Genetic Breakthrough for Bipolar Disorder

Hi,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. You are concerned that genetic testing "will lead down a road you do not want it to". I wonder what you have in mind? Medicine is full of examples where the root cause of a disease process relates to some genetic anomaly, many of which can now be cured. I think the author of the study has this in mind which is why he equates bipolar with diabetes. Like diabetes it places the disorder in a category that can start to be understood and one that reduces speculation over its cause.

All journeys start with a step and this is just the beginning of such a journey. If one day it culminates in a way to prevent or cure bipolar, or perhaps to treat the symptoms in a more targeted fashion, surely that's a good thing?

I recently answered an email about stigma and whether such findings would ever really reduce stigma. My answer was - probably not. The reason I said this did not specifically relate to bipolar so much as the fact that prejudice is all around us. It's not so long ago that unmarried mothers were incarcerated because morality (or rather the perceived lack of it) was viewed as a sign of mental illness. In fact I worked in a hospital where many of these ladies were now old and institutionalized.

I think we are wise to keep a cautious and measured eye on the possible implications of technology and to learn from the mistakes of the past. However, lets also celebrate achievements as they arise.

VERY well put we SHOULD celebrate the new findings, but i read many articles in the past which is where my paranoria over this or worry over this has stemmed from where they actually in the 40's in AMERICA (and in germany too and england also) they actually FORCED women to be sterlized if they had a mental illness as to avoid any more passing on of the "genes" per say...and well it infuriated, frustrated, and scared me to be honest...so i think i was pulling from that when i posted...it just is impossible to ever escape all stigmatism completely if not over this they will find something else to stigmatize over i do believe...just a very judgemental world we live in...and oh so many precious things come from the bps of the world past and present that it just amazes me that that is rarely if EVER recognized by the masses ya know....see only the glass half empty ...they never seem to see the half full one which i soooooo try to keep that kind of mind set of positive thinking but trust is a WHOLE other issue ya know...just not comfy with others genetically dealing with ME personally.....I so hope it helps others and so help that it comes to fruitation to help all of us in the end...but guess paranoria kinda crept up on me there!!!

Thank you for grounding me to think more the way of hoping that it opens a window to more knowledge on the illness.....

One step at a time i guess is the key to it all and it is a MAJOR breakthrough and accomplishment.....so i'm glad they KNOW now there is a gene...but doubtful still it will change the masses view of it all.....

Thank you for your response and for understanding my fears, I can't imagine how difficult it was to work with the infirmed women in the hospitals ....you are to be comended for that and I am sure they ALL benefited from someone like you who CARES and was there for them in their hours of great need.....I thank you FOR them since most probably couldn't themselves....i so admire ones that can work in such conditions and know that i never could do so so i admire you for that....thank you.

Well, have a good one and again, thanks for offering the "other side" view of things sometimes i get tunnel vision i guess.....or paranoria due to past experiences with judgemental stigmas ya know.....i enjoyed your post so much!
sincerely

ctrygirl

Dear ctrygirl,

I think that your first reply and your first concern was good and geniune. If this was a good honest world we would certainly welcome andy struggle to find medication or a cure through genetic manipulation. But given the fact that, genetically speaking, we are still in the infant stages just as we are in our knowledge, it makes good sense to be cautious and to be worried about such genetic research.

Moreover, it is extremely difficult to do something good when we still know so little about bipolar. Yes it can be genetic but this is not clear cut. Creativity and intelligence are genetic. Do we interfere with these? Not really because we do not know anything about the mind, consciousness or creativity. Same with mental disorders. We know to little about it. For all I know people with bipolar could be the sane ones who get sick because the world is so corrupted while so called normal people are the real sick ones. Who knows for sure?

These are my thoughts.

Alfredo

Thank you so much,

OH and I am so sorry i haven't gotten back to you on the other issue yet, had ss hearing and WON!!! oh my what a relief, now i feel i can get back to my creative writing and drawing and not have to focus on the trial and all that needed to be gotten and done....I so plan to take care of that as soon as possible, so please bear with me on that one.

