Читать книгу Welcome to the Jungle, Revised Edition - Hilary T. Smith - Страница 20

You didn't get diagnosed with bipolar because you're ugly or because the doctor doesn't like you. Let's face it—he's uglier, and his personality needs improving. You got diagnosed bipolar because your symptoms more or less fall into a common, distinct pattern, observed in millions of people. We're currently calling that pattern “bipolar” and treating it with pharmaceuticals and talk therapy. In the past, the same pattern has been called by a different name (hello, “hysteria”) and treated by different means (like lots of cold showers). In the future, it will undoubtedly be called something else entirely and treated with mind melding and cosmic nanoprobes. In other cultures, what we call “bipolar” has other names and other symptoms and explanations entirely.

No matter what the psychiatric community wants to call it, you're still you—whether you have bipolar, hysteria, a wandering womb, or just plain sand madness. Everybody else changes their mind about what to call it, so there's no reason why you can't too. Don't think “bipolar” is an accurate description of your experience? How about Chronic Sleep Taxationitis or Acute Porn Star Overidentification Syndrome? No matter what you call it, no matter how you think about it, no matter how you treat it, you're a person—not a collection of symptoms or an entry in the DSM-V (the hefty diagnostic manual produced by the American Psychiatric Association that you've probably seen lurking under your psychiatrist's desk). Nothing can change that. Don't dwell on whether or not “bipolar” is the perfect way of describing your condition; actually, dwell as much as you'd like, but do consider whether the solutions available for bipolar are helpful for you.

And in the year 2037, when they yank “bipolar” from the DSM-XXIV and replace it with “Intergalactic Hypersensitivity Disorder,” you can go through the whole ride all over again (“Intergalactic Hypersensitivity Disorder—it explains everything about me, man . . . now pass the nanoprobes!”)

Life is long, and your understanding of yourself (not to mention your family, your culture, and your weird roommate Sun Man) can and should evolve over time. It's OK to go through many stages with your thoughts and feelings about bipolar disorder. Who knows—in the course of your wanderings, you might just hit on something useful or wise.