Last year, I watched a wonderful American drama called Modern Love. And I was impressed by the third story which was performed by Anne Hathway.
In this paly, when Hathway showed up, she looked like a shinning star. More importantly she was in a very good mood. She laughed，talked to herself. Then she met a nice guy in the supermarket when she was buying fruits. A nice start of a romantic love story. And they made an appointment for the second date. Everythings went well. But in the second date, she looked like another guy and she was in a low mood. She tried to fix this relationship in the third date, but she broke down and lied in the washroom and started to cry. In the next few days, she just lied in bed and shut herself up.
I was so curious why she changed form a shinning star to a extremely depressed guy. It should be a romantic love story. It turns out that Hathway in the show has Bipolar Disorder, a kind of serious mental illness.
Bipolar disorder is a long-term chemical imbalance that causes rapid changes in mood and behavior. Bipolar means two extremes. Life change from extreme highs to extreme lows. They would experience dramatic shifts in emotions, mood and energy. High moods are called mania. Low moods are called depression.
To be more specific
Mania(a mental illness in which sb has an obsession about sth that makes them extremely anxious, violent or confuse).
（1）Energetic，overly happy/optimistic: Like Hathway in the show, that's why she looks like a shinning star. Wonderful ideas come into her mind.
（2）Sleepless: she could be awake for few days and she didn't need to sleep.
（3）Impulse actions: Poor decision making, no regard for consequences.
（4）Dangerous hehaviours.
Depression（a medical condition in which a person feels very sad and anxious and often has physical symptoms such as being unable to sleep, etc. ）
(1) In a low mood, cry. Sleeping either too much or to little.Like Hathway she felt sad, depressed and cried in the bathroom.
(2) Lose interest of everything. She lost her jods for several times because she could go to work regularly.
(3) Feeling worthless or gulity.
(4) Thoughts of suiside. The famous painter Vincent Van Gogh had bipolar disorder and he suisided.
It is impossible for them to find balance between two to lead a health life.
Why do they have this disease? Bipolar disorder is caused by a chemical imbalance. So far, scientists haven't figure out the exact reasons. It is a complex problem. Genetics and environment factors play an important roles.If your family have a member who have bipolar disease, the chance that you have this kind of disease would be ten times more than regular person. Environments could triger bipolar disorder. like some kind medicines, stress, and drug or alcohol abuse are the most common triggers for bipolar disorder symptoms.
More importantly, how to cure this disease?
Unfortynately, there is no cure for biploar disorder. Some methods could be helpful.
(1)Some traditional medicine like lithium salts. lithium salts could act like a mood stabilizer. By stalbelize your mood.
(2)Talk therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy could be helpful.
(3)Health life habits like regular excrcise, good sleep habit and so on could be helpful.
(4)acceptance and empathy of family and friends would helpful.
In the show, at first, Hathway didn't tell anyone that she has bipolar disease. when she got sick. She just ran way and moved from one city to anthor city. In the end, she told one of her collages and felt relived and then she told her all her family members and friends and she started to ask for professional treatment.
So this is the story about bipolar disorder. Bipolar is a kind of mental disease and by two mania and depression. For us, we should take care of our mental health, live a health life and keep a good relationship with our family and friends. When you are sick, go to see a doctor and ask for help.
