Mental Health

bp Magazine: “Hope and Harmony for People with Bipolar”

I saw a news article on a magazine on bipolar disorder and was pleasantly surprised that the articles and back issues were available online.

It’s also nice to see some pharmaceutical company sponsors (front page, right hand column) because without these sponsors I’m sure many of the articles would not be available for free on the website.

I especially enjoyed Lizzie Simon’s article in the current issue on “Stigma: talk or walk.” (click to get pdf file) She brings up a good point - what happens when the person with the stigma against mental illness happens to be intellectual (i.e. “smart”)?

Well, to put things in perspective, one can build a whole case around any belief and find supporting evidence against the existence of mental illness as much as the evidence supporting the existence of mental illness. And I suspect there are PhD dissertations in both areas. There are plenty of doctorate level professionals and research scientists who have seen biochemical changes and genetic changes to contradict the woman who built her whole research project on the conspiracy theory that drug companies must have created these illnesses for profit and to strip away the self reliance of an individual.

Disclosure: I used to work in the pharmaceutical industry and may hold more positive views of the industry than others - unless, of course - I’m criticizing some of the ridiculous approaches drug companies use to market and product their products. I also had suffered from depression and therefore am biased to believe that I had a biochemical imbalance that was helped by both medication and psychotherapies.

© 2008 by Jane Chin, Ph.D. (email) All Rights Reserved.
Abstract logo images by Asif Akbar