From my reading and limited personal experience, a person with bipolar disorder does not normally lose his/her idea of who he/she is, regardless of how manic or depressed. Which is not to say, I suppose that an unfortunate individual could not have both disorders. IANAD.
The extremes of mood experienced by someone with a bipolar condition don’t normally result in ignorance of identity. However these extremes can be so far apart as to suggest the identity does, in fact, change as one goes up and down the scale. Playing with these notional differences can be good fun for some and distasteful for others.
I read it and I preach it as well, probably with too much enthusiasm.
Abso-fucking-lutely. I’m generally seen as very calm and easygoing. (Deep inside, it’s because I’m thinking, “Nothing really matters, so why get excited?”) In my rare manic episodes, people who know me would hardly recognize me–I can get furious instantaneously at the mildest provocations.
I avoid the dilemma Chez was writing about by not posting on the boards in that state.
press…one…and…hold…it…down…for…a…real…long…time…orpressnineagainagainagain and again!!!
Well, you could follow AskNott’s advice in the linked thread and announce your manifestation as an introduction to each post.
Speaking of whom, I had been hoping that poster would come in and comment on the reasons for his/her disapproval. ATMB is not a particularly suitable venue in which to pursue such differences of opinion, whereas this forum provides a far more suitable ambience for so doing.
Notwithstanding some interesting responses above, it’s unfortunate that more people closely connected with the condition haven’t contributed here. This is by no means a critical remark, merely a statement of the obvious. Maybe a more concise OP from a different author in a different forum at a different time would encourage more opinions.
Current Mood: Balanced with a hint of insouciance.
Saaaay, aren’t you that boy who cried wolf? :dubious:
Well, you meet all kinds in this message board. There are some jokers, and there are some with serious problems. We don’t often see jokers pretending to be bipolar, as you did. When I saw your thread in ATMB, I thought, “Well, here’s some poor fool about to get himself banned.” I imagined the needle-sharp hackles rising on the back of TubaDiva’s neck. :eek: Still, I didn’t know which kind of fool; is this a crass bastard having a laugh at the expense of genuine bipolars, (in which case I shouldn’t bother saving his sorry ass) or is it an honest bipolar person about to do something really stupid?
I guessed wrong, you’re a crass bastard in search of a laugh. That’s okay, I don’t mind looking foolish in the pursuit of kindness. My kindness even added to your joke. I’m okay with that.
I can’t figure out, though, is how you gleaned disapproval from my post in that thread. I was straining to be polite and gentle. That’s the kind of guy I am.
I don’t mind jokes about bipolar. In fact, it is nice to have people acknowledge it. Because otherwise I feel like they just think I’m a freak.
Ghanima, hypomaniac extraordinaire!!
That’s because you have a facility for sending mixed messages.
Let me try to interpret this one. It’s your considered opinion that I’m a joker pretending to be bipolar. Confirm or deny?
You are charred residue pretending to be vaguely human. Is that clear enough for you, dimwad?
OK, you got me.
I joined this message board in August 2001 with the express intention of destroying the recovery programmes of all bipolar members. My objective was clear and my plan foolproof. I would post on and off for five and a half years and allow my nefarious project to come to fruition only in January 2007.
My first posting period lasted until the autumn of 2002 and covered about 1300 contributions. I was very careful not to break my cover during this time. I resolved only to post the most innocuous and mindless drivel so that my true agenda would remain hidden from the serried masses of board members. I think I got away with it.
Then I disappeared for a couple of years to make an exhaustive study of bipolar disorder and its effect on those who have it. I felt the time spent so occupied would give me greater credibility when the moment finally came for me to implement my evil plan.
I returned briefly in the late summer of 2004 just to check how many suckers were around who I could annoy two and a half years later. I disappeared again until May 2006. From that time until this I have been meticulous in concealing my motives by posting about 800 times more on matters of no conceivable importance, in order not to attract accusations of trollery. I even dropped into a couple of earlier bipolar related threads to establish my credentials as a ‘sufferer’ in that area.
