The Positive Side of Bipolar
By Elizabeth Forbes
Bipolar Magazine
Excerpt from the Winter 2012 issue:
In the decade since she was diagnosed with bipolar I, musician Sara L. has developed some ideas about what might be called the upside of the illness.
“This is just my own kind of pet theory,” explains Sara, 39, “that it confers personality characteristics … drive, ambition, energy, enthusiasm and self-confidence. And when you’re well, those things come across in a positive, pro-social way.”
Of course, Sara knows all about the “life-trashing” side of bipolar. As a punk rocker with dark moods, she spent her 20s overindulging in alcohol and marijuana. When she rebounded from a deep depression into extreme mania after a romantic breakup, symptoms like religious delusions, incoherent speech and agitation landed her in the hospital.
With medication to smooth out her mood swings and talk therapy to defuse the distorted thinking of depression, she’s able to see some pluses to having bipolar.
“Research is showing that there are links between creativity and bipolar disorder,” explains Sara, who is now studying for a master's in counseling psychology. “I think it remains to be seen exactly if or how, but in my own life I’ve always been a creative spirit. Or maybe not so much that bipolar causes a creative mind—it may, but it’s more that it gives you drive and ambition.”
That combination of creativity and drive helped Sara make her mark as a singer-songwriter, recording and touring with her indie-pop band Vancouver Nights and a well-received project called the Gay. She still performs with her band and other musicians occasionally, but facing off against bipolar has given her a new passion: helping other people with mental illness.
She’s developed the view that “it’s a belief about having bipolar disorder that really can make or break our ability to live well. I think when people get the message that, ‘Oh, this is a chronic illness and you better just hunker down and try to get through life, and you’re going to be very limited in what you can do’—people internalize that message,” she says.
“I think it’s still a struggle day-to-day with everyone who has bipolar because of the moods … so it takes vigilance and it does take resilience,” Sara adds. “And I guess part of that is acknowledging the positive things it’s brought to you.”
helpful traits
While it may sound surprising to put “bipolar” and “positive” in the same sentence, an analysis published in the Journal of Affective Disorders in February 2011 found that having bipolar disorder may enhance “certain specific psychological characteristics … that are generally viewed as valuable and beneficial morally or socially.”
The authors reviewed 81 studies that noted positive characteristics in patients with bipolar and found a strong association with five qualities: spirituality, empathy, creativity, realism, and resilience. Nassir Ghaemi, MD, MPH, and colleagues from Tufts Medical Center in Boston concluded that encouraging an appreciation of the positive aspects of bipolar could help combat stigma and improve patient outcomes.
Ghaemi, a psychiatrist who directs the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts, went a step further in his recent book A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links between Leadership and Mental Illness. The widely publicized book argues that because leaders with depression or bipolar disorder have stronger qualities of empathy, realism, creativity and resilience, they are better equipped for times of crisis.
“Depression enhances empathy and realism and the mania enhances creativity and resilience … so when people have bipolar disorder, they have the full gamut of benefits,” says Ghaemi.
By contrast, research into “positive cognitive bias” shows that people without a mental illness tend to overestimate both their own capabilities and their control over the environment, as well as interpret events with an overly optimistic lens. During a crisis, Ghaemi says, it’s better to be able to assess situations more clearly—thanks to a trait researchers have identified as “depressive realism”—and have the greater flexibility of mind and higher tolerance for risk that go along with hypomania.
In his book, Ghaemi notes that his thesis upends the commonly held assumption that mental illness is “inherently bad.” He does distinguish, however, between mild symptoms that can be helpful and severe symptoms that lead to dysfunction.
Ghaemi says A First-Rate Madness was inspired by patients with bipolar who are quite successful in business and politics. Since discussing those people would violate patient confidentiality, “historical leaders is a way for me to bring out those examples in a way that is publicly accessible to people.”
better with bp?
While Ghaemi’s thesis has some detractors, he is not alone in finding advantages to having bipolar.
