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Topic : 08/01 Extreme Highs and Lows

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Created on : Friday, March 03, 2006, 12:43:32 pm
Author : DrPhilBoard1

(Original Air Date: 03/07/06) Dr. Phil explores the ups and downs of bipolar disorder. This illness takes its victims on an emotional rollercoaster ride -- from elation to extreme irritability, intense rage, or devastating depression. First, Cathy was diagnosed with Bipolar II, 10 years ago and claims she goes from zero to psycho in 15 seconds. Dr. Phil takes a look at the toll her disorder takes on her two boys, and brings the family together for a dramatic moment of emotional healing. Then, during various manic episodes, Fred has stolen a taxi, crashed into a Starbucks, and climbed to the top of a church. He hears voices and believes that movie stars like Denzel Washington and Robert De Niro are talking to him through their movies. Still, Fred thinks he’s ready to move out of his parents’ house and live on his own for good … but should his family let him? Talk about the show here.

 

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darlingdot
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March 7, 2006, 3:25 pm PST

When you're in a stable frame of mind, absolutely

Quote From: catbear29

I know it is very difficult to live with mental illness.  You are discriminated against,  misunderstood, and are judged.  My question is, though, is:  Doesn't this mom have a responsibility to remove herself from her children when she knows she can't stop abusing them?  I looked at those kids and saw such pain and mistrust - it's not fair for her to rob them of their childhoods and abuse them because she is ill.  I had a horrible experience where I was 'hormonally bipolar' (and didn't know it)after a difficult pregnancy.  I was alone and terribly scared, but I knew that I couldn't take care of my kids to the best of my abilities, so I made sure someone was around to look after them while I got help and was finally diagnosed.  I never left them, but I certainly would have if I had been abusive.  Where is the responsibility of parent's to do the best for their kids, whatever that is?   Watching that mother, I got the sense that she allows herself free reign to do whatever and say whatever because she is ill.  She is very angry and takes it out on them - is she void of feelings and empathy for what she is doing to them?  They are sobbing and hurting themselves and she is soooo self-involved.  Enough is enough.

The problem with mental illnesses that are undiagnosed is:  the person who's sick doesn't usually know they're sick.  All the people around them can see is that they are "bitchy" "moody" "explosive" etc.  If the self-awareness was that great, then the person wouldn't actually be mentally ill.... 

  

When the brain goes into mania, the brain isn't processing reality normally, as you would have it. 

It's like telling the diabetic to pay attention when they have low blood sugar - ain't gonna happen. 

  

At least the show opened up the discussion so people can talk about their understandable confusion and ignorance of the illness and what it's like.  It's a start. 
 
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lynsdoll1
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March 7, 2006, 3:26 pm PST

Bipolar 1

My adult son suffers with Bipolar 1. Due to this, he lost a very good paying prestious job, a wife everything he had worked so hard for. He had to move back from where he had achieved all his success, penniless and is now living in my home. He has no money, almost off his meds due to no medical Ins yet, no Drs and soon to be, no car. He had to file bankruptcy. The Irs has their hooks into him. He feels like a failure, all though we don't see him that way. He needs so much help.... I so wish I had the resources to help him but I have no more money. I pray every day, some one could help him. He is the most loving person and people love him to death as well.
 
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lisael
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March 7, 2006, 3:27 pm PST

Been there, And DOING That.

Hi Dr. Phil, 

  

I can only hope you read this.  I am a 46 year old female, who is the daughter of a Bipolar.  I am also a college educationed individual who works in a secured psychiatric hospital setting.   

  

I am writing because what I saw today was not an accurate representation of "Bipolar Disorder."  You did present Bipolar Disorder with Psychosis and Bipolar with Delusional Thoughts.  You touched on Type II. I would like for you to clarify Mood Disorders, psychosis, Delusions, Schizophrenia, Schenzoaffective disorder. 

