Bipolar Disorder Support Group
Bipolar disorder is not just a single disorder, but a category of mood disorders marked by periods of abnormally high energy and euphoria, often accompanied by bouts of clinical depression. This is the place to talk about your experience with bipolar disorder, learn from others' experiences, and find support.
"There is a theory that the brains of our northern ancestors devised a way to oscillate their moods between manic and depressive to align the former with light, warm seasons and the latter with the cold darkness of winter. This would be for the exact same reasons lots of animals do it: The manic episodes turned them into superhunters and uber-gatherers who happily slaughtered and stockpiled while the sun was shining, right up until it was time to sink into wintery depression.
According to this theory, people with bipolar disorder were also masters of reproduction. Since bipolar disorder is most prevalent in women of reproductive age, some researchers think part of the reason the brains of prehistoric ladies dug bipolarity was sheer procreation: They turned on the manic phase during the summer, when it was most convenient to get pregnant. The subsequent winter down period would have ensured that the lady is less active and free to concentrate on the coming child, which in turn would have led to healthier offspring." [will link in the comments, the article can be found under "5 Brain Disorders That Started as Evolutionary Advantages".
I don't know about you but I mean holy shit this sort of is a perspective game-changer for me. And this whole time I've been fighting the good fight and bucking a system that [if/when controlled and accepted] might've actually been designed to aid in my survival skills. Like some sort of psychosomatic mind warrior.
According to this theory, people with bipolar disorder were also masters of reproduction. Since bipolar disorder is most prevalent in women of reproductive age, some researchers think part of the reason the brains of prehistoric ladies dug bipolarity was sheer procreation: They turned on the manic phase during the summer, when it was most convenient to get pregnant. The subsequent winter down period would have ensured that the lady is less active and free to concentrate on the coming child, which in turn would have led to healthier offspring." [will link in the comments, the article can be found under "5 Brain Disorders That Started as Evolutionary Advantages".
I don't know about you but I mean holy shit this sort of is a perspective game-changer for me. And this whole time I've been fighting the good fight and bucking a system that [if/when controlled and accepted] might've actually been designed to aid in my survival skills. Like some sort of psychosomatic mind warrior.
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I find myself going places in the car and not wanting to get out of the car. I come back home and I don't want to get out of the car. I think it's the only time I spend reflecting. Chronic tiredness from Long Covid plus the immunosupressing meds for my Crohn's is slowing me down but everything just seems a massive effort. I am dealing with the paperwork following my father's death but it's not...
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Wow, it's the middle of the week already!Today is our 11 year anniversary, so we're going out to a nice dinner. I'm losing a lot of sleep these days, hence a wonky schedule and uncomfortable feelings. But I know it will pass, eventually.I hope all of you have a peaceful day, and may good things come your way!
Having nearly managed to kill myself I'd be the one shouting
"stand back everyone, I'll kill the bison on my own. And then I'll get the cave bear out of the caves before tea time"
Bipolar gives you an unrealistic view of your abilities and that is likely to terminate you before you get into breeding.
Depression is likely to be a killer too because you don't move fast enough, don't react effectively to environmental threats.
Bipolar increases you deliberate self destruction chances 10 -20 fold greater than the average.
And I wonder about the breeding possibility - evolution would favour live fast die young but leave plenty of offspring - but I think the stigma and fear that people have today of "mad people" is a reflection of an evolutionary / social drive to avoid those that are different. They are not people to bred with.
The science in the article is very poor. It asks " If it's such a common bug in our 100,000-year-old head computer, how come evolution hasn't gotten around to fixing it by now? Why would natural selection have given us brains that go nuts with activity for a stretch, then just shut down completely?"
Stop and think about it. There are plenty of genetic "bugs" that still exist. We've not bred out some of the most basic genetic snafu's or vulnerabilities. Go and look on DS's forums to find a whole host of genetic disorders that have caused misery for millenia.
Or revert back to our old ways. Way back when even before social shaming stigmatized mental abnormalities, every trait any person had was pretty much set in stone, so everything was put to use.
Well yes but back then spiked adrenaline was absolutely essential and being on your toes and rationing your energy and will to sustain life and health as well as drive to succeed accordingly was a very legitimate survival skill.
Notice how I say controlled. Most BP'ers I've encountered have "loose cannon" types of behaviors, so naturally, higher risks taken means higher chance of those risks going terribly, terribly wrong.
...But I also believe in high-risk, high-return. Fate favors the bold. Plus if you look at the vast majority of people today they aren't doing so great eh? Those with different brain configuration face a different set of problems I don't really think are comparable to the mainstream. It'd be to compare two very different things. I don't find it mentally sound to make habit of comparing/contrasting myself to people with relatively normal thinking patterns, it's lead me down the path of an inferiority/superiority complex, whereas distinguishing the differences has taught me invaluable respect.
Also many would think that it'd be weeded out of the gene pool if it were so detrimental to survival, but hey... We're still alive. To me that's evidence enough. [I wasn't meaning to sound combative, I loved your insight, by the way. I was clarifying because I'd feel bad if I offended anyone. /:]
However once you try and back it up with science you weaken your whole argument.
There are 90% terminal genetic disorders that still exist. And yet, as you say, "they are still here"
That's because genetics doesn't work the way many people were taught.
Also remember - some genes are prone to vulnerability - and so the same genetic snafu can appear again and again. Including the 100% fatal ones.
Also remember that bipolar is not a single gene. It's the product of several genes interacting.
So there may be things favouring certain genes independently - only when they come into a particular combination do we get Bipolar.
So it is quite possible for those genes which might really about something actually fairly disparate, one for aspects of attention, one for say regulating sleep to be favoured by evolution. get them in the wrong combination and you get bipolar.
And nature has a nasty way of promoting genes which in the single copy state are helpful - but if you get a double dose is deadly.
Although I agree that genetics isn't entirely "survival of the fittest". There is order in chaos and chaos in order and I think this goes even for well-documented sciences and systems.
Plus lately I've felt so negative. Some pride is a refreshing change.
I'll offer a different perspective on this.
You can be positive without this - actually it is healthier.
If you take pride in something that is then going to be totally proved to be rubbish you lose faith. Put your faith in something else. People, yourself.
It's a bit like if someone is a religious person and sort of gets stuck in a fundamentalist position. People who attempt to use science to bolster a creed they have. It's a bad idea and back fires.
To give an example - is it more important that the bible gives a series of instructions that generally lead to a happier life or that God made the earth as it is now? People attempt to use science to prove that evolution doesn't exist and creationism does. They will lose that argument and it was the wrong argument in the first place.
So as I say, take pride in something else.
...I'm getting uncomfortable with where this is going I apologize. Tell you what just give me a bit and I'll delete this -sigh-
At least I haven't forgotten Raquel Welch.
But I applaud your wanting to do research and you are young. Being young and curious is good. I hope that somehow you can find peace with the disorder and make other wonderful discoveries out there.
Good luck to you,
Signed,
Navymom to a wild 20 yr. old (female ) sailor