Summary on the Bipolar Disorder video
The picked video seeks to investigate the Bipolar Disorder, and the day to day life of an individual with the disease. At the beginning, the video introduces us to a character by the name of Percy. The video revolves around the life of Percy, once a very smart individual who went to Saskatoon University as an undergraduate in mathematics. He later went to Princeton University to major in mathematics although he also loves doing research on investigative physics. The video also begins by defining Bipolar disorder as a condition brought about by depression and mania. The narrator also describes the sense of curiosity, which is a characteristic observed in individuals with the disorder. Individuals with the disease also tend to be very creative as they can focus on a something and try to figure out why it functions the way it does, and whether there was a way in which it could be improved or improvised.
The video also discusses the bipolar disorder as a disease in which many people try to hide from the society out of the fear of rejection and losing friends. However, the main character in the video, Percy, is openly bipolar. The video also shows as that Percy is extremely intelligent, but sometimes he may not be able to concentrate on his work due to the disease. Sometimes he experiences fears of committing suicide because of the condition, to an extent he asks to be checked on every twenty minutes. Percy also experiences paranoia sometimes especially when among other people to an extent where he feels like people are out to get him. The video also discusses causes of the bipolar disease. A psychologist in the video argues that about 60% of people with this disease have had a problem with alcohol and drug abuse. She also says that a young one can simply inherit the condition from parents who have had problems with drug abuse or alcohol.
In the video, Dr. Kay Jamison who is a psychiatry professor at John Hopkins University says the term ‘bipolar disorder’ is used to describe a psychological state in which an individual experiences radical variations in their moods manifesting recurrently in episodes of elevated, or high moods (hypomania and mania) and depression which varies from agitated highs to depressive squats. Occasionally, patients may experience both highs and lows at the same time, while others may experience the ‘highs’ only. Additionally, patients suffering from this disorder will often experience normal moods in between the high-low episodes. Dr. Jamison also says that bipolar disorder manifests differently and uniquely in each individual with some patients experiencing episode just once in a decade, whereas others may experience daily mood swings. Furthermore, she says these changes in moods maybe be subtle in some patients or dramatic in others and characteristically vary over the duration of the individual’s life.
At the middle of the video, one can already see how much the disorder had affected Persy’s life. During this time he was still working for an intelligence department in canada, but he was drinking a lot of alcohol to an extent of passing out at home almost completely nude. It was also during this time that he knew there was something wrong with him, but he did not know what exactly it was. He would even walk around trying to memorize peoples’ faces just to make sure they were not following him out of paranio. He had turned to alcohol as the only source of consolation he knew. When it would not stop, he went under a bridge and tried threw himself over in a suicide attempt. Lucklily, some people found him and they took him to a hospital and he survived the attempt. After a couple of tests at the hospital, the doctors discovered that he was bipolar and put him on medication. However, he got off his medication and went back to overdrinking as usual. He tried commiting suicide two more times although he did not achieve his goal. With help from friends andpsychology experts, he went back to medication and living positively with the disease.
At the end of the video, Percy is tring hard to remain positive about life even with the bipolar disorder. For instance, he does a lot of running on daily basis as a supplement to his medication for he says that it helps him keep his mind positive and care for the people in his life including his kids. Dr. Jamson also says that around 50% of individuals who are diagniosed with this disease stop taking their medication sometimes when the symptoms go away or simply they do not like taking drugs on a daily basis, which is wrong. Percy also says that the only way to keep the mania plus the depression in check is by taking the prescribed medicine in their right prescription, for there is no cure for the disease yet.
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