  

I understand that you bite off a huge topic.  My father has offered many challenges over the years but he has never been psychotic or delusional.  We have struggled for many years with his diagnosis but, in the end, he has always been a good father.  I do not want to make light of the fact that we have had MORE than a few challenges but we always come home to center and find each other.   

  

In closing, I would say the portrayals of Bipolar Disorder you presented today were the extremes.  I would also point out that individuals can be diagnosed one disorder only to be re-diagnosed with a different disorder; Mood, Anxiety, Schizophrenia, Schitzoaffective, etc. You and I both know that mental illness can be, but not always is, progressive.  

  

Just my point of view. 

Thank you for your time, 

Lisa

 
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amalina52
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March 7, 2006, 3:28 pm PST

another take on this

Quote From: tambalina

I hate using this log on......My real log on is selfactivated, Ive had it for a decade and some of you know me.  

  

Ive been in absolute tears for 2 hours! Ive been diagnosed Bipolar since I was 17 (Im now 42) Life for me is more than a challenge its a damn rollercoaster ride. I dont particularly like this show any more than I like NDW but as Im constantly reminded its not the mesanger its the message. On the news every two seconds Im hearing "BiPolar man/woman" holding up plane/ hurting spouse......well I'll tell you what , the only thing a Bipolar person is going to hurt is themselves. I run a message board and about 2/3 are Bipolar let me tell you......they are the most loving , caring Angels in the world! The only thing my voices told me were to drive into a ditch or slice my wrists or take all my pills........They said I was stupid and unloved and ugly and and and and!!!!!!! Until I found a path that led me to self love without guilt I wanted to die! Through meds (lithium and seroquil) and books (Dyer, Grabhorn her first books, NDW Neale Donald Walsh, Ruiz, Deepok Chopra many many many more) I AM my own best advocate. There is hope within ourselves, Meds, faith, Love most of all. My friends take me as I am and hold me through the dark spots. (figuratively, my friends are my online community)  

  

I missed 1/2 the show today I try to watch all the shows on BP but the scan they took , I want that! how do I get it , Im on SSI and I doubt they'll pay for it. 

  

Id also like to leave you all with some links to a group I belong to. Its a group meeting that has a national basis I ran our local one until recently (I cant afford the gas) 

  

http://www.dbsalliance.org/ 

  

http://www.nmha.org/ 

  

http://bphope.com/ 

  

BP magasine is a FABULOUS advocate for families and patients. I sent it to my sister and it helped he sis in law get her son diagnosed. Im constantly in contact with people who are on the edge just wanting acknowledgement, Just needing an ear. We lost one in December. She was very young, a mother and so loved. But she didnt like the weight gain on the deprokote so she stopped taking them and took a gun to her head 2 months later. The best any of us can do is reach out. a smile a kind word. I dont want to be normal, normal people cause wars......I want to be me. Goddess willing I AM. 

Please know that although I respect that you run a hotline about this and have to deal with this disorder yourself, you are not exactly right about the facts. My son got hypomanic and broadsided a woman after fleeing this state and buying a brand new car. He is 25 and this happened 11 months ago when he was 24. He has hated being on drugs and saw his aunt go through her whole life on drugs for the same thing. He has been in the hospital several times. His dad and I spent at least $80,000.00 to $100,000.00 last year on a criminal defense attorney, a private hospital, and PI going to visit him in jail since we are in another state and can't afford to see him as often as we would like to. The whole story is too ugly and too painful to discuss here but needless to say, Drl Phil's subjects or guests today didn't hold a candle to what we have been dealing with here. I havae two sons who are bipolar and am myself very stressed because it costs so much to send them to the doctors and their meds that I can't afford to see one myself.
 