Most notably, Kay Redfield Jamison has championed creativity (in Touched With Fire) and a passion for life (in Exuberance) as positive hallmarks of bipolar disorder. In his 2005 book The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (A Little) Craziness and (A Lot of) Success in America, clinical psychologist John D. Gartner, PhD, argues that a mild form of mania has fueled American innovation.
Gartner links relatively high rates of bipolar disorder in the United States to a gene pool heavily weighted with immigrants. The idea is that many immigrants made the leap to a new country thanks to hypomanic traits such as entrepreneurial drive, a high tolerance for risk-taking, creative vision and brash self-confidence. In individuals who don’t cycle into mood swings this is known as a hyperthymic temperament, and it is found disproportionately in relatives of people who have full-blown bipolar.
Self-help coach and author Tom Wootton drew on personal experience to develop his “bipolar advantage” approach, which mirrors much of Ghaemi’s thinking. By accepting and wisely managing the illness, Wootton teaches, an individual with bipolar can harness elements of hypomania such as enhanced creativity and productivity. Depressive introspection can yield deeper awareness and insights. And emotional pain can be a catalyst for personal growth.
Steve B. of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was especially struck when he read Wootton’s books. He relates Wootton’s message to a remark made by a successful friend with bipolar.
“My friend, who is a published author, said a lot of the reason we can do what we do is not necessarily in spite of [having bipolar], it’s because of,” explains Steve, 54, a licensed insurance agent who founded a statewide organization of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA).
For example, Steve says, “If I’m in kind of an arrogant mood, I’ll just go to somebody and I’ll say, look, don’t mess with me because I can out-think you and I can out-talk you. There’s times when the racing thoughts and the tangential thinking and the pressured speech can get you into a lot of trouble, but also it can help you sell things—that’s my background, sales and customer service—and be able to problem- solve.
“If you leverage it properly and don’t go overboard, it’s amazing the things you can do.”
Steve believes that traits associated with his bipolar I helped him create and run the nonprofit BrainStorm Career Services for Psychiatric Disability, a subsidiary of DBSA Colorado Inc., while holding down a day job.
“The leadership qualities, I think, have always been there,” says Steve, a longtime community organizer and former district chairman for the El Paso County Democratic Party. “But when I figured out why it is I act the way I do, and when I got past the real dysfunctional behaviors, yes, [bipolar] absolutely has fueled and accelerated the leadership stuff.” …
SIDEBAR: a method in his ‘Madness’
“In the storm of crisis, complete sanity can steer us astray, while some insanity brings us to port.”
In A First-Rate Madness, Nassir Ghaemi, MD, MPH, brings psychiatric analysis to bear on historical figures (plus a few modern-day leaders) to demonstrate that premise.
Ghaemi backs up his argument with a wide body of research that makes for interesting reading. He shows that depressive pessimism links to a more realistic assessment of circumstances, that the “divergent thinking” of hypomania enhances creative problem-solving, and that aspects of depression and bipolar disorder increase resilience.
Thus Winston Churchill, whose well-documented deep depressions and energized moods indicate bipolar II, became a pre-eminent leader during World War II. He was realistic about the threat Hitler posed, perceived that war was required, and rallied the nation to endure hard times just as he had survived bleak periods.
His predecessor, Neville Chamberlain, is condemned for appeasing Hitler. In truth, Ghaemi says, Chamberlain was hampered by the unrealistic optimism and attachment to the status quo characteristic of average mental health.
Ghaemi convincingly explains that the mercurial Civil War Gen. William T. Sherman invented the “total war” philosophy, destroying a swath of the South because he saw the harsh necessity. Franklin Roosevelt, who exhibited persistent hypomania, was willing to experiment with new programs during the Great Depression.
Ted Turner, however, fared poorly in a corporate setting because his bipolar traits were better suited to entrepreneurial pursuits like creating CNN. We can’t all lead a country through turmoil, but it makes sense to find a role that plays to bipolar strengths.
