful.  However, I don’t believe the simple diminishing of symptoms means a person is getting well.  The symptoms are an expression of an underlying problem.  Bain mentioned that she didn’t have anything externally going on in her life that may have caused her to enter her first depressive state (TEDx Talks, 2011).  I would argue that there must have been some kind of problem, either one that was festering in her memory or some kind of dissatisfaction with her current life.  It’s hard for me to believe that her brain was just wired to take her through bipolar states.  There may be some kind of genetic hardwiring that would make one more vulnerable to bipolar disorder, but I believe there is a multifaceted reason people develop a disorder like bipolar.  This is where the art (not the science) of therapy plays a role.