Postcards from the Funny Farm

I was discussing this series with my wife and she suggested I do a post on what spouses/loved ones should look for as symptoms of bipolar disorder.  After all, this is a mental illness so the person suffering it usually will not notice the symptoms on their own.  Here are some symptoms of a bipolar manic episode:

• Racing thoughts
• Decreased need for sleep
• Grandiosity
• Irritability
• Excessive spending, usually to the point of being overdrawn or maxing credit cards for silly items. Rule of thumb: If authorize.net starts calling your house repeatedly … something bad is going on.
• Highly verbal, almost annoyingly so to others.
• Not eating enough
• overly elevated mood and/or deep depression

Based on what I have read and put together, those are key signs.  You can get a broader and more formal perspective in the DSM section on bipolar/manic depressive illness.

Okay, so now you suspect your spouse or loved one has bipolar: Now what?

Bipolar is “special” among mental illnesses in that it has something called “The Manic Episode.”  People ranging from Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) to Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) have spoken publicly about their manic episode.  Carrie Fisher talked about how she stared at the full moon all night with no need for sleep.  By the way, a little trivia: Carrie Fisher’s novel “Postcards from the Edge” inspired the title of this blog.  That, and Chevy Chase’s 1988 Mental Health humorous film “Funny Farm.”Okay, trivia over.  Robert Downey talked about how the mania brought on drug use.  The fact of the matter is that anyone who suffers a manic episode is lucky to be alive.  Extreme care should be taken with a spouse or loved one who is suffering through one.  They can last for weeks and even sometimes months and they are brutal to the person and anyone who is close to them.  The good news is, there are things you can do:

1. Stay calm and in control.
2. Call the local hospital and ask if they have a psych admitting ward.  Explain the situation.
3. Take them there for admittance or get a referral.
4. If you can’t get them admitted … try to keep them fed, get them to sleep if possible, keep them calm.
5. Unfortunately, some insurances will not pay for the hospitalization unless the patient is “a danger to themself or to others.”  This is a bummer but it is the reality.  Use your best judgment.

I hope this post on what to watch for will help you notice a loved one beginning or going through a manic episode.  Get psychiatric help, this is the key to avoiding disaster.