Celebs & Bi-Polar

[MissCommando]

Hi, this is something I've been wondering for ages . . lots of celebs out there have bi-polar (manic depression), for example Britney Spears (incase you didn't know) and Kerry Katona. Anyway, do you think the lifestyle they've led has cause this to happen or is it something that's in you, like a chemical inbalance - so like they would have had it even if they'd never been famous? Sorry for my ignorance, don't know much at all about bi polar. Thanks

[MissCommando]

Sorry, just thought - Kerry Katona's not a great example cause she had a screwed up childhood - i.e drugs and abuse etc. I should have used Gail Porter instead

[R1Geezer]

Bi kin Polar? WTF does that mean, they've got a magnet up their jaxy or something. If its depression then call it depression, Perlease both those girls can afford all the shoes they could handle so I just don't get it! They just need to snap out of it, there are poor people starving to death, these 2 have bu66er all to be depressed about. Bl00dy hell I'm getting depressed now!

[bednobs]

i think that its more likely that people who are bipolar will become actors/singers/performers or in some other way "celebrity" because the up of their illness makes them more likely to excell in that profession.

Having said that, i also think that bi polar is just a buzzword of the moment

[Octavius]

The Katona thing probably only has bipolar because it clocks up the magazine column inches, and hence her chief source of income.

[andy-hughes]

R1Geezer - bi-polar despression and reactive or chemically induced depression are all branches of the same condition. Not everyone who has depression (it's a world away from 'being depressed') is bi-polar.

Similarly, 'being depressed' and 'having depression' are so far apart as to be off the scale. Put it this way - if 'being depressed' is having a sprained ankle, then 'depression' is having your foot cut off with a rusty tin lid.

Depression is a medical condition which is totally unconnected to personal wealth and circumstances - which is why it is pointless to advise that BS and KC should not be 'depressed'.

The simple fact is, being depressed is part of the human condition, we all have down days, it is what makes us human. having depression is a debilitating and potentially fatal condition which can affect someone for life - k now, I am, and will be on medication for the rest of my life to correct the imbalance in my brain chemistry that brings this horrednous condition on me unless i take steps to control it - but that is entirely another story.

I do think there is a definable link between creativity and propensity for depression - a lot of creative peole suffer in varying degrees. The simple fwct is, a famous person suffering is far more newsworthy than Joe Public suffering, so it may appear that an unusually large proportion of pop stars and actors are sufferers.

[firetracie]

Maybe it's just that if you're famous and have money the condition is more likely to be diagnosed than if you're not.

What I mean is when you have the resouces to be able to get the best treatment it's possible that more time and energy is put into your care and rehabilitation than if you're an ordinary person who responds ok to initial tratement for depression and then just keeps going - regardless of further problems or relapse.

[Gromit]

Tetjam

Not entirely coincidence. BiPolar is another term for manic depression. Many famous people from Beethoven to Frank Bruno have had it and most do not have a drug habit. Cocaine use will chemically bring a bipolar sufferer 'up' from the 'low' they are experiencing. It is a remedy rather than a cause.

List of BiPolar people

[Goodsoulette]

Interesting thinking there Bednobs, Id never really thought of it that way before. We had the sadness of a friend killing himself a couple of years ago, he suffered with bipolar. It saddens me so much to think he didn't know how much people loved him when he died, I have never seen a church so full.

There's situational depression which most people probably find themselves in at at least one point in there lives but this mental illness is a whole different kettle of fish. Without a doubt, they would have bipolar anyway.

[MissCommando]

Interesting to hear what ppl have to say.
Firetracie, perhaps you're right. Maybe there are lots of sufferers out there who never get diagnosed.
Tetjam - there is definitely such a thing as depression! I was very depressed for a stage when I was younger. Luckily I'm ok now. Never diss mental illnesses cause they can happen to anyone . . it might be your turn one day.

[firetracie]

Tetjam - sorry but you don't know WTF you're talking about.

Clinical depression is a result of an imbalance of chemicals in the brain. Stuff just doesn't work the way it does in everybody else. And, it's genetic, if a parent or grandparent has suferred from it then you will be predisposed to it too. Like diabetes, like high cholesterol, like thyroid conditions - there are loads.

[andy-hughes]

firetracie -

don't let Tetjam wind you up - he delights in simply taking a contrary position, usually laced with provocative observations.

He is best ignored.