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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Bipolar in the media.


Is it just me, or is anyone else sick of the portrayal of mental illness in the media, especially television? Just because someone is bipolar doesn't mean they are going to become obsessed with someone, attempt to assume the identity of their lost spouse and attempt to murder them. Okay, so this is all from a few episodes of One Tree Hill. One of the characters stops taking her lithium and goes all ca-ra-zy!
 I know there are cases of mentally ill people going off their meds and "losing it". That said, why can't tv shows ever portray a mentally ill person triumphing over their illness and functioning like everyone else. I know the crazy schizophrenic makes for good TV but COME ON! The stigma is never going to go away if we keep scaring people into thinking mentally ill people are going to come after them in their sleep. 

3 comments:

Mike Bollinger said...

I couldn't agree more, I get annoyed when I'm watching a movie or TV and that happens. Well Said.

Emilee said...

Just wanted to let you know I recognized you for a blog award. You can read more about it on my blog at
www.emileepehrson.blogspot.com

Oh and it's super annoying when shows portray bipolar this way or any or the illness. All the shows that talk about CF annoy me to no end.

Trace said...

It is all due to lack of knowledge and ignorance. We all fall guilty to this occasionally. I would just expect researchers for entertainment to be more thorough in their research.