Bipolar disorder in the media

In recent times, a public awareness of bipolar disorder has spread through the internet, radio and television shows such as MTV’s ‘True Life: I’m Bipolar’, and BBC’s ‘The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive’. The latter was first shown in 2006 and repeated in 2007. It presented the public with an honest portrayal of what it is like to have bipolar disorder. Actor and comedian Stephen Fry, himself diagnosed with bipolar disorder, gave an insightful personal account and interviewed many celebrities diagnosed with mood disorders, including British pop-singer Robbie Williams, Hollywood actress Carrie Fisher, and comedian Tony Slattery. He also interviewed lay people with bipolar disorder and enquired about the positives and negatives of having a mood disorder. Given the impact of mood instability on their lives and careers, they were asked, that if they had a choice, whether they would rather have or not have the illness. Most of those interviewed chose to ‘keep’ the illness. They commented on the enjoyable experience of having new ideas with increased activity, the excitement of feeling high in mood, and powerful, and how these experiences would be difficult to relinquish. Clearly experienced as advantageous by the interviewees, evidence has shown that bipolar disorder is strongly correlated with creativity and literacy. Only one person on the programme reported a strong desire never to have had the illness. This appears to contrast the findings of a qualitative study by Michalak et al, where the majority of individuals with bipolar disorder reported a profoundly negative effect upon their quality of life and the minority reported that the illness had opened up new doors of opportunity. Comments on the BBC website indicate that the series was well received by both psychiatrists and the public. It appears to have portrayed mental illness from a fairly benign perspective, noticeably without the strong associations of risk and violence that are often reported in the media. New attitudes to bipolar disorder?