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Does Britney Spears Have Bipolar Disorder?

By Michele Soloway

There has been much hoopla in the news lately about Britney Spears and whether she has bipolar disorder or not. And before the ink was even dry on that gossip, Sinead O’Connor makes an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show talking about her bipolar disorder. My question is, "What does that have to do with us?"

Most of the news reports I read about Britney Spears were all just sensationalized versions of pure, unadulterated gossip, until I wanted to shout, "Who cares?" And I missed the Oprah show anyway, because I don’t watch daytime TV because I work, like many of you do. However, it raised a question in my mind worth pursuing. Why are we so interested when a celebrity is diagnosed with bipolar disorder?

We eagerly devour the tabloids, reading first-, second-, and third-hand accounts of the celebrity’s experience with bipolar disorder, about how they are taking the diagnosis, how they plan to live with the disorder, and other issues associated with it…even comparing it to our own diagnosis; and with our own (non-celebrity) lives.

Why should we be so interested in a celebrity’s tales of bipolar disorder instead of our own day-to-day experiences with the disorder? What makes us think that their experiences are going to be any different than ours?

Maybe because they have the finances to "buy" the best treatment… to enter the best facilities… to get the best outcome for the best money? But why should we even be comparing ourselves to them? Why are we even interested?

I’ll tell you who the "real" celebrities should be. The real success stories are those people on this very website who have dealt with bipolar disorder on a daily basis, day in and day out… who have been on the medication merry-go-round… who go in and out of bipolar episodes, high one day and low the next… and lived to tell the tale.

The real success stories are those supporters of a loved one who have lived through nightmares of bipolar episodes and able to tell the tale afterwards… survived abuse and still able to love their loved one anyway, when the loved one has no recollection of anything they did while in the episode.

It’s not that I’ve got anything personally against Britney Spears or Sinead O’Connor. I don’t. I don’t have anything against any celebrity with bipolar disorder. But I think if anything, they should be held to a higher standard – if they are going to "announce" their bipolar disorder, they should use it for the greater good.

If celebrities like Britney Spears and Sinead O’Connor (and others, like Patty Duke, before them) are going to use their celebrity status to bring out their bipolar disorder, then they should use it to help others with bipolar disorder.

In the meantime, those of us non-celebrities will continue to survive on a daily basis, quietly helping each other to cope with the stress, ins-and-outs, daily survival, daily management, and loving support necessary to living with a disorder such as bipolar disorder.

About the Author

Michele Soloway has dealt with bipolar disorder from a very young age. Her grandmother, mother, herself, and her teenage son all have the disorder. She also lost her sister to suicide because of bipolar disorder. Michele has a blog for bipolar survivors at http://bipolarsurvivor.blogspot.com, and is also a contributing writer to www.bipolarcentral.com.

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Featured Article:

Being the Ultimate Perfectionist

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I am the ultimate perfectionist.  Yes, me.  I even got a fortune cookie one time that said, "You have a yearning for perfection," do you believe that?"  Even Confucius knows it!

But it's a real battle for me.  I expect things from myself that I would never expect from anyone else, and it really messes with my bipolar disorder, because, well, no one's perfect, and no one can live with that kind of stress.

So I was talking to someone about it lately, and they told me, "It's ok to strive for perfection, as long as you don't expect to arrive at perfection."

It's ok to make mistakes.  That's what I've been learning.  If you don't learn that, you'll be bound up in fear (another thing that's bad for our bipolar disorder). 

Click here to read the entire article

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