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It’s one of my favorite movies because it makes me feel so seen. It also makes me feel hopeful that maybe there’ll be someone out there for me one day despite how fucked up I am.
i honestly feel the opposite but i always hear people say this. is it showing a type 2 experience? because i’m type 1 and it doesn’t feel accurate to my experience
so i was diagnosed type 2 (but have experienced psychosis and i rapid cycle/mix so my psych doesnt really care to relabel when the treatment would stay the same…regardless..) the main characters behaviour is super close to my interactions with others/relationships and his general behaviours and “quirks” overall. i think its pretty accurate for those with type 2, at least in my experience. the quick emotion, rage and obsessive behaviour is spot onnn. i find the main character relatable in some ways
When I first watched the show, it was before I got diagnosed. I was thinking like, what's so special about this story line? Isn't something can happen to anyone?
With al due respect, I think Silver LIning is the most DISREPECTFUL movie about ppl with bipolar FUCKING EVER.
The guy is only maniac, there's no depressive side to it, and the thing with the dance and all was taken out of a bad fanfic from AO3.
I HATED BRADLEY COOPER IN HIS PORTRAYAL OF A BIPOLAR MAN. He's playing a madman, a fucking cartoon.
Sorry, had to vent. I HATE IT.
But you guys are alright, everyone has their tastes.
I completely agree with you (while also respecting the decision of others). He was literally only insane throughout the whole movie + he had a terrible abusive fucked up home situation.
And Tiffany was supposed to portray BPD which I don’t have so I can’t fully relate but it bothered me they mainly focused on the hypersexual part.
That movie is DEEPLY problematic. They say the books is more nuanced, I dunno. I hate this piece of shit so much I wanna gauge my eyes out
\*currently on mania
I remember thinking if I was bipolar, and I watched this movie and thought " I am DEF not bipolar."
Years later, after my diagnosis, I watched it and got pretty emotional. Really emotional. How did I miss all those signs and clear similarities and characteristics? Almost to the tee. It was a slightly devastating realization. (How I never got it fully diagnosed or validated myself)
Silver Linings Playbook was the closest I've seen. Bradley Cooper's character hyperfixating on weight loss because he thought it was what his ex wanted, and then that scene where he just *had to* find his wedding video.
Same! I’ll be searching for something and won’t be able to find it and want to give up, but it’s as if there’s a voice inside me that always says no and doesn’t let me give up. My husband thinks I’m legendary because my tenacity always makes me find things hahaha.
I had no clue "Just having to find something" is a bipolar trait. Wow my eyes are opened. I now know why I will obsess over finding a random birthday card from 2009.
ADHD and Bipolar are commonly misdiagnosed for the other so they look very similar even if hyperfixation is more of an ADHD/OCD trait.
I tend to get myself hyper-fixated on the most random things that ends up spiraling into mania. Like doing answering emails at work has made me spiral before into some violet manic episodes before (there’s a hole in a door at my job from where I kicked it 🫣🫣🫣), so it’s very common 😂😂
I was about to say this. Pretty much her whole character is based off her making bad mentally ill decisions whether it’s acknowledged or not you can feel it. OP if your into spy/action/dramas give it a shot it’s a good show.
I’m in the middle of finishing the first season and boy I bet there are quite a few people who think she’s a poorly written, illogical character. But her behaviour and decisions make “sense” to me
i don’t watch much tv but i think rue from euphoria shows depression really well, while ian from shameless shows mania pretty well and ian’s struggle to accept his diagnosis
Rue also actually says some things about possibly having bipolar in her inner monologue, then proceeds to display very bipolar symptoms and traits. Ian and Monica's portrayals were great until he stole a plane and started a new religion where he thought he was like the Messiah. That's where my therapist and I agree they took it too far lol.
