Can we stop speculating on Palin's mental health

[AllentownJake]

There are people who post on here and people who lurk with real mental health issues. Being Bi-Polar doesn't make one a RW piece of shit. Being stupid does. There are pills and therapy for mental illnesses. As Ron White says you can't cure stupid.

[PCIntern]

1. Really?

Treatment for mental health issues does not, repeat: does NOT, imply "cure". Bipolar condition is dangerous particularly the manic phase. An individual can ruin his orher or many others' lives in an instant when manic.

[cali]

3. but bi-polar illness can be largely controlled for most people with

medication. And the OP said nothing about a cure.

[PCIntern]

6. Do you feel lucky?

Well do you?

with apologies to Clint Eastwood, I'd say that it's a big risk. And the assumption that one is taking meds and thus is reasonably OK, like taking a Beta Blocker for High BP, is false. In this regard, i'm speaking from competence.

[cali]

9. Competence? LOL! Not if you jump to ridiculous conclusions

No where did I say that I felt that someone with bi-polar disorder should be president or vp. Oh, and I worked with people with mental illnesses for 7 years.

Let me further say that it depends on the person. If someone has say, bi-polar disorder and has been stable for 20 years or so, and is in all other respects a stellar candidate, I'd have to weigh all factors, but honestly, I wouldn't automatically disqualify him/her.

[PCIntern]

11. cali: I wasn't attacking you

You're jumping to conclusions...I was simply stating that having someone with dx mental illness in the oval office is not a good thing, despite the medicatons administered.

[CarbonDate]

2. I'm bipolar.

Where do people get bipolar from Palin? Do people just not know what it means? Most of the time when I'm going through one of my "moods", I know exactly what's happening and I adjust accordingly. A severely bipolar person would become suicidal and need to be on medication.

[PCIntern]

4. People have no idea...

I'm a clinician and I'm amused by the amateur hour pop-psychology diagnoses. the implications for certain diagnoses are severe, although the word doesn't sound so bad: for example "borderline" - what's the big deal? doesn't sound os bad...

A very big deal: many professionals will not treat borderline personality disorders - they're potentially very dangerous people

[moriah]

12. Having known people with both diagnoses...

... while not a clinician, I would rather play amateur psychotherapist to the bipolar. (Part of being a friend is listening to your friends when they're feeling down/out-of-sorts/having a crisis -- being there for a person, ya know.)

I've been there for people who suffer from both personality disorders and mood disorders. It's much easier to be there for a person with a mood disorder. My mother's best friend has had a borderline personality disorder diagnosis for upwards of 20 years. One of my friend's moms has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder as well. It's just a bit too much drama for me. And that might be an understatement.

And my friends with bipolar disorder seem to be much more aware of their condition -- I think the term is insight. One particular friend has been dealing with Bipolar I for many years. When she realizes she's getting less than three or four hours of sleep a night, she realizes it's a problem and calls her psychiatrist to schedule an appointment for a medication adjustment, and has some emergency medication that she will take at her psychiatrist's direction. And she listens to me and the other people around her when we tactfully suggest that buying that new business might be a bad idea.

[H2O Man]

5. There is a significant

amount of ignorance concerning issues involving mental illness in our society. It is no surprise that this is reflected on DU. Thus, we see foolishness in people attempting to lable Sarah Palin with something they hope will be damaging.

There is zero evidence that Palin is bipolar. Those who are saying she is are simply demonstrating a lack of insight. Likewise, there is no evidence that supports those who call her a sociopath/psychopath.

She does have behaviors that indicate a personality disorder.

[izzie]

7. Just for thinking like the GOP does not make you nuts.

Heck even in our early days people left and went back to England. Their are always people who just do not think like each other. Their is not a think wrong with how Bush thinks if you are in his frame of mind an he got in twice I would say a lot of Am. think the same way. We maybe fools if we think that making war, running the govt. for a few rich is not on the minds of many. It is not how I think but with the GOP running the govt. for so many years I would say it is how many feel. Not a thing bi-polar about it.

[Dogtown]

8. The real "diagnosis" for Palin

is simple and incontestable: she's a self-absorbed and spoiled woman, caught in the throes of arrested development and Stockholmed to the gills with the fantasy world of fundyism.


There's nothing wrong with Sarah that obscurity and exile back to AK won't fix.

[RoccoR5955]

10. I classify Palin as a pathological narcissist.

Which can be cured with age, and a mirror. At least in most cases.

[Warren Stupidity]

13. No. A candidate's mental health is a serious issue.

[denem]

14. I am bipolar- I want Barack Obama to win - up or down

If that means outing Palin as a nut, so be it. Nothing, nothing is worth of cost of allowing that woman to hold the United States nuclear armory at the tips of her fingers. Nothing.