Here's an ironic moment: just as I'm off to the Mood Disorder Symposium hosted by Johns Hopkins, I decide to pick up some water and sunflower seeds for the road trip (no, there isn't a connection between them and sanity). I look over and see the US Weekly cover story: "Living With Mental Illness" with Britney's face gracing the cover. And I think to myself, "Huh. Maybe I don't need to go to the symposium after all. Maybe the editors of the splashy magazine will tell me all I need to know about my bipolar disorder."
NOT!
But the article wasn't as bad as I thought. I remember a year ago reading a story in US Weekly about Britney that put allegations of her taking antidepressants in the same category as her panty-less photos. And I was a little … how do I say? Ticked off.
But Joey Bartolomeo, the author of this week's cover story, did much more homework than the article of a year ago. He interviewed two doctors. Hey! That's progress. And not ones that practice Scientology. Among one of the more helpful paragraphs:
Treating bipolar disorder offers few guarantees. As Malibu-based psychiatrist David Martorano, who does not treat the singer, tells US, "Some people, even with effective medications, have a rocky course where the illness comes and goes over the rest of their lives." While drugs like Lithium and Depakote can stabilize the condition, therapy, says Beverly Hills-based Dr. Arnold L. Gillberg, "is an effort to understand the person and modify the behavior."
What wasn't needed, in my opinion, was the part about Britney seeming "out of it now," "blurry around the edges." Like the people who need treatment for their bipolar disorder need another reason not to get it. Sure, another doctor, Melvin G. McInnis of the University of Michigan Depression Center, weighs in saying that high doses of some drugs can cause the "cognitive dulling," that it is a trial and error until you get the optimum dose.
Right after that, we are taken to a box listing the side effects of common medications: weight gain, hair loss, thyroid issues. And that "40 percent relapse in a year" (according to Martorano), and "75 percent at five years."
Thanks for the hope and inspiration, guys!
I guess it just reminded me too much of an Oprah magazine article my friend Liz handed me the morning of my consultation with Johns Hopkins two years ago: a five-page feature all about antidepressants zapping your creativity, your spunk, your soul. It was a lovely article to read an hour before meeting with a team of brain experts.
For people out there just coming to terms with their bipolar disorder, I want to give them some positive statistics—that the majority of people diagnosed with bipolar disorder recover! And they go on to do great things, using their gifts of creativity and sensitivity and intuition to make this world a better place! Trust me, I was just at a symposium hearing such stories.I wouldn't want persons just now identifying their symptoms to get even more confused and afraid to seek treatment. While the article was much more substantive than the usual tabloid feature, it lacked the thread of hope I so wanted to read.
Because I truly believe Britney's story will be one of hope, that will inspire countless others to get the help they need.