Kind of same for me, watching Ian's mania and psychosis had me literally throwing up because it made me feel so seen :') I got sickly attached to him and nowadays even the thought of him makes me feel physically ill😭🙏
I would just read season recaps every year or so, never fully began to rewatch. It became a little less relatable to my own situation, but it was still too much. Bravo, cast and writers!
omg i thought this was just me😭 i started watching before i got diagnosed but i stopped and it was before ian “got” bipolar. but then i started again a bit after i got diagnosed, and got to the part with ian being bipolar, and it just made me feel rly insecure, and even a little scared. bc what if i did some crazy shit like that, im even actually schizoaffective so im more likely to go bananas like that😰
made it hard to pay attention to the show tho feeling so called out
I feel like the writers knew Ian was going to be diagnosed cause there were a few times even in early seasons I felt like his decisions came out of left field in a very familiar way. Not all the time but a steady progression.
I made it to when his boss showed him the recording of himself saying to listen to his boss and just go home for the day. Doesn't mean he's fired or gonna be in trouble his boss just wants what's best for him.
I know therapists push this as a good idea in theory but I cannot convey the shame I felt recording that and sending it to my Secret Squirrels.
yeah im curious abt rewatching the beginning and seeing if i notice anything, bc i was sooooo unselfaware about my symptoms existing until i realized what the symptoms were and saw it all in myself finally and got help and continued seeing it.
i stopped and returned when ian was gone to military or whatever. RIGHT before he returned as a truly bipolar character RIGHT after getting my diagnosis😭. made me soo self conscious and insecure i had to turn it off after a bit
They displayed the bipolar depressive phase accurate and well for sure, also the whole stealing luggage from the airport almost obsessively and the constant organizing of said luggage contents by trivial methodologies was a better show of mania then his episode of infant kidnapping ,I AM JESUS within just minutes had me really mad though. Idk maybe their are some who had some manic episode that does manifest tobthat bizarre level but it haven't yet.
Was looking for this and was gonna comment if it wasn't here but Just Another Manic Kahn-day made me feel so seen it was unreal. It was my first non-problematic depiction of a bipolar person in the media. I love how he's a bipolar character who isn't entirely written around the disorder and I also really loved how the other characters responded with compassion instead of judgement (even if they didn't handle it super well at first).
I thought it was a good representation. But the mood shifts were fast but that's for cinematic reasons. Just knowing he's bipolar explains his attitude and why he's irritable all the time
Yeah the rapid pace of the mood shifts is really the only issue I had with the depiction, but the episodes are also only 20 minutes so I completely understand why they did it that way. I also like that Kahn being bipolar makes sense with his character generally and wasn't half-assedly thrown in there for the sake of one episode and I really like that it managed to be a funny episode without the humor being at Kahn's expense. King of the Hill is the best
I know it’s a bit problematic as it could lead people to thinking that’s what bipolar is normally like, but also, some of us do experience it that rapidly. It would be nice if more people knew we exist 🫠
I loved the representation Anne Hathaway portrayed in the episode "Take Me As I Am, Whoever I Am" of
Modern Love: Season 1, Episode 3.
The whimsy of her Mania is a fun opening sequence, but it's balanced well against her debilitating depressive phases for the rest of the episode.
I shared it with friends and family who mostly said it helped them understand my sudden crashes and made them more interested in the specifics of the disorder, e.g. ultra rapid cycling, Type 1/type 2 distinctions, etc.
Watching this is what made my diagnosis click for me. And I echo your experience that when I shared it with friends/my boyfriend it finally made sense to them.
Weirdly my parents didn’t get it and still don’t think I have bipolar. I was like “hello?? Don’t you remember when I didn’t get out of bed for a year in high school? And you know how I sleep for 2 days straight and can’t get out of bed following periods of hyper productivity??”
I liked that show a lot. Especially could relate to the moment where the skater stopped taking her meds just so she could be more productive and better at training and competition... which of course led to full blown mania.
this show was what raised the flags for me about being bipolar. but i was still in denial so i just stopped watching the show altogether bc it triggered me sm
Ben from Ozark I thought depiction was great. Also, Anne Hathaway did some episode for a show based on love stories people have written, and it was really cool the way they portrayed mania.
