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Before calling the person "stupid", read the article. He has bipolar disorder, and it's agony trying to live with it so people will be desperate to take measure

by 0goel0 6y ago

Before calling the person "stupid", read the article. He has bipolar disorder, and it's agony trying to live with it so people will be desperate to take measures to ease the pain.

loudtieblahblah 6y ago
i mean...he could have tried to drink the tea or eat the mushrooms first. i understand the desperation. i do and have great empathy for him. but unfortunately, i know have even greater empathy for him, b/c he made a really dumb choice.
- loudtieblahblah 6y ago
  now*
grayhatter 6y ago
Desperation doesn't make acts intelligent, just understandable. Someone who wasn't stupid would have filtered the 'tea' better before injecting it to make sure it wouldn't cause sepsis, and organ failure. Or you know maybe drink the tea instead of injecting it into a vein.
- Jtsummers 6y ago
  Do you understand why your comment has been downvoted? If not, it's this part: > Someone who wasn't stupid Being bipolar/depressive doesn't make someone stupid, or necessarily ignorant. Not knowing the individual I can't make any judgements regarding this. But I have experienced severe depressive phases. During those (and similarly with manic phases) you can lose control of your mind and understanding/beliefs about the world. You may act stupidly (but do not become stupid) based on how your beliefs about the world change or the general loss of control over yourself you're experiencing. You're being downvoted because there is a qualitative difference between these statements: "Someone is stupid" vs "Someone is acting stupid" or "Behaving stupidly". Though many people don't hear the difference when it's directed at them, there is a difference in sentiment and intent. The former is about the person themselves, the latter about their behavior. The former is hard to correct if true, the latter is something someone can alter about themselves (assuming they have some degree of control over their faculties and behavior).
  - grayhatter 6y ago
    meh, downvotes on HN mostly indicate disagreement so I wasn't surprised or confused at all. I do you have a reject your assertion that those are difference between being stupid and acting stupid. depression may be the cause of your bad decisions which resembles stupidity but that does not mean they weren't your decisions. An aneurysm that lower someone's IQ or neurochemical imbalance that does the same still results in the same outcome of them being stupid. As someone who has been depressed before I have thought and/or done some very stupid things. am I that stupid now? No. Am I still some times stupid? Almost certainly. But were all of my decision stupid? no. was I ever so desperate to inject something into my body without understanding what I was doing? No, but then I already know enough that I would anything injectable would need to be sterile. Infants, children, adolescents; are all stupid when compared to PhDs. They make objectively worse decisions. someone suffering from severe depression is the same way they are stupid compared to themselves while not depressed or someone else not depressed. It may be temporary, or conditional, but stupid is an accurate description of reality. While they are altered, and incapable of correctly evaluating their decisions they are stupid. I suspect the problem comes more from the misconception that intelligence is innate and not something that can be developed. someone who's stupid today, can become intelligent tomorrow.
treeman79 6y ago
Can confirm, live with a bipolar spouse. It’s a nightmare. If you don’t like the current mood, give it a few seconds.
- rubatuga 6y ago
  Um, that is clearly not bipolar disorder.
  - SAI_Peregrinus 6y ago
    Not Bipolar 1, but could easily be Bipolar 2. The two types are rather different, and type 2 is far more prone to rapid cycling.
    - rubatuga 6y ago
      No, that’s wrong again. It’s not on the order of seconds.
    - pier25 6y ago
      And then there's cyclothymia, which is a milder form of bipolar disorder and very often goes undiagnosed.
    - voodooman 6y ago
      This is not the typical presentation for Bipolar 1 or 2. The only difference between 1 and 2 is 1 has more prominent manic symptoms/episodes. Both types of Bipolar have mood fluctuations that take place over weeks or months, not within the same day. For example, being manic for a few weeks, then depressed for 3 months, then manic again for a month, and so on. There is such a thing as a "mixed episode", where the patient is both manic and depressed at the same time, and can cycle between the two states extremely rapidly (within the same day, or day to day). But a mixed episode is rather rare. Anyways, the point is bipolar people have mood swings that are very slow. Rapid mood swings in the same day are not a symptom of bipolar disorder; more likely, this is a symptom of borderline personality disorder. In fact, how rapid the mood swings are is one of the ways bipolar disorder is distinguished from borderline personality disorder. Speaking from experience as I have been diagnosed with both bipolar disorder and BPD.
CodeWriter23 6y ago
I agree, “ignorant” is the actually appropriate term. He didn’t know. Not to diminish his pain and suffering in any way.
- Jtsummers 6y ago
  And maybe not even "ignorant". I'm not bipolar, but I have (in the past, various therapy techniques and physical exercise have largely controlled/mitigated it) had some severe depressive episodes. During them, you are not in your right mind. For my friends with bipolar disorders, the same happens during their manic phases. Your more rational decision making faculties are not really present or fully utilized depending on severity so even if you know better, you don't act on that knowledge properly. Within the moment your belief system can be severely altered.

