Is Bipolar an excuse for bad behavior?

[Nurse Ben]

It doesn't make sense that bi polar is a new disorder, so maybe we called it something else in the past or simply ignored it, but now it's the number one mental health diagnosis.

So, what do you all think, is bi polar an excuse for not controlling/taking reponsibility for your behaviors or is it something more?

[harper]

Originally Posted by Nurse Ben

So, what do you all think, is bi polar an excuse for not controlling/taking reponsibility for your behaviors or is it something more?

Bi polar is a splendid excuse for all forms of inappropriate behavior. It's also a good description for a rotating sphere as well as a variety of magnets.

[johnfoss]

I didn't know Bi-polar was new, I've heard the term for many years. Maybe relatively new? Anyway, a diagnosis is not an excuse for bad behavior. It can be a reason for such behavior, but this never makes it okay.

For example:
"Well, your honor, I'm Bi-polar and forgot to take my meds. This was why I went on a screaming rampage in the plane."

I work with people with developmental disabilities. In many cases, our folks also have various types of mental illness. If you know it's there, you really shouldn't be using it as an excuse. If you commit crimes as a result, the penalties should not be any less. Perhaps less if you were not yet diagnosed, but not if you knew you had this condition and, for example, simply didn't take a prescription med that can help with your symptoms. That happens a lot.

[thieum]

It used to be called manic depression, so that makes it a lot less new. At least as ancient as Jimi Hendrix
Bi polar is a term I first heard when I set foot in the US of A. I also happened to have never heard of it after I left. Strange.

[maestro8]

I bet Nurse Ben thinks AIDS is just an excuse for calling in sick to work.

[Samstoney]

Originally Posted by Nurse Ben

It doesn't make sense that bi polar is a new disorder, so maybe we called it something else in the past or simply ignored it, but now it's the number one mental health diagnosis.

So, what do you all think, is bi polar an excuse for not controlling/taking reponsibility for your behaviors or is it something more?

Kay Redfield Jamison, a clinical psychologist and author, was diagnosed as bipolar in the seventies, I believe. If you want to read a brilliant book about manic depression/bipolar/etc "An Unquiet Mind", her memoirs, is just that.

Bipolar/ADD/ADHD/Asbergers/autism diagnoses all seem to be on the rise. I think there are a lot of reasons for this, but one that I think is often overlooked is that we are simply getting more nuanced in how we describe mental illnesses or mental conditions. None are excuses for bad behavior; however they can offer a key to *understanding* behavior in some cases.

Sam

[feel the light]

It's hard for me to say if it is an excuse for bad behaviors. I have dated 2 bipolar (so they said) girls, and they both seemed worried at times and also prone to sudden mood swings. In general, they make kinda crappy girl friends. It's hard to know if they want to fuck or fight, and especially confusing when they seem to want to do both, or change their mind in the middle.

I do believe it is a real disorder. Not saying I am an expert, but just as a guy that loves hot girls, they suffered from worries about their condition. They both told me they took drugs, Lithium sounds like what they said.

One girl I have known 20 years and she loves me a lot so I always want to say hi to her. However, she is on the 3 minute rule. She is great for 2 minutes, but gets pissed off before 5, doesn't matter what I do, say, or don't say. Make her laugh in 2 minutes and then bail. If I stay, she suddenly get's offended and leaves anyway, angry, so I have learned to be nice, and leave earlier than her.

[leo]

Originally Posted by Samstoney

ADHD

If Louis de Funès was born today he'll probably got medication, and would have ended at the assembly line of Peugeot's mopeds. That is, if those jobs weren't outsourced to China. Do they actually have ADHD in China to?
I think those who claim they "suffer" ADHD are either fakers or too lazy to see their trendy handicap as a benefit.

[Nurse Ben]

I bet Nurse Ben thinks AIDS is just an excuse for calling in sick to work.

