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What is Bipolar Disorder?
Bipolar Disorder... Where the Manifestation of Disease and the Brain Collide It is said that 5.7 million Americans will suffer from a mental illness. Bipolar disorder is a psychiatric condition, a brain malady defined as recurrent episodes of significant disturbance in mood. These disturbances can occur on a spectrum that ranges from debilitating depression to unbridled mania. Individuals suffering from bipolar disorder typically experience fluid states of mania, hypomania or what is referred to as a mixed state in conjunction with depressive episodes. These clinical states typically alternate with a normal range of mood. The disorder has been subdivided into bipolar I, bipolar II and cyclothymia, with both bipolar I and bipolar II potentially presenting with rapid cycling. Also called bipolar affective disorder until recently, the current name is of fairly recent origin and refers to the cycling between high and low episodes; it has replaced the older term manic-depressive illness coined by Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926) in the late nineteenth century. The new term is designed to be neutral, to avoid the stigma in the non-mental health community that comes from conflating "manic" and "depression." (Wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder). "Mental illness is not for the weak or the strong, not for the rich or the poor, not for the good or the bad. It rests at birth and is born to us on it's own time." - Cynthia M. Sabotka It is reassuring to know that we are not alone. Within the bipolar community are the well-known and famous. People with Mental Illness Enrich Our Lives. Here is some information about famous people throughout history who have had a serious mental illness. Abraham Lincoln The revered sixteenth President of the United States suffered from severe and incapacitating depressions that occasionally led to suicidal ideation, as documented in numerous biographies by Carl Sandburg. Virginia Woolf The British novelist who wrote To the Lighthouse and Orlando experienced the mood swings of bipolar disorder characterized by feverish periods of writing and weeks immersed in gloom. Her story is discussed in The Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr. Lionel Aldridge A defensive end for Vince Lombardi's legendary Green Bay Packers of the 1960's, Aldridge played in two Super Bowls. In the 1970's, he suffered from schizophrenia and was homeless for two and a half years. Until his death in 1998, he gave inspirational talks on his battle against paranoid schizophrenia. His story is the story of numerous newspaper articles. Eugene O'Neill The famous playwright, author of Long Day's Journey Into Night and Ah, Wilderness!, suffered from clinical depression, as documented in Eugene O'Neill by Olivia E. Coolidge. Ludwig van Beethoven The brilliant composer experienced bipolar disorder, as documented in The Key to Genius: Manic Depression and the Creative Life by D. Jablow Hershman and Julian Lieb. Gaetano Donizetti The famous opera singer suffered from bipolar disorder, as documented in Donizetti and the World Opera in Italy, Paris and Vienna in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century by Herbert Weinstock. Robert Schumann The "inspired poet of human suffering" experienced bipolar disorder, as discussed in The Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr. Leo Tolstoy Author of War and Peace, Tolstoy revealed the extent of his own mental illness in the memoir Confession. His experiences is also discussed in The Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr and The Inner World of Mental Illness: A Series of First Person Accounts of What It Was Like by Bert Kaplan. Vaslov Nijinsky The dancer's battle with schizophrenia is documented in his autobiography, The Diary of Vaslov Nijinksy. John Keats The renowned poet's mental illness is documented in The Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr and The Broken Brain: The biological Revolution in Psychiatry by Nancy Andreasen, M.D. Tennessee Williams The playwright gave a personal account of his struggle with clinical depression in his own Memoirs. His experience is also documented in Five O'Clock Angel: Letters of Tennessee Williams to Maria St. Just, 1948-1982; The Kindness of Strangers: The Life of Tennessee Williams by Donald Spoto, and Tennessee: Cry of the Heart by Dotson. Vincent Van Gogh The celebrated artist's bipolar disorder is discussed in The Key to Genius: Manic Depression and the Creative Life by D. Jablow Hershman and Julian Lieb and Dear Theo, The Autobiography of Van Gogh. Isaac Newton The scientist's mental illness is discussed in The Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr and The Key to Genius: Manic Depression and the Creative Life by D. Jablow Hershman and Julian Lieb. Ernest Hemingway The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist's suicidal depression is examined in the True Gen: An Intimate Portrait of Ernest Hemingway by Those Who Knew Him by Denis Brian. Sylvia Plath The poet and novelist ended her lifelong struggle with clinical depresion by taking own life, as reported in A Closer Look at Ariel: A Memory of Sylvia Plath by nancy Hunter-Steiner. Michelangelo The mental illness of one of the world's greatest artistic geniuses is discussed in The Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr. Winston Churchill "Had he been a stable and equable man, he could never have inspired the nation. In 1940, when all the odds were against Britain, a leader of sober judgment might well have concluded that we were finished," wrote Anthony Storr about Churchill's bipolar disorder in Churchill's Black Dog, Kafka's Mice, and Other Phenomena of the Human Mind. Vivien Leigh The Gone with the Wind star suffered from mental illness, as documented in Vivien Leigh: A Biography by Ann Edwards. Jimmy Piersall The baseball player for the Boston Red Sox who suffered from bipolar disorder detailed his experience in The Truth Hurts. Patty Duke The Academy Award-winning actress told of her bipolar disorder in her autobiography and made-for-TV move Call Me Anna and A Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic-Depressive Illness, co-authored by Gloria Hochman. Charles Dickens One of the greatest authors in the English language suffered from clinical depression, as documented in The Key to Genius: Manic Depression and the Creative Life by D. Jablow Hershman and Julian Lieb, and Charles Dickens: His Tragedy and Triumph by Edgar Johnson. Often debilitating and depressingly without cure, there are medical resourses for aid and deliverance. The National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) is a is the largest scientific organization in the world dedicated to research focused on the understanding, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders and the promotion of mental health (www.nimh.nih.gov) provides information on treatment, outreach, clinical trials, statistics and science and their mission: To reduce the burden of mental illness and behavioral disorders through research on mind, brain, and behavior. NIMH has a long history of supporting mental health and fighting for (insurance) parity and against the discrimination and stigma of mental unwellness. There are many organizations that have been established for the benefit of those needing support and guidance. The following list represents Michigan links:
Click here to visit the site www.aim-hq.org/meetgmi.html Click here to visit the site www.commongroundsanctuary.org Click here to visit the site Click here to visit the site 1011 Military Street Port Huron, MI 48060 Phone: 810-985-8900 Access Customer Service Center: 888-225-4447 (Toll Free Hotline) www.scccmh.org Click here to visit the site Click here to visit the site National:
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