Manic-depressive disorder

The Health Coach, Contributing Writer
Waking Times

If ever there was a truly upcoming and global psychiatric condition, Bi-polar disorder (aka Manic-depressive disorder) is it. Everything about Society Western promotes such a condition from our youngest ages. As we unpack the several components of the mental and emotional baggage associated with Bi-polar disorder (BPD), you’ll quickly see how easy it is to manage … and then be free of altogether.

Let’s take a close look at the cultures in which BPD is most prevalent. Clearly, we find it showing up in societies which have a high incidence of addictions. Any kind of addictions – nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, recreational drugs, sugar, wheat, sex, gambling, sports, computer, TV, workaholism, etc. Why is there a direct correlation between the two? That’s a very good question you might want to reflect upon, if you feel you might have the manic-depressive tendency.

First, we see that addictions are an extreme response to life’s pressures, as is BPD. They are also frequently learned from previous generations, especially here in America. Every immigrant had(s) to deal with extraordinary challenges to make it in a foreign land. The first generation to join the melting pot often evolved coping behaviors which allowed them to survive. Especially when things got real tough, which they often did.

The lack of real community in a nation of workaholics or sportaholics and computerholics also makes for a dearth of social opportunities to communicate shared experience. When life is moving very fast, as it is today, this lack of a necessary social support system becomes all the more influential. What then happens is that the individual often resorts to going it alone, which is already highly encouraged by American society.

We’ve heard all the mantras promoting self-sufficiency.

• Be all you can be.
• The road to the top is a lonely one.
• Climb the ladder to the top by yourself even if it’s a lonely journey.
• If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself.
• It’s a dog eat dog world.

This approach to life can be very isolating. It can also move us gradually into an emotional and psychological posture toward life that deprives us from constructive sources of feedback and input. As we rely only on ourselves to always “get the job done” or “achieve the stated goal”, we push ourselves beyond our limits. Then we seek out crutches and comforts in the form of the many aforementioned addictions. Thus begins the inexorable slide into a psychiatric profile which can be defined by manic or depressive behavior and symptoms.

Many people throughout Western society (and the East actually) are perpetually in the state of hypomania. Our society so rewards the type of achievement and production which such individuals can accomplish in so short a period of time that they usually move through life undiagnosed. When a hypomanic episode does emerge, they are usually drugged temporarily so as to keep them within the range of socially acceptable behavior. The underlying pattern then continues until they develop a full blown case of BPD requiring serious intervention, sometimes hospitalization.

Pharmaceutical medications are not the answer, but may be necessary as a short term intervention.

When the various anti-depressants and other psycho-active drugs are routinely employed in the treatment of these mind maladies, great care ought to be taken. Here are some reasons why:

1. These drugs only treat the superficial symptoms, not the real causes.
2. They have proven to have extremely serious side effects, both physical and psychological.
3. Many have proven to have an addictive quality which is very difficult to break.
4. Dangerous behavior to others and oneself can be triggered the longer one is on these meds, especially when one tries to get off the medication altogether without proper monitoring and supervision.
5. These powerful pharmaceuticals only serve to mask the real source of the illness and therefore divert necessary attention away from the root causes.
6. They also promote a lack of clarity just when the individual really needs to get real with themselves.

What we suggest is that anyone who labors under one, or more of these prescriptions at the same time, read the adverse side effects which are listed by law. Get on the internet and go to the numerous forums which have been started by those who have been addicted or harmed by these powerful psychoactive drugs. In fact, the many bizarre behaviors and acts of violence that we see across the headline news are often committed by those who have been under the influence of these mind-altering drugs.

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