THANK YOU for not making me feel like i was weird for feeling that uhm govt and medical intervention is NOT the way that I want to go as in the means of TRANSPLANTS and inserts into my body.....i also do NOT ever even come close to trusting genetic manipulation and YOU SPOKE VOLUMES when saying who knows if WE are the ill or the "touched" or whatever the masses and media want to call it....whose to say they aren't the ones with the problem, for sure seems they are the ones POINTING THE FINGER not us bps....and as Bob Marley said//////"If you are going to point your finger at me you best check to make sure the three pointing back at YOU are clean".......i think that speaks volumes too!!!
thanks for the post and will get back to you on the personal email soon about creativity....

We are the dreamers of the dreams , we are the improvisational beings that create and inspire unbeknownst even to ourselves sometimes....our record of past bps and those present should show that , but don't think many get past that LABEL.....if we even choose to share it due to fear of osterization.......thank you for seeing what i meant, wasn't sure i was clear on what i meant to say and how it came out basically....but I'm for NO magic pill, NO inserts of anything in MY body......thank you for reading and understanding...and YES like you research is one thing, guinea pig another!!!
sincerely a friend,

ctrygirl

To understand Bipolar and the fears of people like us one must have bipolar and feel things from the inside not the outside. People who do not have bipolar can have knowledge of it but it will be never like having experience of it because words do not carry all that us bipolar feel, hope and dream of.

I am so with you alfredo....i certainly want NO ONE whatsoever to be messing with THIS brain, yes i take medications but ONLY after carefully checking them out first, and to be honest with rapid mood and mixed mood disorder i surely need them, but as for something invasive in my BRAIN?????NO THANK YOU AT ALL!!!! I don't want anything implanted in me PERIOD ....ANYWHERE ....that is if i can help it now don't get me wrong pace makers for the heart and such ARE needed but i just do not not want anything or anyone messing with my brain.

You are right, the creativity if bp was erradicated would be GONE GONE GONE>>.a ROBOT world of functioning yet unfeeling, unmovable, unempathetic and rote humans, who in the HECK would ever want that????NO you are right bp (the disorder) is not not easy to live with ,nor is t easy on our families, but ya know what nor is all the abuse and the stigma and the discrimination and all the other horrid things going on in this world, why not lab rat a pedophile or someone of that nature , not those of the creative world who see the world as a wonderful place and a place to explore and appreciate and see it as pure beauty and then CREATE FROM that feeling.....why do they focus on BP i wonder in their quest to "fix" us.....

I am like you EVERYONE has issues it is just a matter of DO THEY ADMIT IT???DO THEY EVEN RECOGNIZE IT???? I mean look at some of the celebs and some of the rich and famous, uhm isssues YOU BET.....but that is overlooked due to MONETARY and MATERALISTIC world.....it seems that classically bps are NOT in that area...they are the dreamers of the dreams who work at making them come true, the eyes that see the lone oak tree as a symbol of beauty not as firewood for sale, they are the ones that appreciate the intricate details of a dandelion in bloom not that it will spread in our yards, etc......and on it goes......we don't step over the man at the door needing assistance and shoo him off due to the fact that he is bothering the PAYING customers...

get this in our area there was a spot on the RIVERBANK (not near anyone or anything except the river) and it became tent city for the homeless, many of which are mentally ill, MANY.....and the city actually bulldozed the area just so they couldnt congregate there together....they were hurting no one, they were finding comradery in each other, there was NO CRIME there whatsoever, and yet they lost what little they had period....I have every year taken blankets and some unperishable food goods over to that area and they were always more than appreciative and yes, you could see in the eyes of some the horrors they must face internally in their minds and yet i felt for them so much....but our material and unsympathetic, never walk a mile in anyone shoes unless they are name brand shoes world, BULLDOZED THEIR LIVING AREA DOWN< now they have now here to go the shelters are full in our poor area, and they just roam the streets, now i ca't even help them for they are so scattered, i can only hope they will find another location to be together, and i fully believe they KNOW they are misunderstood and abhorred by the more fortunate.....they were so thankful for the things i brough which not being rich myself were rather sparse but well meaning...and get this MANY MANY VETS THERE>>>MANY!!!!! I just don't know what this world has come to...

