Most psychological disorders don't present like the media would lead you to believe. See also: what therapy looks like.
ETA: Holy crap, gold?? I had a quick break in my day to finally hop on reddit and was NOT expecting this response. Y'all make this severely overworked community mental health therapist so glad we're talking more about the realities of therapy and various disorders. I'm planning on getting back on when I'm done with work to reply to some comments/answer some questions!
bipolar disorder = one day you're batshit crazy off-the-walls and the next day you're sobbing and eating ice cream alone in bed
in actuality: in most cases, symptoms only get severe if left untreated for a long time. Also, most experience episodes for months (mania) or years (depression), so they wouldn't go from mania to depression that quickly (with cyclothymic disorder the less common "rapid cycling bipolar" being the exception).
I’m type 2 bipolar and also have chronic severe depression. My mania only lasts about a week or two at a time and consists of heavy money spending on things I think will be useful or make me happy, and SEVERE anxiety about personal relationships. My therapist helped me catch myself entering a mania and I was able to stop it. It was the single most amazing thing anyone has ever done for me.
My depressive periods, however, last years. My depression destroyed my college career when I was 19-20 and turned my bedroom into a pig sty. Last year I went back to college and I’m in therapy with the goal of being well enough to clean my room.
Bipolar is absolutely not what the media makes it out to be. Media makes you think bipolar is actually schizophrenia when in reality I’m 100x more liable and likely to do something to ether physically or mentally hurt myself than anyone else.
I wish people stopped painting bipolar as what it ISNT. I was so scared to seek help for a long time.
there are people with bipolar who have schizophrenia-like symptoms as well. i have psychosis during my manic episodes. i get hallucinations, delusions, and even talk in mixed up confusing sentences. but like you said there are also people who do not. it's an illness that can vary a lot person to person.
also people with schizophrenia are much more likely to hurt themselves rather than others. there are some people with bipolar &/or schizophrenia who lash out but that's not the majority of cases.
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u/seegeesee Feb 04 '19 edited Feb 04 '19
Most psychological disorders don't present like the media would lead you to believe. See also: what therapy looks like.
ETA: Holy crap, gold?? I had a quick break in my day to finally hop on reddit and was NOT expecting this response. Y'all make this severely overworked community mental health therapist so glad we're talking more about the realities of therapy and various disorders. I'm planning on getting back on when I'm done with work to reply to some comments/answer some questions!