In the world of espionage it’s called building a legend. I’m here to tell you it takes time and effort to do this effectively and without encouraging whispered talk.
Eventually, in January this year, I shot my five and a half year old arrow into ATMB. But I didn’t reckon on you, did I? Your post reminding me of the basic rule of this message board (Don’t be a Jerk) set me thinking. Had I been rumbled? Was my credibility in the field of bipolar veracity at risk? I couldn’t take that chance so I had to start this thread as well.
This gave me the opportunity to put some spurious detail on my fictitious condition, detail which was gleaned the hard way from a raft of text books while burning the candle at both ends over the two year period 2002-2004. All the time I spent educating myself in this subject I couldn’t help but think it would be easier to actually have the condition rather than study it.
Every foolproof plan has its weak points. This one failed to take into account your expertise in the noble art of clairvoyance. It is this, and only this, ability of yours which has undone me. I stand unmasked by you as a liar and a charlatan.
I’m not sure where I go from here. Virtual disgrace and opprobrium beckon, but I guess I’ll just have to cope with it. When this thread has died a natural death I may have to make myself scarce on this message board for a while. I’ll probably go somewhere else until the heat dies down. In the meantime though, let’s spare a thought for the only real loser in this scenario.
There’s a woman sleeping just upstairs from me right now as I type this. When she wakes up I’m going to have to tell her she’s wasted the last 14 years of her life loving, caring for, and supporting without question someone who isn’t bipolar at all. How she’s going to take this startling piece of news I just don’t know.
Or maybe I do. You see, she’s an accountant. Everything she does is measured. I have a sneaking suspicion that if she ever had the misfortune to find herself in the same room as you, she would assess the weight of your sorry testicles prior to amputating them and stuffing them into your somewhat oversized mouth.
Enjoy your meal.
Chez Guevara is the Geraldo Rivera of the Straight Dope Message Board. Chez himself might see that as a badge of honor, but it means that the rest of us will never again trust anything he says.
Yes, CG, this is your Al Capone’s Vault. You are slag now. Chaff. Lees. Manure.
Asknott want not as I always say.
Hey guys… aren’t we supposed to be laughing here?
Chez Guevara, I would like to call your attention to the Pit’s rules, which state:
This is a formal warning. Do not do this again.
If you do not care to discuss with other users your mental condition and not endure criticism, I encourage you not to open these threads and especially not in the Pit.
Criticism I can take.
Unfounded and gratuitous accusations of lying are totally and unequivocally unacceptable to me.
Your mileage clearly varies.
Oh, and while I’m here, have you actually read the OP? I admit to having a condition in order to establish some background. I don’t encourage discussion of it. I use it as context to gather opinion regarding whether or not humour and bipolar disorder can be mentioned in the same breath.
Chez, I think that if you wanted serious responses (so to speak) to your question about humor and bipolarity, the Pit wasn’t the place to open the thread. You might ask a moderator to move it, or close this one and start up another one elsewhere.
My wife is bipolar, and humor is one of our mutual weapons in helping keep things under control. Having said that, I also think that one needs to be careful about humor. Bipolarity is an illness, and making fun of an illness is risky: the person to whom you make the joke might have had a dear friend or relative commit suicide under the influence of bipolar depression, and may not think your jokes are funny. Making fun of disabling illnesses is risky if you don’t know the audience well.
With bipolarism especially, humor may be useful in dealing with depression. But it’s not just snide remarks kind of humor, it takes something like a screwball comedy, real roll-in-the aisle laughter. At the other pole, when the swing is towards the manic end, a joke may be seen as a criticism and can spark anger and even violent eruption.
So, the humor only comes into play when the bipolar person is reasonably level. In the middle, you can laugh about your extremes; when you’re at the extreme, the emotions (whether high or low) are too overwhelming to allow you to laugh at yourself. That’s my experience with my wife, anyhow.