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I knew someone with BPD. She might have been the hardest-working person I've known. She also couldn't hold down a job to save her life. She's the reason I can
by wtracy 6y ago
I knew someone with BPD.
She might have been the hardest-working person I've known. She also couldn't hold down a job to save her life.
She's the reason I can't ever see eye to eye with anyone who wants to cut our social safety nets or who sees welfare recipients as somehow subhuman.
- forgotmypw17 6y agoSomething something neurodiversity, evolutionary traits, situational advantages. Something something society labeling as a dis-order anything which doesn't suit the order. Something something choosing between no treatment and risk of involuntary commitment, overmedication, and life-long stigmai if diagnosed on paper.
- dang 6y agoCan you please not post flamewar-style comments to HN? We're trying for something rather different here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- forgotmypw17 6y agoI apologize, I did not intend that as flames at all. I'll pay more attention. Thank you.
- PragmaticPulp 6y ago> She might have been the hardest-working person I've known. She also couldn't hold down a job to save her life. A bipolar patient in a hypomanic phase can feel strong energy, motivation, creativity, and euphoria. These people can be fun to be around and work with for a short while, at least before the downsides of compromised judgment, inappropriate social disinhibition, and other downsides become problematic. Hypomanic people can work themselves into greater responsibilities at the office, which quickly comes crumbling down when they switch to a depressive episode and can't get anything done. Or they can progress to a full manic episode, where extremely compromised judgment, delusions of grandeur, inappropriate risk taking, inability to concentrate on one task, and other negative effects take over. One of the unique challenges of dealing with bipolar individuals is that they might actually enjoy their hypomanic phases, despite the obvious negative consequences. It's some times difficult to convince them to give up the hypomanic weeks for the sake of arriving at a stable baseline. They might become convinced that their hypomanic phase is actually their "normal" self, as they're often blinded to the negatives of their behavior during these periods. > She's the reason I can't ever see eye to eye with anyone who wants to cut our social safety nets or who sees welfare recipients as somehow subhuman. I fully agree that robust social safety nets are important for our society and that welfare recipients should not be looked down upon. However, it's more of a bridge than a long-term solution. The best path forward for most patients is to be treated with stabilizing medication and to return to the structure and accountability of having a job, ideally. Bipolar patients tend to struggle with unlimited free time, unstructured days, and no accountability to their work peers. The key is robust and ongoing medical treatment and monitoring. Again, to be clear, I'm not disagreeing that social safety nets are a bad thing or that welfare recipients should be looked down upon.
- wtracy 6y ago> Bipolar patients tend to struggle with unlimited free time, unstructured days, and no accountability to their work peers. I was thinking more broadly in terms of people with disabilities when I made the remark about social safety nets. In the specific case of bipolar disorder, I have no reason to disagree with you.
- fsckboy 6y agojust to clarify, Borderline Personality Disorder is very different from Bipolar Disorder
- wtracy 6y agoWhoops, you're right, I got my acronyms mixed up. Funny enough, I also used to know a (different) person who had borderline personality disorder. I can confirm firsthand that they are very different!