i stopped caring.. after i discovered im somewhat a basket case

I think doctors diagnose patients with whatever they need to in order to sell pharmaceuticals. There must be an overstock on bi-polar medication.

Wanna talk about it natchoman? I don't think you're a basket case, sounds like a misdiagnoses to me. And yeah I know it's not NaTcHoMaN, but it's more fun to say it that way.

Kinda sounds like autism and how everyone and their dog suddenly seems to be autistic.. like the 'affliction du jour'.

Yep

And....

Yep

Autism spectrum covers a number of symptoms. And there is no known cure. I have seen a few adults that have learned to cope with it without medication. Often though it is linked to other diagnoses like PTSD and can quickly emerge from a loud unexpected noise like a gun shot.

The psychiatric community will have a lot more credibility with me aftet it disavows electroshock therapy and lobotomies. Medieval torture has no place in modern medicine.

https://youtu.be/4bUk7XTzCO4

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ssoBUb2cJk]

Well, for the Ramones, I might make an exception for lobotomies!

Classic Sherlock, lol... wow.

I havent heard of a specific epidemic of bi polar but mental illlnesses prevalence (spelling?) is growing. i suppose in part because we have better tools to diagnose issues but also as it is being more accepted for people to have mental health issues more feel able to come forward. previous in the uk it was "stiff upper lip" and all that jazz and people were expected to just move on or end up in an asylum. things like stress and depression weren't seen as "real" illnesses so people were largely told just to get on with it.

then antidepressants and other meds became common place so you could choose to either still just deal with it or become numb on meds. personally im not a big advocate of meds, good for sort term in severe cases (and depending on the illness eg schizophrenia they can be good long term) but largely stuff like anti depressants i dont feel should be the "therapy/cure" for mental illnesses. they just dampen the symptoms instead of dealing with the cause. i also dont believe that mental illness can be cured, as in the same way as a physical injury there will be some kind of scar. but you can develop coping mechanisms that enable you to lead a perfectly "normal" life.

tl:dr - its more accepted, better treatment, less taboo.

The increased prevalence is a measure of the mental health on society as a whole. As we live undynmic machine like lives we become robbed of our nature and it’s difficult to be well adjusted to it.

I would say that anyone that thrives in this day an age either is having some dark issues or is ignorant. I could say being stupid is probably the best thing to feel good.

We do have some lack when it comes to nutrition that causes mental problems. This is something that will come forth as we progress and the so called science catches up. The dsm as it stands is merely a group of beard stroking men getting together with their warped views.

If we return to the holistic approach and see the individual, the “illness” quickly disappears. It’s then recognized more as a symptom of something else. The religion of doctors and big pharma as it stands now needs to come undone as the naked emperor in front of the people and we need to address issues for what they are instead of inventing all kinds of crap to try to explain simple matters.

We also need to learn self acceptance and refrain from edhering to the social persona as that is detrimental to the health of the individual. This is manifested either as a disease or disorder, and is merely the self fighting the false and coming through to be of guidance.

Some cases of mental issues will be more serious, but we need more studies on this. Loading people up with chemicals have dire consequences and we are seeing the fruits of the malpractice now in increasing numbers. It takes a long time to explain this, but it started decades ago and is ongoing.

The way of living against nature makes forces come down upon one in ways that is meant to promote healing. Understanding is needed, and mostly this is an individual journey.

No diagnose can define the individual unless there is a choice to identify with it. This then becomes an excuse to avoid the pain of facing oneself and to avoid being exposed and vulnerable. This also is something that prolongs the healing process which is a fall and then a climb back up to be renewed.

Mankind also goes through larger cycles. If this is not addressed then we will bring forth madness instead of gaining the benefits of insights from beyond the veil. It’s not all that complicated, but in our time it’s not accepted because the dumb think they know everything when in fact they know nothing.
These problems will increase steadily over the next few years and we will see more strange behavior in the coming times.
We will also see some “new” diseases probably in the next year or perhaps in the next five. So much more to look forward to.

For the ones that think that they are in a bad way, there is a lot of good to be gained from the winter cycle. It’s an opportunity to sanitize the self and to get rid of much of the false and become honest with who one is as a person and as an individual.

I deduce that many of our "mental illness" problems stem from the added chemicals in our food. Look at those packages of "processed foods" and note the list of chemicals they contain!

The other influence is the media--paid efforts to shape our norms and values.

Combined--a recipe for mental disaster.

it all started when everyone was telling me " you da man "

I think the disorder is a reflection of our society and the extreme stress it puts us under. We are expected to preform under high stress and be "our best selves" at all times - it's impossible. You end up feeling torn into two different people, balancing between happy and sad.

At least, it feels that way. I don't have any medical background or anything like that.

Without God, there can only be madness. Not preaching, just sayin'.

I'm not against vaccines in general--though I have said for over a decade that flu shots are totally worthless.

There is a great potential for vaccines to go bad. In fact, in areas where the polio vaccine has been administered, there has been an uptick in cases among the nonvaccinated population, as the vaccinated people "poop out" viruses that get into the wild.

Some vaccines have the potential to introduce viruses into a vaccinated person, and some vaccines allegedly have mercury components in them.

Before I went to Africa, I got additional inoculations for yellow fever and meningitis. These diseases are killers. I'd take my chances with a vaccine any day over one of those killer diseases!

I'm sure everyone will be fine.
Like war, healthcare is huge industry!