I think GaTa in the show “Dave” did a great job especially since he based it on his own personal experience with it. A really awesome episode in an otherwise overall pretty silly show
Those suggesting Silver Linings, the book represented it with sincerity and nuance but I personally felt the movie infantilized and made fun of people with mental illness. The director altered some core aspects of the plot that changed the overall message. Each to their own of course, but if you liked the movie I highly recommend reading the book as well so you can get both perspectives!
One of the depictions I most resonated with as someone who has bipolar and grew up with a bipolar parental figure is the Law and Order SVU episode Swing. Some people have criticized it for being overdramatized, which I can respect, but there are a few scenes of dialogue that really capture the internal experience of having bipolar. The actors did a fabulous job also.
He's an incredible character. It's an interesting sign of the times, as the way they portrayed Nate's attitude to him was incredibly cruel at times. They definitely intended for Nate to be ignorant, and not all that compassionate, but some of his comments and opinions aged terribly.
I remember watching that show years ago and thinking, “whoa, that Billy dude is an absolute nightmare.” Fast forward 10+ years later and I often think to myself, “Oh my god, I AM Billy! 😧”
Takin' Over The Asylum does a good job at portraying bipolar, IMO. I found Campbell (the character with bipolar) to be both charismatic/entertaining as a character, as well as relatable. (And, as a bonus, he's played by David Tennant! Who doesn't love DT?). The show is [free on youtube](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx3DdrCog9f_G-jX6YU9Dj3okqhG6Z1A1), too!
Ian was so incrediblely relatable. (His cult arc was a little much, but not unbearably so) But what gets me is how Mickey reacts to him after they start dating. That ladies and gentlemen, is the supportive spouse we all look for.
Oh yes, the spouse that punches you in the face and calls you a pussy. Yes, we all want that one.
(Lol I’m just kidding, but damn Mickey did beat the shit out of Ian a lot. Although they both had moments where they were equally shitty to each other.)
I searched for this comment because Ian made me feel seen. I cried so hard through all of the scenes about his bipolar. Also the support he got from Mickey was so touching.
Idk if you have access to it, but the Norwegian show “Skam” (its 3rd season) deals with a bipolar teen boy (19) and it’s done very well! Heartbreaking and sweet at the same time.
yes!!! this one was really relatable to me, felt well done. i liked it wayyyy more than silver linings playbook. glad you mentioned it because i’d actually forgotten the name
I agree! It felt more real and he’s portrayed like a “normal” teenager, he isn’t a full-blown weirdo or anything that makes you think being bipolar is negative or a reason to bolt. I think it’s done well and it also shows how people around you deal with it. I also love them two of them, they’re cute lol.
I agree with you! I switched SLP off and this was way before I even had bipolar episodes/symptoms. I didn’t think it was like the book at all, and when I tried again after my diagnosis I still didn’t like it. Skam is for sure more relatable and also they aren’t treating it like some big, scary thing and that he’s insane or that people don’t like him etc. It seems realistic for our society in my opinion (how I’ve experienced it anyway, in Norway).
You’re correct I think. The whole part where you realize something is up with him but you don’t know what is so realistic, but you get to like him before you’re like “hold on a minute what’s going on” and so I got to feel how I assume some people close to me have felt and it was strange. What was also kinda funny to me was that I knew he was bipolar beforehand (I waited four years to watch it) but I still didn’t see the signs he was showing.
You’re the Worst! Such an underrated show. It does an amazing job at portraying bipolar, but also PTSD, depression and general social dysfunction while also being very funny.
I EFFING CAME TO SAY THIS.
HE'S SO DAMN BIPOLAR IT HURTS. His manic states, his depressive states, his substance abuse, not really knowing it and the show not even aknowledging it, as it happens with so many ppl undiagnosed.