as for the professor, i do believe he thinks he has our best interest in mind, but NO ONE as you said (quote at top) can actually KNOW what a beauty and a beast the bp is unless they too experience it all...and i mean it ALLL...as in the hallucinations and deulsuions and voices and people i see, and the smells that aren't there, and the mania to depression and the tax it has on the body yet yet yet we turn that into creative poems, empathy for others, NO stigmas for we stop and think of what we experience ourselves....good intentions do NOT always lead to good methods...i mean look at the time during the second world war when women even in AMERICA who had bp were forced, FORCED to be sterlized or to abort their babies...to me it leads us to nothing but a nation not unlike hitlers if we go that route...the perfect citizen....

all i can say to that is from PINK FLOYD>>>>"WE DON"T NEED NO EDUCATION" AND "THEY HELP BUILD THE WALL" and this wall isn't coming down as easy for trusting their intentions is very very diffcult for me.....i want NO ONE messing with my brain , yet i think the intentions were quite different for they don't HAVE IT>>.they don't know the beauty we mull inour heads and putinto words and song and drawings and creative solutions for problems the world faces.....just my take ......and sure this ctrygirls opionion don't mean much in the medical world, so personally i'm staying with the pdoc and therapist i have and not even considering anything of the nature which he suggested.

As for genetics....hmmm....do we also mess with the anger gene??the gene that makes one blonde or brunette or red headed???/ do we mess with the gene that makes type A and B personalities??? Do we become a nation of robotic people and leave behind all those greats that were TOUCHED WITH FIRE behind us....I THINK NOT...at least not in this gal's world.....but i do think he had and has good intentions and massive knowledge yet not of the actual workings of the bp mind....

tooooooo much guinea pig for my liking, as if dealing day to day wasn't enough ....

and as a past teacher i know what all these stigmas do to our youth.....i've seen it tried to thwart it.....and ended up a worse case of bp in the end for there is no fighting it until the "norms" which i think there is not a NORM< and the ones touched with lightning of creativity can compromise...as they say...can't we all just get along????

I'm doubting it, we need FIXED in their minds and uhm I couldn't disagree more.....i find that the good LORD don't make mistakes and i have this for a reason......and plan on finding a way to help others who also feel the same, somehow, someway, sometime, but i WILL and it sure won't be an implant!!!

Well, thanks for the great conversation and worked a little on the creativity thing last night won't be long....

sincerely your friend...and thank s for the voice you used for the "abnormal" ones of us, or the ones needing "fixed" per say....geez forever what so many have to learn and yet have dedicated their lives to making OURS better.....dont think that is the path...appreciate you're posts dear.

TAKE CARE (oh yeah and please remember it isn't just the "white man" it is the MASSES and the MEDIA ALSO honey)

take care and keep on posting and reaching out!!!
atthelake22

Dear ctrygirl,

when I say the "White Man" I mean the ways of the capitalist Western World that originated with a White Protestant Religious Group as stated by the sociologist Weber and widely accepted. I am a white man as well but I did not mean it in the specific term. Of course it is the media and all that you are absolutely right.

As far as genetics ... well, you can have the genes for a predisposition to heart disease or diabetes and never suffer it because of living a suitable lifestyle. In this case why fix something that does not need fixing?

Dear Ctrygirl,

I know that you were once a teacher and your wisadom shows in your creative writings. Because you were once a teacher you are aware of the fact that academics are locked in their self contained and self assured world of research which gives them, coupled with the academic comradery, a sense that what they study IS relevant to all of us.

Well, this could not be further from the truth. The fact is that middle and upper class academics have no idea of how poor people or working class people think. There is no language that bridges the academic language to the language of disadvantaged people. Disadvantaged people have no language with which to expose their sentiments to the middle and upper classes.

I see this all of the time working with homeless Aboriginal people who are treated like trash. The same goes here in Australia. We once had a street for the homeless. A huge street long over a mile and a half facing on one side a river that provided water to the homeless. I used to visit there and bring some food and blankets and old clothes like you did. Yet, just recently, the Council decided to get RID of these homeless and so they were told to go away, metal gates were placed and the street blocked. There are no more homeless there and a few have committed suicide.

This goes on while academic are busy producing papers that, in the end, do little to help those in need. The fact of the matter is that unless the disadvantaged participate to their emancipation or liberation from suffering and poverty nothing will change. It is the academics and those in power who could look for a language so as to start some sort of communication with the poor people no matter how inadequate this language is or the concepts are it would be a start.

