A Peek Inside
If you watched Law and Order: SVU tonight, you got a small glimpse ... a tiny peek ... into what life with a teen with bipolar disorder is like. A snapshot of my reality.Kudos to the writers and director and all involved with tonight's episode for the accurate portrayal of some of the issues we deal with on a daily basis. This episode was about a teen girl who has bipolar disorder, and goes off her meds due to the influence of a popular rock star who campaigns against psychiatry. (Sound familiar? I think we've "Cruised" down this road before) While off the meds, she has sexual intercourse, then yells rape. When her lies are exposed, she gets manic, gets into a car (bad juju there, reason #1 why my son does not have a driver's license) and mows down several people, severely injuring 6 of them, killing a 14 year old girl.
The rock star spews more BS about how psychiatry is a conspiracy to control the minds of young people, and the meds are poisons ... and offers to pay the girl's defense costs. The girl adoringly hangs on his every word, convinced her parents are poisoning her. The DA agonizes about prosecuting a mentally ill person for actions caused by the illness, while knowing that the girl has to pay the consequences. In the end, they reach the best possible outcome ... if only life were so simple that all crises could be resolved in a neat 42 minutes. But, I digress ...
The girl portrays the essence of the bipolar mind so perfectly, I wept. The disordered thinking ... black and white, obstinant, bending reality to fit her goals ... logic meets anti-logic and the explosion leaves one totally boggled trying to follow along, saying "Wha ... ??? Huh?" The parents were perplexed, helpless, confused, exhausted ... yet, determined to save their little girl, whatever it takes.
Television being what it is, it cannot completely depict the entirety of the range of emotions that the parents of mentally disordered children experience, but this episode of Law and Order did a great job of painting this one portrait. Welcome to my world.
Posted by LissaKay on 05/16/06 at 11:01 PM in
Bipolarville
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Keywords for this entry: bipolar disorder, bipolarville, mental illness, television
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