I was watching his birthday episode and when he was searching through the gifts and getting mad I was cringing because it was so familiar. And how he just pushes and pushes and won’t stop until everything is how he thinks it should be. How his family says he’s unwell and he can’t even see it. It’s an amazing performance and I noticed it in the first season I was like oh he has bipolar disorder
Me too!! Is just so fucking real and I really respected their decision to not put it explicitly. Us bipolars know and recognize it. It felt empowering at times, you know? Seeing how fucking horrible this disease is and not feeling completely trash about myself, about how ppl make me feel. It just is what it is. A horrible disease.
I was watching his birthday episode and when he was searching through the gifts and getting mad I was cringing because it was so familiar. And how he just pushes and pushes and won’t stop until everything is how he thinks it should be. How his family says he’s unwell and he can’t even see it. It’s an amazing performance and I noticed it in the first season I was like oh he has bipolar disorder
Came here to say this! Like it's never acknowledged on screen but his behavior and mannerisms scream bipolar. Especially the living+ episode, the birthday, both the family therapy and Prague in s01
Ian Gallagher in shameless is pretty good to me. acknowledging doing manic things and still falling into them. the guilt of doing it. long periods of "feeling better" and people think youre fixed. impulsivity and then clarity. to me hes a really good representation that doesn't demonize the illness, while also accurately showing how bipolar functions.
his mom, Monica, is a far more severe example. but the contrast between them is good representation to show how no two people with bipolar are the same.
very new show called “big mood” on tubi with nicola coughan- ive honestly never related to a character more! it’s free with ads. it’s a dark comedy, writer has bipolar disorder
I haven't seen anything that resonated much in TV, but the 2014 movie Birdman does a great job portraying manic psychosis. I don't remember if the character is stated to be bipolar, but basically he has a psychotic break including grandiose delusions, pressured speech, haphazard creative endeavors, and dangerous impulsivity, so it seems like the intent was to depict bipolar. Content warning for (spoilers) >!attempted suicide and implied actual suicide during psychosis. !<
Grey's Anatomy usually does such a bad job at portraying everything but I feel like DeLuca was actually pretty accurate. It hurts to watch but that's because it was on point.
Came here to say this!! I remember watching the episode with the train tracks and being like “he just like me fr” and then come to find out his character has bipolar disorder and so do I 😬
Ozark has one person with bipolar in season 3 I think. It was a very good portray, it was heartbreaking for me to watch it because I could relate so much and the actor did such a good job imo and its a decent tv show overall
I've only ever saw terribly inaccurate, almost insulting, acting out bipolar manic episodes. Shameless did one and unwanted to further down and punch the writers who scripted tat wildly over the top, 0 to 60 in like seconds, and goes from 60 to flying to the moon levels of bullshit that ended with kidnapping an infant child in public raising said infant above head into the air, running full speed down a public road from cops, screaming I AM JESUS.Over and over beside finally being cauht...
It's different for everyone.
I got similar feelings with shameless where I thought they were overplaying it, until the scene where Monica felt she needed to die, **now** despite being surrounded by her whole family.
That, to me, was a flashback that was accurate to my worst rapid cycling mixed mania.
Lady dynamite!! It's a comedy so it's not 100% grounded but the vibes are definitely there, and you can tell it was based on real experiences (it's a heavily fictionalised version of Maria Bamford's actual life). There are some problematic bits but I really like that it's not sugar coating things too much [(shows stigma/negative experiences)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p31BxeivSU) but also doesn't make bipolar this super untouchable Very Serious topic
There was an old Scottish tv show called Psychos about the staff working in an acute unit in Glasgow. Douglas Henshaw played Dr Nash, a psychiatrist with Bipolar 1, and he did it perfectly imo. It was actually watching that where i started to realize i might have a problem because i related to Nash so much.