In this sense Professor Kennard has (whether voluntarily or not) given us a chance to express ourselves and this has been possible also through BipolarConnect. In this sense there is much good happening here. Both Professor Kennard and us will learn from this experience...  his polished and focus line of discussion may be correct in his academic world while mine may be erratic, emotional and not at all focused (going off on tangents) this does not take away my sharp intelligence and my challanging insight.  In a way Professor Kennard is also lucky to learn from us people who suffer directly from bipolar.

He does not know that people with Bipolar need to go off on tangents because they see a connection between all knowledge. This interconnection derives from our ability to consider things that often people who do not have bipolar disorder dismiss or avoid. I have been trying to inform academics that they should make some sort of space in University for people with bipolar disorder by providing special spaces where written or spoken discourse is open, aloud to go off on tangents so long as we know how to come back to the main argument.

TO FOCUS TOO MUCH ON ONE THING IS TO LOOSE SIGHT OF OTHER CONNECTED AND IMPORTANT THINGS. THIS IS THE PITFALL OF THE ACADEMIA. THEY HAVE NOT YET REALISED HOW FRAGMENTED, INSIGNIFICANT AND CONVOLUTED THEIR WRITINGS REALLY ARE. I HOPE THEY FIND THIS OUT SOON. MEANWHILE HOW CAN WE TRUST SUCH FRAGMENTED AND CONVOLUTED RESEARCH BASED ON VERY NARROW MINDED, NON INCLUSIVE FINDINGS AND INTERVENTIONS. IT WOULD BE MADNESS. BUT I FEEL THAT THE PROFESSOR KNOWS ONLY HE CANNOT ADMITT IT AS PART OF A ACADEMIC INSTITUTION. OH BUT HE KNOWS.

What is it like to get up one day with mania? Beutiful energy as one feels that nothing can go wrong. The sunlight is more than sunlight it radiates inside and penetrates the sould. A brand new day with tears of joy rolling down one's face. So we go and write our wonderful emotions down, or paint a beautiful scenary or write a beautiful poem. What pleasure. This is heaven on Earth to be close to God and feel it so strongly. This is what peopole who do not have Bipolar will never experience.

Alfredo

AMEN my friend, AMEN>....i didn't in any way mean to indicate you were focusing only on the "white man" per say...i just wanted to make it crystal that it is all people of all races that discriminate.....and label and ASSUME they think they know the mind of others and how that mind should operate.....it bothers me beyond words....

You're right about genetics, so much is so unknown and really do we see implants for heart disease genes?? for diabetic genes??? for genes for obesity??? NOPE only to "FIX" those of us that don't conform to the norm.

AND as a teacher trust me, bias, prejudice, and conformity is the main avenue of approach anymore, anyone who DOESN"T believe that needs to teach in a public school system, you are RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT>>>there is NO room for diversity...and to be honest, many teachers cameto resent or not like me for i did ALL hands on as much as possible and kids that were failing THEIR classes were flourishing in mine, i think even then i knew that bip was a part of my life but oh i fought it, until i caved, i just couldn't take the discrimination the utterly shameful treatment of kids that were "different" or that expressed themselves creatively...no room for that it must must follow the BOOK>>L>ARGH!!!! Oh it led me to a total and complete breakdown AT school and yet they told me i was one of the most creative teachers they've ever seen.....now those two things should never go together but even though they recognized the creativity and different approach to things they still did not want to accept it....You are right, we need some sort of outlet for these precious kids that are just expressing or possibly bp and not yet diagnosed and even those that are...but that i fear will never happen.  For instance when told i was to teach evolution in my science classroom and i refused unless i could also teach creation and let the kids/families decide on their own but both areas covered i was IMMEDIATELY stifled and told NO>>>>so i went against the system and refused to teach evolution, NOT that i don't believe we evolve as humans and animals, but i don't believe i came from evolution....I personally believe in a creator....and i wouldn't and couldn't go against what i believed and my moral feelings to teach something i felt was false...and believe me the books of history and science are FULL of such items....falsehoods that have been combined to tell the story the way they want it told....NOT always but MOST of the time....I KNOW THIS FOR A FACT>>>
so just as in the genetics, there is much much to learn, far to much medication floating around, although we DO DO DO need our meds, but not in the amounts that you read are being prescribed and given to our youth, and as a grandma of 2 i so worry about the world's direction....about the anniliation of creativity and the rote human spirit of conformity to the masses....