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larry3313
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March 7, 2006, 3:28 pm PST

I agree totally with this quote

Quote From: webdeb101

I'm tired of the comercialization of this disorder by showing just the manic phases and the most extreme cases. There are levels/categories and many of us are more often in the depressed phase. I don't even think the depressive side of bipolar was even mentioned on the show. Many of us never experience psychosis and hallucinations etc. That is not a balanced show. I'm disappointed. I think Dr. Phil owes us another show on bipolar that shows the typical bipolar and most especially the depression side.
         I was trying to think of the words to explain my feeling about the show and I just wanted to say I could not have said it better myself . I am not asking for an appology or anything stupid but it should have been a show were the public has a chance to see all sides of the disorder not the most severe as we live with this disorder and don't need anyone to make it seem that all people with Bipolar Disorder are violent and out of control .
 
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amalina52
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March 7, 2006, 3:31 pm PST

amen to that!

Quote From: nurseat6

My daughter was diagnosed with Bi-Polar Disorder about 10 years ago. As a child, we thought she had a very active imagination. As a teen, we thought she had those teenage mood swings. It wasn't until she completely decompensated in her 20's and had to be hospitalized that we finally found out the truth. Thus began the nightmare of managing through the mental health system(or lack there of). The discusting hospitals; the doctors who really don't care; the public perception of "crazy People". We were discusted to learn that insurance companies provide better coverage for drug addicts than for the mentally ill. We stuck with our daughter and supported her to the best of our ability during her darkest hours. Although she still battles her "demons", she has become a productive adult. She is married, has gone back to school and is making a life for herself. I have told her that she should speak publicly to let others know that this diagnosis does not have to be the end of the road...only a bump. Please Dr. Phil, as a public person, speak out on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves. Advocate for better healthcare and insurance availability for the mentally ill. They are not "throw away Creatures" but real human beings who(like my daughter) can learn to live with and take charge of their illness
I totally agree with you about our healthcare system. Even when there is insurance there isn't any coverage for this disorder.
 
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hunt2000
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March 7, 2006, 3:31 pm PST

I need your education to help my boys

Quote From: tambalina

I hate using this log on......My real log on is selfactivated, Ive had it for a decade and some of you know me.  

  

Ive been in absolute tears for 2 hours! Ive been diagnosed Bipolar since I was 17 (Im now 42) Life for me is more than a challenge its a damn rollercoaster ride. I dont particularly like this show any more than I like NDW but as Im constantly reminded its not the mesanger its the message. On the news every two seconds Im hearing "BiPolar man/woman" holding up plane/ hurting spouse......well I'll tell you what , the only thing a Bipolar person is going to hurt is themselves. I run a message board and about 2/3 are Bipolar let me tell you......they are the most loving , caring Angels in the world! The only thing my voices told me were to drive into a ditch or slice my wrists or take all my pills........They said I was stupid and unloved and ugly and and and and!!!!!!! Until I found a path that led me to self love without guilt I wanted to die! Through meds (lithium and seroquil) and books (Dyer, Grabhorn her first books, NDW Neale Donald Walsh, Ruiz, Deepok Chopra many many many more) I AM my own best advocate. There is hope within ourselves, Meds, faith, Love most of all. My friends take me as I am and hold me through the dark spots. (figuratively, my friends are my online community)  

  

I missed 1/2 the show today I try to watch all the shows on BP but the scan they took , I want that! how do I get it , Im on SSI and I doubt they'll pay for it. 

  

Id also like to leave you all with some links to a group I belong to. Its a group meeting that has a national basis I ran our local one until recently (I cant afford the gas) 

  

http://www.dbsalliance.org/ 

  

http://www.nmha.org/ 

  

http://bphope.com/ 

  

BP magasine is a FABULOUS advocate for families and patients. I sent it to my sister and it helped he sis in law get her son diagnosed. Im constantly in contact with people who are on the edge just wanting acknowledgement, Just needing an ear. We lost one in December. She was very young, a mother and so loved. But she didnt like the weight gain on the deprokote so she stopped taking them and took a gun to her head 2 months later. The best any of us can do is reach out. a smile a kind word. I dont want to be normal, normal people cause wars......I want to be me. Goddess willing I AM. 