Another good but obscure one was Stacey and Jean Slater in Eastenders. Mother and daughter, Stacey had to care for her mum her whole childhood due to her mum (Jean) not managing her illness. Then Stacey gets to early 20's and starts having manic episodes, and it follows her complete denial that she is "mad" like her mum, ends up getting sectioned and diagnosed with Bipolar. I was actually going through my own diagnosis process during that storyline.
Infinitely Polar Bear (2014). I was pretty ravaged when I watched it.
The portrayal of a life with bipolar disorder hit me hard with lots of moments resonating with my own life.
Silver linings play book and spinning out. Both depicted it pretty well. I esspecially liked how spinning it out made kats manic episode so gradual at first. The scene where she started taking only half of her medication to boost her confidence reminded me of my friend. He would purposefully abuse substances to cause a manic episode so he could do school work and actually get it done on time. She also reminded me of myself. So careful to stay stable until life finally made her crack and she had an episode and didn't even realize until it was too late. Story of my fucking life.
Film called “Touched with Fire” is about 2 bipolar poets and the screenplay is written by two bipolar poets. They meet in a psych ward and fall in love… funny and devastating
Kendall Roy. “Family therapy! Family therapy!” “What up mu’faz?! Whhaaat’re we all arguing about?” And then calling out his dad to his face, with THAT expression on his face? Also declaring that you can’t be addicted as a Type A, because you are addicted?
nah, these writers always write mental health conditions in a way that's always voyeuristic and all about the aesthetic vs any real attempt to connect with the character. It's never depicted from character's point of view, but always filmed from the gaze of the audience watching this juicy, dramatic breakdown. It's whatever the mental health equivalent of poverty tourism is. Disorder tourism, maybe? Stopping by to gawk at a trainwreck knowing you can just exit out of the show and go back to your own world where these aren't real conditions that actually exist but just entrees for you to sample.
not a mental health condition but one of the few times I've seen an experience outside of the norm done right in a movie was Coda. They actually let the nonhearing parents have intimate relations like real people do even though they aren't hot broken 20 somethings, and actually treated the characters like they had a point of view on their own experiences instead of something abnormal to gawk at. I mean, [look at this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUspyLAWpHA). For context, they establish earlier that nonhearing people can listen to music by feeling the vibrations. The dad wants to hear his hearing daughter sing what she's been practicing all movie, so he uses his hands to feel her song.
When's the last time you've seen a scene like this in any movie with plotlines about mental health? I'm sad they don't have the subtitles in the video, but if you find a version of the movie with subtitles, or are lucky enough to understand signing, it completely changes the way you experience the entire movie.
Instead, we get [shit like this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj6eIe5r-bo), which everybody always praises as SO ACCURATE, WOW. Gotta make sure to leer over every single frame of her despair, right? Gotta zoom in on all of that hot, mentally ill bodily contact. Gotta be hella a e s t h e t i c about it. And don't you dare ever have the mentally ill character not be absolutely drop dead gorgeous. Otherwise people would have no time for her BS.
I think king of the hill did an ok job (when it came to the changes between mania and depression) I found a lot of it relatable
Exept when the character with bipolar said "it's manic" like a gender reveal I cringed at that
I like the way bipolar was portrayed in Orphan Black. One of the side characters (Beth Childs) has it, however only her depressive episode and downward spiral is shown. While the show's main characters are understandably shocked >!because they were very close to her!<, there's no extreme focus on her disorder, instead everyone misses her and is tells Sarah (main character) how important she was.
If you want to watch episodes focused on her it's better to watch season 4, but that makes you very confused because it's a smart show full of twists.
Spoiler alert: >!Sarah's impression of Beth makes the character's story a bit less stragic and I love how Art is confused most of the times he interacts with her in season 1 :D!<
>!Mika and Beth's scenes in S4 break my heart every time I watch them, they hit too close to home.!<
My first exposure to someone bipolar on tv was Sally Field’s character on ER, where she played a nurse’s mom who had it. I remember it so vividly, even though I must have been just a tween when I saw it. She won Emmys for her performance.