Media is horrid in their portrayal of bps, so is the spoken gossipy word that so many participate in without any knowledge whatsoever of what they speak.....we are surrounded basically by misunderstanding, unacceptance, and no room whatsoever for diversity .......but oh they want to look at the great's creations and oh and ah...yet never never stop to think what kind of a mind could create such beauty...

ALSO ENCORE on the poem.....you are right we ARE the dreamers of the dreams and i so use that statement so often (got it off willy wonka teeheee years back still love that old show).....and we are the creators of so much that others are not aware of, we do not conform, possibly because we can't, but i feel also because we don't want to be the human machines that just follow the masses....because our minds are beautiful and filled with wonder, curiosity, improvisation, and appreciation of the immense beauty our Lord has placed here for us to appreciate, i wonder just how many of the masses actually watch a sunset, or see a sunrise and think WOW...i wonder how many look down and see the grass bent under the dew or a spider web decorated with droplets of water or frost, i can pretty much bet VERY VERY VERY FEW if any....

I too agree WE NEED OUR MEDS but we also need outlets and it seems with our writings and our forms of creativity it is a means for us to let it out and be ourselves, personally i would never want this to come to an end, oh yeah the tactiles and the mania that goes OVERBOARD< but not the in touch with my inner mind...never...never....i feel we have kept tapped into that part of the brain that was essential to create the thing that others enjoy NOW and take for granted....

I agree with you

and please please post more poems that was awesome..

lots of love and prayers and appreciation for you and your wife and your outlook, makes me feel rather on track with my thoughts......didn't know others shared my outlook so much....thank you again.....my friend you are very insightful and yes the expert is very knowledgeable , but yes, unless you are bp you can not possibly know the workings of these minds...

sincerely your friend,

ctrygirl

Dear ctrygirl,

this discussion has been wonderful. It should do strictly with genes but as sufferers of bipolar we know very well that all life is connected and that that all people are connected. "We are all connected this we know!"

I think that you are a wonderful gifted teacher and that what as happened to you as a teacher has been very painful and probably aggravated your Bipolar disorder. I know because I have experienced as a University student who was a very good student but lost his trust in the academia.

I have seen sensitive, creative, and extremely talented and gifted student being rejected by the system. I was one. It was always because students like us had a much broader perspective and needed to explore, to go off on tangents because we could see the complexity of life and the very intricate and interconnected nature of things. This was never respected by the education system.

So it is theat the most gifted and talented thinkers of our time are often rejected unless we are lucky enough to discover something concrete and important. Then they recognise us for a short while. (...Yet we move and shakje the world).

What kind of world excludes such wonderful sensitive and creative people? What kind of world reduces and defines people like us as sick, people who should lead the way because of our increadible heart intelligence? SHould we trust such people with genetics? I don't think so for the first step would be to fix our Bipolar and with it our heart intelligence. You see ctrygirl we HAVE SOMETHING THAT THEY HAVE NOT. IT IS NOT SO MUCH THE BIPOLAR BUT THE CREATIVITY AND THE GENIUS THAT WE HAVE AND THEY DON"T. AT THE SUBCONSCIOUS LEVEL THEY DESIRE TO UNDERMINE THIS. Now this may sound paranoid or purely outrageous but as a student of psychology I know that people who do not have something special become subconsciously jelaus and want to destroy that something because they do not have it. Unfortunately this is the nasty side of humanity we are dealing with here.

You know how precious this gift that comes with Bipolar DIsorder is. Maybe only few special people have experiences this like you and I but we know how precious this is. Other people notice it too just by being close to us and even by reading our words.

Dear ctrygirl you are always a teacher even out of the classroom. I could tell immediately that you were special and I could sense your trauma of being a misunderstood teacher. I am happy that I have got this out because by talking about it you will feel a sense of relief though it will be painful in the initial stages. This is what I was trying to do to help you and I have nearly done it.

