What started as an idea for a joke on Facebook turned into a more serious status update, which has now turned into a blog post.

If you don’t know, a few weeks back, girls all over Facebook started posting the colors of the bras they were wearing, but nobody said why. It turns out it was for breast cancer awareness. Lately, there’s been something similar involving cryptic posts about monsters, elevators, and cars. All of this leaves me mystified.

First of all, secretive publicity stunts are annoying as hell. If they at least posted why they were posting the color of their bras, that would be something, but leaving for people to figure out on their own (or, in most cases, ignore) is a gimmick that I’d expect from an Evangelical church youth group, but not a cancer awareness group. And are they really expecting people to say, “Holy shit! I’d completely forgotten about breast cancer!” Why not spend the time raising an awareness for a condition that really needs it?

I don’t want to propose that bipolar disorder is as serious or kills as many people as breast cancer; but few people understand that bipolar disorder actually does kill some people, and the sympathy surrounding breast cancer is often replaced by prejudice and social stigmas around bipolar. Other mental disorders have stigmas as well, ranging from disbelief and mockery (autism and ADHD) to fear and blatant misconceptions (schizophrenia), but bipolar disorder is my battle to fight, so I’ve chosen that one.

In light of all that, here are some statistics on bipolar disorder.

• Between 1 and 1.5% of the population has bipolar disorder, but this number is hard to really nail down, as it is often misdiagnosed or not treated at all.
• Between 10 and 15% of bipolar individuals succeed in killing themselves. Aside from that, many others die from drug overdoses or reckless behavior due to mood swings, and still others ruin their finances and social lives beyond repair.
• In addition, there is a strong correlation between bipolar disorder and heart disease. Mortality rate from other causes is generally higher across the board in bipolar individuals than in the general population.
• Bipolar disorder is a lifelong disorder that usually fully manifests itself in the early 20s; however, it can manifest itself in childhood, and is often more severe when it does so. About 25% of bipolar children are seriously suicidal.
• Bipolar individuals have an increased likelihood of having problems with memory formation, speed of processing information, and mental flexibility.
• About 60% of bipolar individuals abuse at least one substance.
• Bipolar individuals have a higher incidence of many medical conditions, including heart disease, lung problems, gastrointestinal disorders, skin infections, diabetes, hypertension, migraine headaches, hypothyroidism, and cancer.
• Bipolar disorder has a strong effect on creativity. Manic and hypo-manic individuals often display great creativity, and the rate of occurrence is estimated to be 10 to 20 times higher among those in the creative arts than those in the general population.
• Bipolar disorder is very treatable. Many of those suffering from the disorder are able to live normal or mostly-normal lives upon finding the right regimen of medication.

Lastly, here are some things to never say to anyone with a mental disorder, including chronic depression. And yes, I’ve heard all of these.

• It’s all in your head. (Translation: I don’t believe in all that psychiatric nonsense.)
• We all go through times like this. Why can’t you just _____ like a normal person? (Translation: You can’t deal with life as well as I can.)
• Just shake it off. How long are you going to use that as a crutch? (Translation: I can’t be bothered with your problems.)
• You shouldn’t listen to so much depressing music. You should think more happy thoughts. You should listen to music by the Beatles. (Translation: This is your fault.)
• Maybe if you had the faith/prayed about it, God would take this away. (Translation: You have no faith.)

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 17th, 2010 at 4:10 pm and is filed under Psychology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.