{"id":1961,"date":"2009-07-13T10:17:48","date_gmt":"2009-07-13T14:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bipolarcentral.com\/bipolarsupporterblog\/?p=1961"},"modified":"2009-07-13T10:17:48","modified_gmt":"2009-07-13T14:17:48","slug":"bipolar-do-you-agree-with-this-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bipolarsupporter.com\/bipolarsupporterblog\/bipolar-do-you-agree-with-this-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Bipolar? Do You Agree With This Man?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi,<\/p>\n

How are you today?<\/p>\n

Yesterday there was a daily email but it was never sent. I have no idea what happen to it. It\u2019s a mystery. It vanished.<\/p>\n

Anyway I have to try to figure what happen but in the meantime let\u2019s jump into today\u2019s topic.<\/p>\n

I hope you’re feeling fine.<\/p>\n

I wanted to share with you a comment I received on my blog the other day:<\/p>\n

“There is a difference between a symptom<\/p>\n

and a behavior. A symptom is what is<\/p>\n

experienced by a person as a result of an<\/p>\n

illness. A behavior is an ACTION that<\/p>\n

person takes in response to that experience.<\/p>\n

Hypersexuality, for example, does not<\/p>\n

mean being unfaithful. Hypersexuality is<\/p>\n

a symptom. It is the experience of a<\/p>\n

suddenly or dramatically increased sex drive.<\/p>\n

There are many choices as to what to do<\/p>\n

in response to a sudden increase in libido.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of those choices are<\/p>\n

not harmful to self or others, illegal,<\/p>\n

irresponsible, or regrettable.<\/p>\n

So I don\u2019t dispute for one minute that in<\/p>\n

general, there is a set of symptoms that<\/p>\n

is typical for a person with bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n

Most of us here agree that bipolar disorder<\/p>\n

doesn\u2019t go away. That means if I have<\/p>\n

bipolar disorder, I will have symptoms \u2014<\/p>\n

EXPERIENCES of the illness for the<\/p>\n

rest of my life.<\/p>\n

My responsibility to myself is to think<\/p>\n

about how I want to conduct myself, what<\/p>\n

kind of life I want. Responsibility means<\/p>\n

I keep tabs on what I DO. Yep, I know<\/p>\n

that typical set of symptoms. What I DON\u2019T<\/p>\n

do is ACT just the same as every other<\/p>\n

person who has those same symptoms.<\/p>\n

And therein lies the difference which some<\/p>\n

people tend to disregard when talking<\/p>\n

about the whole big bunch of us.<\/p>\n

I could feel like doing all manner of<\/p>\n

destructive things. I could tell you the reason<\/p>\n

why I feel like doing destructive things is<\/p>\n

because of symptoms of bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n

And I could be right! At the end of the day,<\/p>\n

it doesn\u2019t matter what destructive thing I<\/p>\n

felt like doing, nor does it matter why.<\/p>\n

It matters which CHOICE I made.”<\/p>\n

——————————————————————–<\/p>\n

So, he is basically talking about the difference between a symptom and a behavior.<\/p>\n

He’s defining a symptom as what is experienced by a person as a result of an illness.<\/p>\n

Then he defines a behavior as an action that the person takes in response to that experience.<\/p>\n

He uses the example of hypersexuality (increased sex drive), which is one of the symptoms of bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n

So hypersexuality is something that a person in a manic episode might experience, because it’s a symptom.<\/p>\n

In his words, “Most of us here agree that bipolar disorder doesn’t go away. That means if I have bipolar disorder, I will have symptoms \u2013 EXPERIENCES of the illness for the rest of my life.”<\/p>\n

I like the way he put that, because it is realistic.<\/p>\n

It’s not realistic to assume that you won’t have symptoms if you have bipolar disorder, because if you have the disorder, no matter how long you’ve been stable, you WILL have symptoms from time to time.<\/p>\n

That’s why, like this person who wrote that comment, I take the realistic approach in my<\/p>\n

courses\/systems. I go over the symptoms of bipolar disorder as well as how you or your loved one will experience them.<\/p>\n

SUPPORTING AN ADULT WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER?<\/p>\n

Visit:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.bipolarsupporter.com\/report11<\/a><\/p>\n

SUPPORTING A CHILD\/TEEN WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER?<\/p>\n

Visit:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.bipolarparenting.com<\/a><\/p>\n

HAVE BIPOLAR DISORDER?<\/p>\n

Visit:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.survivebipolar.net<\/a><\/p>\n

So then he goes into CHOICES.<\/p>\n

This has to do with what he said in the beginning of his post:<\/p>\n

“A behavior is an ACTION that person takes in response to that experience.”<\/p>\n

So you have a symptom, then an experience, then a CHOICE, then an ACTION (behavior).<\/p>\n

Now, some people stop there, and make poor choices, or impulsive decisions, which cause<\/p>\n

wrong actions.<\/p>\n

So what is the key, does he say?<\/p>\n

RESPONSIBILITY.<\/p>\n

He says, “Responsibility means I keep tabs on what I DO.”<\/p>\n

He uses the example of wanting to do destructive things, and he concludes, “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what destructive thing I felt like doing, nor does it matter why. It matters which CHOICE I made.”<\/p>\n

And that would be great if everyone could do it that way.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, when someone with bipolar disorder is in an episode, their thinking is impaired, and they won’t necessarily be able to make good choices, or exhibit good behavior.<\/p>\n

When they are in an episode, your loved one may throw responsibility out the window and be unable to control their impulses as a result of their “symptoms.”<\/p>\n

At that point, everything this man said is “out the window,” since the person is “experiencing” a bipolar episode.<\/p>\n

At best, though, in my opinion, I agree with what he said.<\/p>\n

What about you?<\/p>\n

Do you agree or disagree with what this man wrote?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi,<\/p>\n

How are you today?<\/p>\n

Yesterday there was a daily email but it was never sent. I have no idea what happen to it. It\u2019s a mystery. It vanished.<\/p>\n

Anyway I have to try to figure what happen but in the meantime let\u2019s jump into today\u2019s topic.<\/p>\n

I hope you’re feeling fine.<\/p>\n

I wanted to share with you a comment I received on my blog the other day:<\/p>\n

“There is a difference between a symptom<\/p>\n

and a behavior.<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nBipolar? Do You Agree With This Man? - Bipolar Supporter Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bipolarsupporter.com\/bipolarsupporterblog\/bipolar-do-you-agree-with-this-man\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bipolar? Do You Agree With This Man? - Bipolar Supporter Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hi, How are you today? Yesterday there was a daily email but it was never sent. I have no idea what happen to it. It\u2019s a mystery. It vanished. 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