You are very intelligent ctrygirl and very humble. But always think of yourself as a creative teacher and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You can still be a teacher and you are being a teacher on this site and with the people who you come to talk or write too.

As a student of psychology I have worked with thousands of people through websites like this one. I have been working hard to help people in America and Australia and Italy and in the process I have helped myself.

As a gifted man who is a musician, a pianist, a musical arranger, an orchestra conductor, a visual artist, a poet (mostly poems in Italian), an Italian chef who has worked in many restaurants, a computer technitian who helps poor people mantain their computers without charging for charity organizations, as an Italian  anthropologist and student of psychology I can say that I have something special that people resent.

This resentment I have seen time and time again. It is the most horrible human feature. To be envious. It is a destructive force. People rather see this as a pure illness rather than celebrate it as a gift. They will go out of their way to undermine this and genetics is one way to FIX this problem. Envy is the greatest enemy of the creative mind.You see people can get MONEY if they try hard in one way or another work or steal or borrow. But they cannot borrow creativity, or genius. This drives them mad whenever they see it.

Alfredo

Hi Alfredo,

Well, it sounds like I'm in a no-win situation - you aren't impressed by all professors, or just me?

I think you have misinterpreted what is being said here. The fact that not everyone with the gene has bipolar simply points to some mechanism that may protect them from the condition, or something that is not yet fully understood - it doesn't undermine or contradict what has actually been found.

The research itself is reported in a prestigious, peer-reviewed journal. It stands on its own merits and I, for one, appreciate the fact that the findings have been made.

Dear Jerry kennard,

I do not believe that an expert has replied to me. Well I can only say thank you Jerry your reply pleases me because you are the first expert to reply to me.

I do not know if it is correct to say that I have misinterpreted what has been said. Perhaps. I know that I got cought in an emotional state because I am exactly trying very hard to tell people who suffer from bipolar disorder that ours is not just an illness an certainly not an illness such as cancer or diabetes. The mind is involved and until we know more about consciousness, creativity, emotions and so on we are shooting blanks so to speak.

You write and I quote:

...The fact that not everyone with the gene has bipolar simply points to some mechanism that may protect them from the condition...

To this I can say that yes I have bipolar disorder and I admit that it is a condition but it is a condition that brings to me much good in artistic and creative terms. This may not apply to everyone but if I was to choose between a life as I am and a life without bipolar and possibly without my creativity, my artistic tendencies and the fact that I think with my heart as well as my brain I would choose to stay as I am. I would not consider the notions that I need to be protected from my condition.

I believe that you are assuming that every person who suffers from bipolar is waiting for a cure whether through genetics or other that will protect all of us from the condition called bipolar.

Not me Jerry. I have come to love and respecrt my bipolar and see it as a source of wisdom, of what it is to be more human or what it is to understand that all of us humans are children playing with fire. We have a beutiful Earth here that the White Man, who is playing with genetics, is slowly but surely destroying.

This is what I was saying we are speaking from two different perspectives you from a purely academic one based on research focus and I from an experiential one based on my understanding of bipolar. For me it is a blessing not a curse. It is something I want to live with not something I need to be protected from. I hope that genetics will not take my right to want to live with my bipolar source of beautiful thoughts and beutiful art and science.

It is not that you are in a no win situation it is more that I suffer directly from bipolar while you are just interested. Big difference here a difference that words, whether academic or not, cannot fully cover.

We cannot always count on science of any kind. If I look at the science of the past I can say that it was very respected. That the Earth was flat it was a respected notion but incorrect. Same with current research it is only as correct as our times and understanding of the world pemits us to understand.

Thank you for reading this and please forgive my spelling.

Alfredo

Hi again,

Actually no - I don't come at this with the assumption that everyone with bipolar is seeking a cure. I think that leads us into a very different debate about the right of the individual to live with their situation, seek relief from it or aspects of it, or seek a cure.

I know for certain that many people with bipolar, if given the choice, would not change and I respect that decision. When the author of the study compares the condition with things like diabetes he is saying 'it really exists' - in the same way that diabetes really exists. As a result he is hoping that his findings will have the effect of removing myths and reducing stigma.

