kalidarkone said:
I was very interested in the woman who managed her bi polar disorder through diet and stress management.
Stephen Fry,although contemplating making changes, to try and manage his mental health, seemed largely resistant. I also think the girl undergoing CBT, may have echoed his fears, the idea that managing the manic side too much would stifle any creativity and he would not be able to live up to the expectations that people had of him. He was almost dismissive of the idea of him cutting down his work load. I think he is very hard on himself an as much as he wants to feel better,he is frightend of making changes...which lets face it is most people!
Fairplay to him for leting us see what he is like when he is low,thats was obviously very hard for him.
I also see elements of my self in all of this, but not anywhere near the extremes shown.
Yeah, the diet stuff really interested me, I have read a bit before about the effect of diet on mood and I would like to know more and actually act on it.
The programme (I must be the last person in the world to see it, thanks Uknova!) I found very moving actually. I noted the middle classness of most of the participants too, but also, was interested in the idea of the stress factor being a major trigger - he didn't really touch on the way that for many people simply 'having less stress' isn't an option that appears readily available, or on financial support for people with such a condition - I did kind of monder wahat a manic depressive fork lift truck driver with four kids and a mortgage in middlesborough would be able to do.
However, what the title suggested, was it was an exploration of the illness from his perspective and as such, my comments above don't stand as criticisms, just areas I wish had
also been touched upon.
There is a brilliant longer TV series to be made on depression I think, you could look at art motivated by it, causes of it, i.e. architecture that creates it, lifestyles, diets, you could look at medication in the young, at drug culture, suicide cults, 'emos,' societal expecatins, body politic, isolation, spiritual well being in a materialistic society, all sorts of things - I do think it is something that is not spoken about enough and thus acknowledgement of depression tends only to happen when people can't function properly.
I do also think that one reason it isn't talked about enough (in a none 'oh, isn't it awful' way, but a in serious discourse is that it opens up many questions about our environment, our world and our work.