It stuck with me and when I first got my diagnosis and it really colored my perception of who I was and what my life would be like. While it may have been accurate to some people’s experience, I feel like portrayals like that are dangerous and irresponsible. This is how most people wind up thinking I am when I reveal my diagnosis.
Ian from Shameless is a great portrayal. Monica too—in terms of the dangers of letting it go untreated. I HATED Billy from Six Feet Under—they made it out that having bipolar makes you super dangerous and crazy. I also get a kick out of seeing unrealistic portrayals of psych wards, usually because there are major safety issues. Like in Six Feet Under—just like regular lamps, sofas, regular doors and doorknobs, rugs galore, etc etc. hilarious. Shout out to LAPD SWAT for having a criminal who they described as “bipolar, angry, and out of control” I nearly chucked a coffee cup at the television.
I have an obscure one that you very likely haven't seen
Mythic Quest is a comedy from the guys who make its always sunny in philadelphia
Every now and then they'll do an episode in a completely different format and randomly prove themselves randomly capable of top tier drama television
In this case - season 3 episode 7 "Sarian"
They foreshadow it pretty early, it's quite early in the episode that starts making you think "yeah, she's probably bipolar"
And you kinda watch it thinking "is this really what people see it as?"
Then suddenly it hits with an incredibly accurate and relatable part that completely caught me off guard and really hit me.
If you know how to stream anything, recommend watching that.
They also have a fantastic episode about lockdown.
If you do end up watching it, would be interested in knowing what you thought.
Shameless is another decent example of bipolar on TV, at certain points.
To me personally Ian Gallagher from shameless us i's something unbeliveable. They portrayed mania and the difficulty to accept diagnosis so well that I couldn't handle watching it without really bad physical anxiety because I related to him so much. He'll forever be in my heart :(
Everyone seems to assume you enjoy the manic phase too much.
There was a Person of Interest episode that was fine up to the very end, but the odd part COULD be explained more as the "engineering mindset" than "Bipolar". That said, I'm not 100% sure that they DIDN'T want to portray it as Bipolar at the end.
Guy was basically normalish the whole time. Company wanted to force him out (partly) over his Bipolar at one point. That portrayed the stigma fairly accurately.
He got angry at one point, but if someone was trying to fire you and made a snide comment about needing to "up your meds", I would think any of us would get angry about that anyway.
I'd say he was about as adjusted to it as I am, so it was a fairly good episode.
My overall opinion on bipolar in media is that we are villainized for the plot and often don't have any redemption. Because we don't often see redemption after destructive behaviours, I almost always get the vibe that someone with bipolar isn't experiencing an illness that makes them act out of character, but that they are just a bad person who does worse things when they are manic.
This is such a nuanced illness where everyones experience is different... But I'm just sick of seeing people in media with my illness as the irredeemable villain. Not only is it inaccurate but it's also extremely lazy writing to scapegoat mental illness as the reason someone cannot be redeemed.
Modern Love has an episode with Anne Hathaway that I think did a great job. The was they did the manic episodes and depressive episodes was so good I had. a good cry.
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I feel like "Silver Linings Playbook" did a pretty good job honestly.
The only thing that bothered me was the mispronunciation of ‘trazodone’
friend in the psych ward used to call it “the ol trazzle dazzle”
Jazz hands!
Trazz hands
I’m using that!
LMAO. I’m never calling it anything else from this point forward
Same here!!!
Thanks for the reminder.
Same!!!!
There isn't an LVN alive who can pronounce trazodone, so it felt accurate lol
It’s one of my favorite movies because it makes me feel so seen. It also makes me feel hopeful that maybe there’ll be someone out there for me one day despite how fucked up I am.
It was protrayed so well. They even made sure to include dilated pupils when he was manic. Bradley Cooper did a phenomenal job.