A bi-product of this research is that it will give some direction for treatment. Whether people choose to be treated is a different thing. My own experience of working with people who have bipolar is that some see their creativity as attributable to bipolar and they accept the down side of the condition as part of the deal. However, I have also worked with some who frankly have the most miserable lives and would welcome treatment with open arms.

Thank you Jerry,

I really enjoy our conversation though I do not want to take much of your time. Both my wife and I suffer from bipolar type one. We both were once in a psychiatric hospital and both have had a miserable life for many years, a life manifested in terrible and severe mood swings. Both tried suicide on numerous occasions before getting married.I know exactly what is like to have the most miserable life and to wlecome any treatment with open arms. But not today because things have changed.

It was not until we got married, both just out of a psychiatric hospital at the same time, that our life changed slowly. We both had parental problems my wife having lost her mother at an early age, being mistreated by her step mother and then loosing her father to lung cancer when she was only five years old. I was the son of an alcoholic and violent orchestra conductor. Both my wife and I can say that our case was purely psychological not to do with genes alone though genetics may have been involved in our development of bipolar disorder.

It was not until I decided to accept my life, bipolar and all, and to study at a university that my life begun to change for the better. Going to university to study psychology, philosophy and sociology gave me the strenght and wisdom to developed a critical consciousness adequate enough to see myself from the outside so to speak as a person struggling to understand his world and trying to fit in it.

In my journey I have found that all humans are mentally sick. Some are able to cope, some are able to fool themselves and some are aware of the ignornace of humanity still at the infant stages in the cosmos of things. I come to see this human sickness as a necessary element of the evolution of the mind. Suffering is very central to our development. We do not learn in idle times or times of pleasure such as is the case for many young people today. We learn most during times of trouble.

I have been able to transform my bipolar disorder and my life from a miserable experience manifested in periods of mania where I would end up in hospital for being too high and loosing consciousness to deep depression where I could not move out of bad. For me it was mostly psychological otherwise I would have not been able to learn to control my bipolar.

The fact that I have changed today is of great interest to many psychologists and psychiatrists because I am walking proof that we cannot rule out the fact that bipolar may just be the way that some of us are. It is a personality for many of us. I am happy to have bipolar and it is since I have found this happiness with myself as I am that my life has changed. When I considered my bipolar as a curse and as something that was making my life miserable I suffered the most and my moods were out of control causing me to be hospitalised. When I changed my perspective everything changed. The mind is a truly misterious and powerful and by mind I mean something connected closely to brain, heart and spirit. It is a pity that we know so little about these.I lived a miserable life for many years and if there was a medication that because of genetic research could have cured my bipolar I would have not had the chance to find a way to cope with life as I am with my bipolar disorder.

You see, if we live things to scientists and people who may not have direct experience then people like myself may not have a chance to find their way to cope with their world and their perception of life. Genetics is interesting but we must be cautious. If tomorrow some sort of medication was to be found, through genetics, that would eliminate bipolar would I have a choice to choose to live without taking the medication? I am sure that either ideology or peer pressure or governments would make sure that I take the medication of this I am certain. Just like many people who could cope without heavy medication are persuaded to take the medication today. We medicate children knowing that children and psychotic medication do not mix and, more importantly, that medication almost always causes more problems in young people than good. Yet we push medication and we medicate young people. What choise do young people have? It is dangerous territory here.

Put another way I can say that if society had a space for people with bipolar disorder meaning a way to accomodate their moods and emotions and to try to help us we would cope much better both those who have genetic bipolar and those who have environmental bipolar. There is evidence of this. Research clearly demonstrates that web sites like this one help people with bipolar by providing a space in which we can express ourselves. If this understanding and ability to express ourselves was to be available in a STIGMA free society mental illness would be drastically reduced. I would say that you may also be aware of this. In the face of the fact that Genius and Madness are related and that we desperately need Genius to advance it makes sense to treat genetics with great caution and focus on psychological aspects of the bipolar condition. Both exist and while we can improve on the psychological aspects 9environmental problems and traumas) we are not yet sure what to do with genetics mostly because we lack knowledge (ie who is normal and who is not? Har to tell in a crazy world. Who do we medicate and study through genetics? Hard to tell).

Thank you for the wonderful conversation and forgive my Italian character and my bipolar personality that may come accross as blunt and rude but really is not.

Alfredo