Ups and Downs – Video – Alice Hicks and Roger Smith #bipolar
April 8, 2014 4 Comments
Alice and I made this film at Rethink’s London HQ on the Thames just before the 2012 Olympics.
Helping you to think about bipolar disorder in different ways so that we can eliminate the disorder and eventually eliminate the need for this diagnosis.
Roger Smith (in the UK)
Rethinking Bipolar 
Dear Roger,
I thought you seemed really well in this video and am horrified that the people you were working with did not treat you well. Though it was nice to get to know you some, I preferred what you had to say below, especially about love and the questions you raised: “Are we all, from time to time, a bit bipolar? Are there as many forms of bipolar as there are people in the world?” And also about what you said about categorization.
The thing I hate about the bi-polar diagnosis is that I have been labeled with a mental illness. The word “mental” has a negative connotation. It invokes someone who is deranged because of their brain and implies that the brain needs to be fixed. (Is the brain fixable?)
And how is it that for most of my life I have been just fine. Intense stress and high cortisol levels, plus a lack of support lead to severe sleep deprivation. These were the culprits or the causes of my troubles, I believe.
People have emotional problems throughout their life and if they are not getting the love and the support they need, they tend to lose sleep. I believe sleep deprivation is key here and that given the right set of circumstances, so-called normal people could exhibit or do exhibit “bi-polar” symptoms. Sleep deprivation alone can lead to irritability, delusions and hallucinations in so-called normal people. Thirty-five years ago, psych 101 in university taught me about sleep deprivation and its effects on normal people. But instead now, the diagnosis of bi-polar is rampant, putting people on drugs, instead of helping them to de-stress, get their cortisol in check, address nutritional deficiencies, like low vitamin B, and help people sort out their problems.
Have you heard of Dr. Hoffer who treated schizophrenia, with success, as a vitamin deficiency? “Patients suffering from schizophrenic-related psychosis were able to lead normal lives after high-dose vitamin therapy.” https://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2003/jan2003_report_hoffer_02.htm
Also, there’s the non-profit company, Truehope Nutritional Support, which offers “a specialized micronutrient treatment designed to address the unique nutritional deficiencies associated with mental illnesses.”
If we could dial down the rhetoric on “mental illness”, reframe it as emotional problems (after all what are moods, but our emotions), I believe more people would become more comfortable discussing solutions and admitting that they have had problems in their lifetime. It would be nice to see our governments invest in vitamin studies instead of pandering to pharmaceutical companies. But as long as Big Pharma is involved, it’s hard to have hope for this.
Keep up the good work. And always, take care (and beware of “health-care professionals”).
Sincerely,
Margaret
P.S. Just skimming over what you say about adrenal fatigue and knowing I need to pay more attention to this.
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Hi Margaret,
Thank you for your support and for the interesting link. I have met many people who were diagnosed as having bipolar and schizophrenia who have made remarkable recoveries after changes to diet, and where necessary taking vitamin/mineral supplements. I hope to continue working long enough and with the right people such that most doctors think to ask about diet before they suggest psychiatric drugs.
My recent experiences have reminded me that the first and most important thing is always to keep ourselves well… else our own stories of recovery fail to be credible.
For a while I am just working a couple of hours a day and spending plenty of time gardening which I continue to find restorative.
Roger
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