Governments engineer bio weapons and test them at will. Drug companies invent new diseases.
Don't worry, they have a cure in a pill bottle for a price. Oh, and they have a cure for the side-effects of the original cure too.

It is very much a self fulfilling prophesy

If you want to read something very interesting, read about Drs. Warren and Marshall being awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology, after they showed that bacteria--not stress--was the cause of most stomach ulcers.

When they first proposed their hypothesis, they were opposed by many in the medical community, but especially the pharmaceutical companies, which had been making billions of dollars selling antacid medicines to ulcer sufferers.

The culprits for ulcers are the bacteria known as Helicobacter pylori. They slip in under the gastric mucus, and begin their work of eating stomach tissue, resulting in an ulcer. They are difficult to see, not subject to the usual staining methods for highlighting bacteria, and many people do not develop antibodies to them. If untreated, the ulcers they cause can lead to stomach cancer.

Just think--for years people with ulcers were given antacids and told to reduce stress, when it was bacteria causing the ulcers all along!

There always is a study.
Lots of "research" being done ;)

Mental illness is the new back injury. Good mental health requires maintenance.

I take grievance at this post.
I read it a few days ago and purposely didn't answer.

This belittles people that have been diagnosed.

Just because there's lots more cases being diagnosed lately doesn't mean they're fake diagnoses.

It may be that more research has been done recently so the condition is easier to spot.

There were lots of people listed as manic depressive 15 yrs ago before they changed the name to bipolar.

Does that mean my injured back no longer makes me hip? ****Shit, all that and now relegated to pained obscurity.

lol..hip? Ya those are popular too! Plastic or steel replacements on sale.
I now own a back injury. My fault for not saying "No" and exceeding the weight capacity of the intended use of my spine. I've been "belittled" for allowing it to happen. My answer to the people that judge me or offer an opinion stating I'm less then sincere; all the best:)
I'm very careful to what I put in my mouth. Some meds are very harmful when not taken properly.

Here's what's up from my point of view:

We are bi-polar because we live very bi-polar lives.

A lot of our lives are lived in a way that is the antithesis of our values.
Most of us value freedom, peace, love, happiness...

The best of what we are hopes and longs for a unification of ideas and to grow beyond our infantile understanding of the world/universe and each other.

And our dreams can see a way we think life can be.

What is that? The whole of our limitless imaginations compared to waking up and delivering pizzas every day? Or going to sit in a box for 8 hours M-F? (which i happen to like but still realize it's probably not good for the species as a whole)

Or the murder and violence we see reported every day? Or the strange concept of a need for war? We're angered. We hate. We try to control everything. We desire individualism. We (me included) obsess over acquisition of 'things', money or power. We may or may not achieve our goal to grow only temporarily before we ultimately diminish. Or worse, we think we'll wait till the next life or afterlife and somehow that will achieve our happiness or peace not realizing or valuing our time, or exerting any effort to make now the most important time.

If anyone reading this can say they truly feel free, at peace, or are truly happy all the time then bravo! But I've never understood how any one of us can feel these good feelings all the time. Especially if you're paying ANY attention to anything outside your bubbles.

As views become more polarized in our areas and more extreme and less accepting, I think a lot of bi-polar people running around makes sense.

I guess for me bi-polar feels like a deep argument between the difference in what I've ever hoped and dreamed for and the way things actually are. A clash between what I think and feel life should have been, and should be vs. the way it has been and actually is. Which logically sometimes doesn't foster a positive hope of the future in my case. It's about how to find purpose in life sometimes. A way to feel like you count in an existence you can't really do much about maybe.

The only thing I can suggest for a 'treatment' is to find a healthy balance between your personal bubble and reality.

Too much bubble and you can miss out on important life stuffs.
Too much reality you simply go insane.

Keep your hopes and dreams in check. Don't limit them at all! But don't let them cloud your judgement and blind you of the reality of your current circumstances.

We don't always get what we want and things don't always go our way. How to cope with being out of control in this way has been one of my toughest challenges.

Life is usually not our hopes and dreams.

Aeolian,

But it is a chemical imbalance of the brain.

If you were referring to my message, I didn't mean to say it was or wasn't.

Whether or not it's diagnosed disproportionately or not is not for me to say either. But I think our biology is as much a part of it as societal variables in the bi-polar equation.

Maybe some people are better at ignoring the causes and are less vulnerable to finding themselves affected by it making them less prone to start showing signs of bi-polar. It may very well be that some people are just biologically more vulnerable to developing it based on genetic, developmental, environment or any other number of possible factors. Since I'm no doctor it's hard to say though.

And while perhaps thoughtful, I didn't offer any advice in my reply that I can say I know works either. I struggle with my issues every day and I would do anything if there was a 'cure' or if I could help the negative impact of it or how it makes me feel or act sometimes.

I think bi-polar is real and I think it's horrible. I do think that drug companies are a business and they're pushing drugs. But that's not to say I disagree with everything that everyone that works for one is trying to do. I just tried them out to the point I gave up because it doesn't seem to work for me(maybe made things worse in fact not sure though). I would suggest always trying everything you can within reason to make yourself better though.

I agree that there should not be a profit motive in how treatments are selected as if it were the 'special of the week' or something.

But I didn't mean to rail against any machines, this time, because I have heard people say they really do help and that life would be miserable without them.

While there's lots I'd like to see different about how we take care of each other, I wouldn't be so quick to change anything that would take that away from the people they do help.