Probably not, being as I used to work in an Aids Hopsice and have done a lot of AIDS education...but at least you're trying


A disclaimer, I practice psychiatry, so bi polar is a diagnosis I see often; too often IMHO. What I find challenging is when clients or their families come to an appt insisting that they be medicated for bi polar. In psychiatry, a diagnosis is only relevant if it can be treated with medication, so when medication doesn't work ...

And yes, bi polar was once called manic depression and depression was just depression, but now they have it divided into all sorts of special categories; which is what happens when psychologists have too much free time

Bipolar/ADD/ADHD/Asbergers/autism diagnoses all seem to be on the rise. I think there are a lot of reasons for this, but one that I think is often overlooked is that we are simply getting more nuanced in how we describe mental illnesses or mental conditions. None are excuses for bad behavior; however they can offer a key to *understanding* behavior in some cases.

So, without "cheating", guess which of the above diagnoses are most common statistically?; yes Harper, all statistics lie, but bear with me

[maestro8]

Originally Posted by Nurse Ben

I practice psychiatry

Do the folks who see you know you're only practicing? When will you take this job seriously? I almost lost a bipolar friend to suicide in high school...

[harper]

Originally Posted by Nurse Ben

So, without "cheating", guess which of the above diagnoses are most common statistically?

Bad behavior?

[BillyTheMountain]

Originally Posted by feel the light

It's hard to know if they want to fuck or fight, and especially confusing when they seem to want to do both, or change their mind in the middle.

When they change their minds in the middle, that can really ruin a good fight

[BillyTheMountain]

It can make some people Not Criminally Responsible for Criminal Conduct, known as the Insanity Defense.

[Nurse Ben]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nurse Ben
I practice psychiatry
Do the folks who see you know you're only practicing? When will you take this job seriously? I almost lost a bipolar friend to suicide in high school...

It is sad to hear about suicide, even an unsuccessful attempt is a terrible shame.

Fortunately in a decade of doing this work I have only had one patient complete, but I talk to patients about suicidal thoughts far too often...most of the time it is either a comment taken out of context or a person saying things they don't mean. But of course we have to take everything serious, because you never know if it is serious.

When I first started doing this work, the number of people coming in with a diagnosis of bi polar was not very great, maybe 1-5%, but now it has grown so large that it dwarfs all other diagnoses, upwards of 1/3 of the patients I see will "suggest" bi polar as a diagnosis. And for my part, all I can do is talk through the diagnostic process and discuss "norms" and how one thing can appear to be another...

What I find most interesting is that in the child and adolescent population it is almost always the parent that insists the child has bi polar, but with adults it's the adult who claims to be bi polar. Now maybe this makes sense at one level, but try talking with a parent about a differential diagnosis, bi polar vs oppositional defiant or ADHD and watch how fast the parents get irritated! Oh, and gawd forbid you suggest anything to do with parenting!!

I once had this parent come and demand I medicate her sixteen son because he was rude, disrespectful, did what he pleased, refused to follow her directions, etc... In the process she was disrespectful and condescending to me, so when I suggested to M that they get some family therapy and work on relationship issues, she stormed out of my office, leaving her son behind, then she demanded he be scheduled with someone else.

So much of what I see is not treatable with medications, I don't mean to say that I refuse to try medications, but after trying a bunch of diferent medications without a positive response, there can really only be one answer...it's behavioral.

There is a move underfoot in psychology to add an Axis II diagnosis to the DSM that represents the population of people who have the symptoms of a mood disorder that are not treated by medication, with the assumption being that their mood problems are rooted in their thinking processes vs their bio chemistry.

The reason I started this thread was that during a conversation last week with a psychiatrist, he suggested the same thing: "... bi polar has become an excuse/explanation for bad behavior."

So, do you think we change the ways we think about things in order to change the ways in which we respond?

[Nurse Ben]

Bad behavior?'

Harper, such a funny guy, and yes bad behavior is a common thread, but the most common Axis I psychiatric diagnosis is ADHD/ADD, though this often "evolves" into other things as the kids age out...