by 0goel0 6y ago

Before calling the person "stupid", read the article. He has bipolar disorder, and it's agony trying to live with it so people will be desperate to take measures to ease the pain.

loudtieblahblah 6y ago

i mean...he could have tried to drink the tea or eat the mushrooms first. i understand the desperation. i do and have great empathy for him. but unfortunately, i know have even greater empathy for him, b/c he made a really dumb choice.

loudtieblahblah 6y ago
now*

grayhatter 6y ago

Desperation doesn't make acts intelligent, just understandable. Someone who wasn't stupid would have filtered the 'tea' better before injecting it to make sure it wouldn't cause sepsis, and organ failure. Or you know maybe drink the tea instead of injecting it into a vein.

Jtsummers 6y ago
Do you understand why your comment has been downvoted? If not, it's this part: > Someone who wasn't stupid Being bipolar/depressive doesn't make someone stupid, or necessarily ignorant. Not knowing the individual I can't make any judgements regarding this. But I have experienced severe depressive phases. During those (and similarly with manic phases) you can lose control of your mind and understanding/beliefs about the world. You may act stupidly (but do not become stupid) based on how your beliefs about the world change or the general loss of control over yourself you're experiencing. You're being downvoted because there is a qualitative difference between these statements: "Someone is stupid" vs "Someone is acting stupid" or "Behaving stupidly". Though many people don't hear the difference when it's directed at them, there is a difference in sentiment and intent. The former is about the person themselves, the latter about their behavior. The former is hard to correct if true, the latter is something someone can alter about themselves (assuming they have some degree of control over their faculties and behavior).
- grayhatter 6y ago
  meh, downvotes on HN mostly indicate disagreement so I wasn't surprised or confused at all. I do you have a reject your assertion that those are difference between being stupid and acting stupid. depression may be the cause of your bad decisions which resembles stupidity but that does not mean they weren't your decisions. An aneurysm that lower someone's IQ or neurochemical imbalance that does the same still results in the same outcome of them being stupid. As someone who has been depressed before I have thought and/or done some very stupid things. am I that stupid now? No. Am I still some times stupid? Almost certainly. But were all of my decision stupid? no. was I ever so desperate to inject something into my body without understanding what I was doing? No, but then I already know enough that I would anything injectable would need to be sterile. Infants, children, adolescents; are all stupid when compared to PhDs. They make objectively worse decisions. someone suffering from severe depression is the same way they are stupid compared to themselves while not depressed or someone else not depressed. It may be temporary, or conditional, but stupid is an accurate description of reality. While they are altered, and incapable of correctly evaluating their decisions they are stupid. I suspect the problem comes more from the misconception that intelligence is innate and not something that can be developed. someone who's stupid today, can become intelligent tomorrow.

treeman79 6y ago

Can confirm, live with a bipolar spouse. It’s a nightmare. If you don’t like the current mood, give it a few seconds.

rubatuga 6y ago
Um, that is clearly not bipolar disorder.
- SAI_Peregrinus 6y ago
  Not Bipolar 1, but could easily be Bipolar 2. The two types are rather different, and type 2 is far more prone to rapid cycling.
  - rubatuga 6y ago
    No, that’s wrong again. It’s not on the order of seconds.
  - pier25 6y ago
    And then there's cyclothymia, which is a milder form of bipolar disorder and very often goes undiagnosed.
  - voodooman 6y ago
    This is not the typical presentation for Bipolar 1 or 2. The only difference between 1 and 2 is 1 has more prominent manic symptoms/episodes. Both types of Bipolar have mood fluctuations that take place over weeks or months, not within the same day. For example, being manic for a few weeks, then depressed for 3 months, then manic again for a month, and so on. There is such a thing as a "mixed episode", where the patient is both manic and depressed at the same time, and can cycle between the two states extremely rapidly (within the same day, or day to day). But a mixed episode is rather rare. Anyways, the point is bipolar people have mood swings that are very slow. Rapid mood swings in the same day are not a symptom of bipolar disorder; more likely, this is a symptom of borderline personality disorder. In fact, how rapid the mood swings are is one of the ways bipolar disorder is distinguished from borderline personality disorder. Speaking from experience as I have been diagnosed with both bipolar disorder and BPD.

CodeWriter23 6y ago

I agree, “ignorant” is the actually appropriate term. He didn’t know. Not to diminish his pain and suffering in any way.

Jtsummers 6y ago
And maybe not even "ignorant". I'm not bipolar, but I have (in the past, various therapy techniques and physical exercise have largely controlled/mitigated it) had some severe depressive episodes. During them, you are not in your right mind. For my friends with bipolar disorders, the same happens during their manic phases. Your more rational decision making faculties are not really present or fully utilized depending on severity so even if you know better, you don't act on that knowledge properly. Within the moment your belief system can be severely altered.