Forwarded with permission from the Author.
From: Julie Fast
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 5:58 PM
Subject: Bipolar Disorder and Ignorance


Bipolar Disorder and Ignorance

I live in Portland, Oregon in the United States- as many of you know. Over the
past few years, there have been incidents involving the police and the mentally
ill that have not ended well. I hear about them, but have to be really careful
not to get too involved as part of my management plan is to avoid really
stressful situations that are out of my control. This is why I have people in my
life who advocate for the mentally ill when I can't. I also feel that the
relationship between the police and the people on the street needs strengthening
as well. I'm not anti police, but we need to help them and they need to listen.

My business manager Laura told me that when she heard of the latest situation,
she became so frustrated with the media coverage, she wrote a letter to the
media. Here is the story of what happened- please do not read this if you feel
it will be upsetting. There really is not anything you can do at the moment and
your health always comes first. You know I believe that.

A 34 year old woman called 911 and said that she was suicidal. When the police
arrived, she shot at them and they shot back. She then killed herself. No police
officers were hurt. This happened in view of her neighbors.

Statistics say that 4% of suicidal people put themselves in a situation where
other people can kill them- from fights to high speed car chases. She was
obviously in a similar state of mind. It's\ important to remember that 4% is a
small amount of people but it's enough to cause serious problems for law
enforcement and can completely devastate a family.

I write a lot about suicide in my work. It is preventable- but awareness on the
part of the person with the illness as well as the people around the person is
essential. The lack of understanding and the lack of information surrounding
mental illness is appalling- thus my business manager's anger. When the media
covered this event- they said the woman suffered from a "mental health problem".
In reality, it was first reported that she had bipolar disorder. Laura asked
me, "Why do they suddenly use a euphemism when we have a name for what was wrong
with her?" The media always does this. They make mental illnesses seem so
secretive and confusing. If people know more about bipolar disorder, they would
know that suicide is common and that the police needed to be very ready for what
eventually happened.

Laura is right. As a society, we blindly walk into situations where we have
limited information and assume that the usual techniques will work- she called
and she was suicidal and thus we have to go help her.? And then she starts
shooting. There was no chance for the police to get out of the situation.

Bipolar disorder is rarely violent and suicide is rarely violent towards others-
but we still need to know it's a possibility. And the way to do this is for us
to first educate the media- and then have the media, through responsible
reporting educate the public so that when they hear a story such as this one,
they can say, she had bipolar disorder. This sometimes happens.

Bipolar disorder was documented by Hippocrates as early as 500 BCE and yet the
ignorance remains. It's time for this to end. It's time for those of us with
the illness and the people who love us to educate the world about the illness so
that ignorance and stigma are erased. This may have helped the woman on the
porch get help before the illness went so far.

When something like this happens in your area, write helpful letters to the
media - even if it's only a few sentences. We can make a difference.

Julie
www.bipolarhappens.com

Julie Fast

P.O. Box 86728
Portland, OR
97286
US


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