Unstable...which is implied simply by the fact that they feel they need to tell me what their justification for their behavior is. If it were not apparent in their behavior then they would have no need to tell anyone, so the admission then becomes fair warning.
Do you think that you could tell if someone was bipolar or not? what about on a social forum like this?
That it can be reasonably controlled with lithium-based medications. I know a few people who bipolar, and the biggest problem they have is that they want to go off their medication quite frequently. But once they go back, they do quite well.
Do you think that medication is the best option? Could someone who is bipolar possibly benefit from routines? (I wanna add more but I am drawing a blank at the moment)
They've tried different things for decades and medication appears to be the only thing that will work. Since it's caused by chemical imbalances in the brain that would seem logical indeed as the only effective treatment.
Well I ask that, because mast hate the meds, and do not think monthly labs are really worth it... I do a lot of research on bipolar, and have since I was about 16 (I oddly can talk about it and remember things better then I can type it all out)... and I question a lot of.. Well.. Everything, that people say about the disorder.. Like people, the symptoms of bipolar differ greatly sometimes person to person.. I find it facinating that one combo can work well on on, and not on another.. On a note like that (while I am thinking about it)... When a persons body becomes adaptive to the medicine, and someone says that there isn't much more you can do...... What do you do?
Although the symptoms do vary somewhat (but that's a result of *other* concurrent disorders), they all experience the exact same highs and lows, just in different intensities. And of the eight individuals I know personally (and have known them for years) not one has ever failed to respond properly to the medication. I think that "failure" is nothing more than an urban legend.
Each individual case has to be evaluated and treated individually. It depends entirely on what the other disorders are.
There is no empirical evidence for chemical imbalances. You have fallen for pharmaceutical propaganda. According to critics, the chemical imbalance hypothesis has been overpromoted and continues to be advanced as factual by pharmaceutical companies. They believe the general population and many journalists have accepted this hypothesis into their understanding of mental illness uncritically. They have pointed to the lack of an established chemical balance (without which, they claim, the notion of an "imbalance" is meaningless). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_imbalance#Criticisms As outlined above, there is zero empirical evidence which suggests that a chemical imbalance (like the one which pharmaceutical industries have propagated over the last 30+ years) truly exists. Aside from there being no evidence to support this theory, there also exists evidence which directly contradicts this theory. This evidence comes from neuroimaging technology and the study of the Behavior of neurons, which is captured by current technology whilst monitoring the behaviors neurologically as they occur within the sufferer. -https://www.ptsdforum.org/c/wiki/chemical-imbalance/#conclusion
Hey, that's *great* info - thanks!!! But it leaves me wondering... why is it that my friends seem to respond to it so well AND "fall off the wagon" when they decide to stop taking it? And furthurmore, start doing so well once again when they start taking it it again. I must say that's *highly* confusing to say the least.
Like much medication (pain relievers, etc.), psychiatric medication only works to mask the symptoms, without addressing the actual cause. Most seem to hate the meds for good reason, as they report feeling "out of it", etc., which can exacerbate their depression symptoms, requiring further meds. If you have researched these meds then you know what a vicious regimen of side-effect countering they can easily become.
Part of it is that many of these meds make them feel too disconnected to demonstrate either manic or overly depressive symptoms. And the belief in a chemical imbalance can contribute to a placebo effect.
I will say amen to that one! I stopped taking so many meds because I felt like a shell of a person... the side effects are quite scarey
Definitely. I have heard that from many people. What is the point if you no longer feel human? I did research once to help compile a description of side-effects of psychiatric meds, so the police could identify the behavior. Meds for depression can cause Turrets symptoms, those for Turrets can cause psychotic breaks, and anti-psychotics can cause depression. I think it is insidious. I have never researched alternative therapies though, so I cannot really comment on those.
Between not feeling human, and being depressed, its just not a good combo... thats why I think there has to be other ways around it.. Not "oh use this meds, and if you get any side effects, we will give you something to help stop thos"... I saw this documentary on ADHD in children and the poor kids were on so many different pills because of side effects, it was horrid to watch!