By Elizabeth Forbes
Bipolar Magazine
Excerpt from the Winter 2012 issue:
In the decade since she was diagnosed with bipolar I, musician Sara L. has developed some ideas about what might be called the upside of the illness.
“This is just my own kind of pet theory,” explains Sara, 39, “that it confers personality characteristics … drive, ambition, energy, enthusiasm and self-confidence. And when you’re well, those things come across in a positive, pro-social way.”
Of course, Sara knows all about the “life-trashing” side of bipolar. As a punk rocker with dark moods, she spent her 20s overindulging in alcohol and marijuana. When she rebounded from a deep depression into extreme mania after a romantic breakup, symptoms like religious delusions, incoherent speech and agitation landed her in the hospital.
With medication to smooth out her mood swings and talk therapy to defuse the distorted thinking of depression, she’s able to see some pluses to having bipolar.
“Research is showing that there are links between creativity and bipolar disorder,” explains Sara, who is now studying for a master's in counseling psychology. “I think it remains to be seen exactly if or how, but in my own life I’ve always been a creative spirit. Or maybe not so much that bipolar causes a creative mind—it may, but it’s more that it gives you drive and ambition.”
That combination of creativity and drive helped Sara make her mark as a singer-songwriter, recording and touring with her indie-pop band Vancouver Nights and a well-received project called the Gay. She still performs with her band and other musicians occasionally, but facing off against bipolar has given her a new passion: helping other people with mental illness.
She’s developed the view that “it’s a belief about having bipolar disorder that really can make or break our ability to live well. I think when people get the message that, ‘Oh, this is a chronic illness and you better just hunker down and try to get through life, and you’re going to be very limited in what you can do’—people internalize that message,” she says.
“I think it’s still a struggle day-to-day with everyone who has bipolar because of the moods … so it takes vigilance and it does take resilience,” Sara adds. “And I guess part of that is acknowledging the positive things it’s brought to you.”
helpful traits
While it may sound surprising to put “bipolar” and “positive” in the same sentence, an analysis published in the Journal of Affective Disorders in February 2011 found that having bipolar disorder may enhance “certain specific psychological characteristics … that are generally viewed as valuable and beneficial morally or socially.”
The authors reviewed 81 studies that noted positive characteristics in patients with bipolar and found a strong association with five qualities: spirituality, empathy, creativity, realism, and resilience. Nassir Ghaemi, MD, MPH, and colleagues from Tufts Medical Center in Boston concluded that encouraging an appreciation of the positive aspects of bipolar could help combat stigma and improve patient outcomes.
Ghaemi, a psychiatrist who directs the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts, went a step further in his recent book A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links between Leadership and Mental Illness. The widely publicized book argues that because leaders with depression or bipolar disorder have stronger qualities of empathy, realism, creativity and resilience, they are better equipped for times of crisis.
“Depression enhances empathy and realism and the mania enhances creativity and resilience … so when people have bipolar disorder, they have the full gamut of benefits,” says Ghaemi.
By contrast, research into “positive cognitive bias” shows that people without a mental illness tend to overestimate both their own capabilities and their control over the environment, as well as interpret events with an overly optimistic lens. During a crisis, Ghaemi says, it’s better to be able to assess situations more clearly—thanks to a trait researchers have identified as “depressive realism”—and have the greater flexibility of mind and higher tolerance for risk that go along with hypomania.
In his book, Ghaemi notes that his thesis upends the commonly held assumption that mental illness is “inherently bad.” He does distinguish, however, between mild symptoms that can be helpful and severe symptoms that lead to dysfunction.
Ghaemi says A First-Rate Madness was inspired by patients with bipolar who are quite successful in business and politics. Since discussing those people would violate patient confidentiality, “historical leaders is a way for me to bring out those examples in a way that is publicly accessible to people.”
better with bp?
While Ghaemi’s thesis has some detractors, he is not alone in finding advantages to having bipolar.
