[q]"LoveDubs
I must admit I had no idea what Bipolar was or that it is related to depression, I can freely concede to being depressed but, and I ask this in all sincerity, how can this generate such specific experiences? it only has ever happened when I’m asleep, being unable to move, etc, etc what I trying to say is what most people are describing sounds like two steps from a breakdown, like being SO depressed that your life stops or grinds to a slow crawl, all through this I got through college, became a microsoft certified professional, became IT manager of a law firm and now I’m enjoying fatherhood, could someone with the level illness that is being described be capable of such accomplishments"[/q]
Absolutely. "This illness is as old as humankind, and has probably been conserved in the human genome because it confers great energy and originality of thought. People who have had it have literally changed the course of human history: Manic-depression has afflicted (and probably fueled the brilliance of) people like Isaac Newton, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, Johann Goethe, HonorŽ de Balzac, George Frederic Handel, Ludwig von Beethoven, Robert Schumann, Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, Robert Lowell, and Anne Sexton."
(see http://cbshealthwatch.health.aol.com/aolmedscape/p/G_Library/article.asp?RecID=210010&ContentType=Library)
This is not a fatal or debilitating or untreatable condition by any means. The people that I know who have had this are fully functioning and very intelligent. It just manifests itself in odd behaviors. It might behoove you to check it out. Because I know my mother in law was highly positive when finally diagnosed, I am watching my children's behaviors for symptoms.
I am only trying to be sincere in this. I used to do medical transcription for Childrens Memorial Hospital in Chicago, the Psychiatric Unit...and after a few years of that, recognized my young brother in law was manifesting many of the symptoms and responses of a child with ADHD. But I was met with anger and resentment when I broached the subject of his behavior patterns with my inlaws...and I did so kindly and very gradually. It wasnt until his behavior was questioned repeatedly at school did he finally get diagnosed. And...it turns out his father has it too. So now, with my mother in laws diagnosis, it could be that M is indeed bipolar, but the symptoms mock each other. And now both M, his mother and the doctors and teachers know what is going on and can treat it...and M especially, now knowing what is going on with him, is working with his treatment and not feeling so different any more. His mother also disassociated from the JWs and M is now living a normal life as a teen...a huge factor.
I am only now starting to do my research on this.
