batterinsky

I lived with someone who is bi-polar and they are very difficult to deal with for sure....however I think bi-polar is a spiritual condition rather than mental or physical...the drugs alleviate the symptoms...thats it....

Smokinghawk

I'm sorry, but I don't agree. There is overwhelming information about the causes of bipolar disorder, and it correlates to measurable, predictable changes in the chemistry and structure of the brain. Bipoloar brains can actually be discered by MRI brain scans, and doctors can identify the "bipolar" and "non-bipolar" brains on the basis of objective data alone.

Likewise, the medications that treat bipolar can be observed to create new neural connections in the physical brain, not to simply whitewash subjective symptoms. It's remarkable to see brain scans of persons before and after medication, and see that untreated brains actually display a physical ATROPHY of neural connections, and the treated brain shows not only a renewal of neural connections, but even increases in size in some areas of the brain most affected and NEW neural connections formed. We also can measure the actual chemisty of the patient's neurotransmitters; bipolar disorder is not a spiritual or somatic condition, but one very clearly based in hard chemistry.

I do not dismiss the importance of the spiritual in any form of treatment, of course, but with bipolar disorder the phsyiological condition contributes to behaviors that are damaging to relationships and health, and thus the body-mind-spirit-emotional continuum. The role of the spiritual is in repairing this damage, restoring those relationships, recovering that balance, mending the circle. But the disorder itself is one of the most well-documented disorders of neural chemistry, plain and simple. It's as physical a condition as diabetes.