Most notably, Kay Redfield Jamison has championed creativity (in Touched With Fire) and a passion for life (in Exuberance) as positive hallmarks of bipolar disorder. In his 2005 book The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (A Little) Craziness and (A Lot of) Success in America, clinical psychologist John D. Gartner, PhD, argues that a mild form of mania has fueled American innovation.
Gartner links relatively high rates of bipolar disorder in the United States to a gene pool heavily weighted with immigrants. The idea is that many immigrants made the leap to a new country thanks to hypomanic traits such as entrepreneurial drive, a high tolerance for risk-taking, creative vision and brash self-confidence. In individuals who don’t cycle into mood swings this is known as a hyperthymic temperament, and it is found disproportionately in relatives of people who have full-blown bipolar.
Self-help coach and author Tom Wootton drew on personal experience to develop his “bipolar advantage” approach, which mirrors much of Ghaemi’s thinking. By accepting and wisely managing the illness, Wootton teaches, an individual with bipolar can harness elements of hypomania such as enhanced creativity and productivity. Depressive introspection can yield deeper awareness and insights. And emotional pain can be a catalyst for personal growth.
Steve B. of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was especially struck when he read Wootton’s books. He relates Wootton’s message to a remark made by a successful friend with bipolar.
“My friend, who is a published author, said a lot of the reason we can do what we do is not necessarily in spite of [having bipolar], it’s because of,” explains Steve, 54, a licensed insurance agent who founded a statewide organization of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA).
For example, Steve says, “If I’m in kind of an arrogant mood, I’ll just go to somebody and I’ll say, look, don’t mess with me because I can out-think you and I can out-talk you. There’s times when the racing thoughts and the tangential thinking and the pressured speech can get you into a lot of trouble, but also it can help you sell things—that’s my background, sales and customer service—and be able to problem- solve.
“If you leverage it properly and don’t go overboard, it’s amazing the things you can do.”
Steve believes that traits associated with his bipolar I helped him create and run the nonprofit BrainStorm Career Services for Psychiatric Disability, a subsidiary of DBSA Colorado Inc., while holding down a day job.
“The leadership qualities, I think, have always been there,” says Steve, a longtime community organizer and former district chairman for the El Paso County Democratic Party. “But when I figured out why it is I act the way I do, and when I got past the real dysfunctional behaviors, yes, [bipolar] absolutely has fueled and accelerated the leadership stuff.” …
SIDEBAR: a method in his ‘Madness’
“In the storm of crisis, complete sanity can steer us astray, while some insanity brings us to port.”
In A First-Rate Madness, Nassir Ghaemi, MD, MPH, brings psychiatric analysis to bear on historical figures (plus a few modern-day leaders) to demonstrate that premise.
Ghaemi backs up his argument with a wide body of research that makes for interesting reading. He shows that depressive pessimism links to a more realistic assessment of circumstances, that the “divergent thinking” of hypomania enhances creative problem-solving, and that aspects of depression and bipolar disorder increase resilience.
Thus Winston Churchill, whose well-documented deep depressions and energized moods indicate bipolar II, became a pre-eminent leader during World War II. He was realistic about the threat Hitler posed, perceived that war was required, and rallied the nation to endure hard times just as he had survived bleak periods.
His predecessor, Neville Chamberlain, is condemned for appeasing Hitler. In truth, Ghaemi says, Chamberlain was hampered by the unrealistic optimism and attachment to the status quo characteristic of average mental health.
Ghaemi convincingly explains that the mercurial Civil War Gen. William T. Sherman invented the “total war” philosophy, destroying a swath of the South because he saw the harsh necessity. Franklin Roosevelt, who exhibited persistent hypomania, was willing to experiment with new programs during the Great Depression.
Ted Turner, however, fared poorly in a corporate setting because his bipolar traits were better suited to entrepreneurial pursuits like creating CNN. We can’t all lead a country through turmoil, but it makes sense to find a role that plays to bipolar strengths.
