Saturday, August 04, 2007

Bipolar - The Cop-Out Disease



Okay, so today I had time to post here. I might actually post some again this week if I get more time.

The other day I was at someone's house and a commercial for "Restless Leg Syndrome" came on the television. This person started asking everyone about some other disease, a mental disorder, that people claimed to have that made them depressed or sad and blame their parents for everything they do. He said it was the cop-out disease, but he couldn't remember the name of it. I knew he was going to say what it was, because it's something I was diagnosed with a year ago.

He left the room and came back and said, "Bipolar! That's it!"

I instantly remembered when I got diagnosed. I went over to their house a little later and it came up and of course this person said, "Oh that's a bullshit disease. Everyone has that now." I asked him who he knew that had it, and of course he could only strug and say, "Well...I'm just saying is all." Yeah, that's what I thought. You have no idea what you are talking about, do you?

This person is an alcoholic that has been sober for like fifteen years. I felt like I should have said something like, "Oh, what's that disease people pretend to have, where they act like they can't decide whether or not they get drunk? Oh yeah! Alcoholism!" Now, I'm not trying to rag on people that are alcoholics, but c'mon. I mean, I would say a chemical imbalance in the brain would be more of a "disease" than alcoholism. I mean, if I catch a flu, I cannot decide not to have it anymore. That's a disease. But getting drunk too much? No matter what, you always make that dicision before you pick up the drink. That's not a disease, sorry. If it was, it would take medication or something to get rid of, not the person simply buckling down and deciding not to suffer from it anymore. You can't go to some program and tell everyone you have cancer, and then talk about it a bunch, exert your will, and then suddenly the cancer goes away.

Before I left, I was also thinking, "Oh, what's that disease where you think you know all about something that you know nothing about?"

The answer came easily enough.

"Ignorance."

Click Here Subscribe to The Blog of R.A.Matheson by Email

Add to Google

Click this to add this blog to your My AOL, My Yahoo, Google Homepage, or other reader!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ugh - I'm tired of hearing this shit as well.
And I used to say similar stuff myself.
Until I saw my daughter struggle with ADHD, and I know myself when my meds aren't quite working as well as they should when I get depressed and just want to open up my brain and fix it, but I can't.
So I tolerate it until it changes.

But I've never used it as an excuse for anything. I am still responsible for all of the choices I make, be they bad or good.

I just hate when I feel depressed or manic or anxious and can't do much else then take my meds and hope for the best (but expect the worst.)
That policy seems to work okay, at least most of the time.
:)

You Haven't Heard of Him said...

I agree. My case is mild enough to where meds are optional. I choose not to take them, but I could if I felt it was needed.