Stephen Fry interview for discussion.

He starts talking about the bipolar documentary he made at 4.48 but the bit I found really interesting starts at 6.20 or there abouts. Watch and share your thoughts

Nice post - enjoy their voices. Not sure what has to do with bipolar

Stephen Fry is an English actor who has bipolar and made a documentary about it. Did you not listen to the whole thing? Not trying to be aggressive but if you had listened you would have known the link with bipolar. Or maybe english is your second laguage?

Stephen Fry is an incredible performer. I love his work and am so grateful he is using his position to advocate for people with bipolar. This is helping break the stigma. I read that he actually tried to kill himself last year while in deep depression so he still struggles with the disorder. I am guessing that his diagnosis will have changed as being so deeply depressed is more like BP2 than cyclothymia.

I really enjoyed listening to this. It's interesting to hear when he states that most bipolar people wouldn't get rid of the illness if they could, due to the mania being so good.

Lol

You remind me of Dr Phils tell it like it is

I can't listen cos the speakers on my iPad have decided not to work

I wish I could experience the extreme happiness he talks about. My manias aren't like that. They are crazy, angry things.

Happy mania.
yeah what the hell is that!

I have the im gonna smash your brains out mania.

I have only been diagnosed for 4 years but I don't know whether its because its the medications or the fact I am nearly 50 but my manias are becoming more irritable. Actually I think its the medication because I used to skyrocket and see the the lifeforce in every living thing and my mind was clear and everything was golden and bright but now i get to a point where I seem to be a beetle spinning on its back getting more irritable.

I was trying not to sound like that. I could also be a little irritable at this time. Maybe the bipolar forum could have an irritability warning kind of like a trigger warning.

I love your analogy about the beetle on his back, I can't stop laughing.

I have euphoric manias but i would happily press a button to be healthy. My manias lead to bad financial and romantic decisions. The good feeling is not worth bankruptcy or heartbreak. Personally, i think most bipolars would do away with their mood swings if possible. Why are we all struggling with meds, after all? Most of us go to great lengths to squash the episodes. Not sure what bipolars Fry is talking about when he says we are happy with our disorder. Why are we all here at Psych Central? Because we want to celebrate our bipolar? No, because we want to get rid of it! Absurd!

I agree with you about the fact that I do not enjoy the mania one bit. Personally for me I see no benefit from it, let alone the effect I have on my loved ones. I just watched Part 1 of his documentary, and there are several celebrities he has interviewed. I think these people are happy with there disorder because they believe if they had not had the disease they would not be who they are today. Then at the end of Part 1 he talks to this lady that was a successful lawyer and a ton of other things and the disease has made her completely crippled, and she states that wished she never had the disease. Now there is a woman who is living in our world, the real world, not a celebrities world. I'm planning on watching Part 2 and see how this turns out.

True that.

I was just trying to diffuse your irritability

I celebrate my bipolar without i would not have lead the insane interesting life I have lead. True I have nearly killed my self both by being manic and depressed, I have destroyed half a dozen cars, i am bankrupt and on a disability pension but my life has never been dull. Plus I'm not keen on being medicated but now i am diagnosed it can be enforced at least in my state in my country.

True it is heavy on the celebrities but in the second episode there are everyday people who held proper jobs interviewded.

I must say the thing I find most frustrating about bipolar is i have lots of sketch books and canvases with half finished ideas and paintings. I did try to free-lance once but I am totally incapable of meeting deadlines with due to mania or depression. But as a hobby it suits me fine.

The beetle on it's back - it's the perfect analogy!!!!!

I really likes his thoughts about moods being like the weather. Heading off to put it in my journal!
Thanks for sharing this.

I found Part 2 his search for looking at what different options are out there for treatment, medication, diet and supplements, ECT, CBT, etc. It involved several stories from everyday people, and some were very heart wrenching. Some were successful, others ended in suicide, and some were unable to obtain there career goals in life. The second part was partly about him realizing that his BP had grown to become worse over the years. He had chosen not to be on medication and he was now looking at what was out there for treatment. He also realized after talking to his sister how much he had worried her over the years. They even showed a small piece while filming he had started going into a depression and normally he would escape and hide away at home but he couldn't due to filming. Even though it was a short clip, it did show his reality and our reality that when we go thru the depressed phase we just want to escape from the world. Overall I thought it was educational, but yeah the whole celebrity thing kinda downplays the real truth.

Good description of both sides, but I doubt only 2 people would "push a button" to get rid of it. I have been diagnosed and treated for 30 years and would've pushed that button immediately during one of my lucid moments. I wonder how many people he asked?

Thanks, I thought the weather analogy was really spot on, my mom has used it, says that's how they described bipolar in the old days, before it had a name...but I never thought to ask her what it actually meant.


I have short bursts of euphoria, they last maybe 4/5 days, after that my ups turn aggressive, and I've been suicidal more times than I care to count...but that being said I would not push the button.


Obviously not because I like my episodes, but more because this beast is my beast. I can't imagine myself without it, as that version of me has never even existed. Not only is a new me undesirable, but why wish for something that doesn't exist...


I joined psych central to find others like me, people to relate to, as I don't know any bipolar dxd folk off line.


I did not come here seeking to get rid of it, I am not delusional, its definitely not going anywhere. Obviously.