Is it too much for a mother to hope that her children can go to college?  Even with them struggling through bipolar?  I am happy when my BP kids are loving, and scared to death when they are cycling.  My oldest was hospitalized after telling me he was going to kill me and my unborn child, what a chilling memory I have of that time in our lives and he doesn't even remember all of the details......... 

  

Thanks for listing the websites!  They have all made it to my favorites list now............my husband is in the military and moving takes it's toll on my and my boys.  I feel like I am re-educating every doctor that we see at the base hospitals just so that we can get referred off base to someone knowledgeable. 

  

I would love for my kids to be able to have the scan that they talked about today.  Since my oldest is diagnosed with Bipolar, ADHD and ODD - what a tough mix to comprehend at his young age of 16.  And we have just started down the road of bipolar with my youngest son.  He is only in his second year of his diagnosis and on his second medication, he had night terrors with his bipolar and thankfully his meds have helped that as well. 

  

Thanks again for the info. 
 
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aloysius
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March 7, 2006, 3:31 pm PST

Thanks forToday's Program.

Dear Dr. Phil: 

  

I have written to you about my son having schizophrenia.  Bi-polar has many similar symptons.  They are diseases of the brian.  How saddened I was to see the angre in her two young sons.  My son stopped talking to me for two years, I became the enemy because I was searcyhing out for help for something, a change in a most wonderful young man, that I did not understand.  It was quite interesting as to your show and Oprah's show today.  Both affected me deeply, as I am an incest survivor and my son, at 35, has schizophrenia.  I must say I was on a emotional roller coaster ride.  For I blamed me for my son's disease, I emotionally distant myself from everyone, even my two children.  Here was a bright young man, personality plus, loved by all and yet entered a darkness that even I, I that thought my darkness was the deepest, could not understand.    I have studied the many aspects of mental illness, from the depression which I suffered, thinking I knew the cause, yet seeing another illness that to this day most are still therorizing about.  The brain is not working in what one "calls normal", then we have to explain normal.   The lady  today already knows she hurt her children but she does not understand why.  I have said of myself, had I know of the repercussions of my childhood sexual abuse I would never have had children.  They did not deserve what I was able to give.  I would hope and pray that this ladiie's children will come to understand their mother has a disease, a disease just as real as if they told both tboys she has a physical ailment.  The mind is still a discovery, when one sees one walking, talking, looking normal they cannot help but think they are normal.  The disease of the mind is one of the most  serious diseases of our day, yet little is being told, little is understood.  Thank you for bringing forth this program, my hope is that you will continue in the most serious of diseases.   
 
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skittercat
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March 7, 2006, 3:35 pm PST

electric shock therapy

After being married to my daughter for one month, my son-in-law got electric shock therapy, supposedly to treat bipolar.  I have never heard of such at thing.  Now, his parents have my daughter on meds for bipolar.  What's up with that?
 
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mrspiggy52
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March 7, 2006, 3:37 pm PST

03/07 Extreme Highs and Lows

Quote From: shortstop6

Ok, I have seen the show now and I feel worse than I have felt in over 2 years. I wrote down a lot of things in response to the show but they don,t  matter. I'm to down to mess with it. I have never threatened to kill my kids. I never beat them either, I have beaten myself though. I don,t want to go to work now, what if someone there saw the show? They won,t like me now. Fred was cool  but  the woman was way out there. why didn,t they check her brain? Bi-polars have triggers and that show certainly was a trigger for me.  I take my meds and do what I,m  supposed to do, I have not abused any drugs, I no longer self medicate. I feel after watching the show that I never should have been honest about my mental illness, It should have remained a secret. Now I want to dissolve, never to have been. 

My husband constantly reminds me and my children that I Do take my meds and don't play games because i love them and I want to minimize the effect my illness has on the family!  So, congratulations to you for that also! 

  
 
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