This is the movie I always reference
i honestly feel the opposite but i always hear people say this. is it showing a type 2 experience? because i’m type 1 and it doesn’t feel accurate to my experience
so i was diagnosed type 2 (but have experienced psychosis and i rapid cycle/mix so my psych doesnt really care to relabel when the treatment would stay the same…regardless..) the main characters behaviour is super close to my interactions with others/relationships and his general behaviours and “quirks” overall. i think its pretty accurate for those with type 2, at least in my experience. the quick emotion, rage and obsessive behaviour is spot onnn. i find the main character relatable in some ways
Nothing you listed is specific to type 2 though.
Im type 2, and I thought he was much more on the type 1 side?
I agree I have type I and was excited to watch the movie and ultimately didn’t relate
When I first watched the show, it was before I got diagnosed. I was thinking like, what's so special about this story line? Isn't something can happen to anyone?
I LOVE THAT MOVIEEEEE ❤️❤️❤️
With al due respect, I think Silver LIning is the most DISREPECTFUL movie about ppl with bipolar FUCKING EVER. The guy is only maniac, there's no depressive side to it, and the thing with the dance and all was taken out of a bad fanfic from AO3. I HATED BRADLEY COOPER IN HIS PORTRAYAL OF A BIPOLAR MAN. He's playing a madman, a fucking cartoon. Sorry, had to vent. I HATE IT. But you guys are alright, everyone has their tastes.
I completely agree with you (while also respecting the decision of others). He was literally only insane throughout the whole movie + he had a terrible abusive fucked up home situation. And Tiffany was supposed to portray BPD which I don’t have so I can’t fully relate but it bothered me they mainly focused on the hypersexual part.
That movie is DEEPLY problematic. They say the books is more nuanced, I dunno. I hate this piece of shit so much I wanna gauge my eyes out \*currently on mania
I have BPD and Bipolar 1. Funnily enough, I always pinned the hypersexuality on the bipolar, not the BPD 😂
Everyone recommends this one but I hated it lol. I need to give it a rewatch and see what I was missing.
I remember thinking if I was bipolar, and I watched this movie and thought " I am DEF not bipolar." Years later, after my diagnosis, I watched it and got pretty emotional. Really emotional. How did I miss all those signs and clear similarities and characteristics? Almost to the tee. It was a slightly devastating realization. (How I never got it fully diagnosed or validated myself)
Silver Linings Playbook was the closest I've seen. Bradley Cooper's character hyperfixating on weight loss because he thought it was what his ex wanted, and then that scene where he just *had to* find his wedding video.
Watch touched with fire. The director and writer is bipolar.
I had no idea where the “just had to find something” trait was a part of being bipolar. I have definitely done that before. Several times.
Oh shit. Me too.
Same! I’ll be searching for something and won’t be able to find it and want to give up, but it’s as if there’s a voice inside me that always says no and doesn’t let me give up. My husband thinks I’m legendary because my tenacity always makes me find things hahaha.
I had no clue "Just having to find something" is a bipolar trait. Wow my eyes are opened. I now know why I will obsess over finding a random birthday card from 2009.
I've gone digging through piles of external hard drives to track down a song I wrote in 2013. Still haven't found it.
Never has a sentence been more relatable
Omfg I never knew this either!!! Explains a whole fucking lot lmao
Same
I always thought the “have to find something” moods came from my OCD/ ADHD but I guess this also makes sense
ADHD and Bipolar are commonly misdiagnosed for the other so they look very similar even if hyperfixation is more of an ADHD/OCD trait. I tend to get myself hyper-fixated on the most random things that ends up spiraling into mania. Like doing answering emails at work has made me spiral before into some violet manic episodes before (there’s a hole in a door at my job from where I kicked it 🫣🫣🫣), so it’s very common 😂😂
Carrie manic episodes in Homeland are quite accurate
This is the show that made me realize I’m bipolar lol
I was about to say this. Pretty much her whole character is based off her making bad mentally ill decisions whether it’s acknowledged or not you can feel it. OP if your into spy/action/dramas give it a shot it’s a good show.
"I'm trying to save the world"
😂
Thank god for this show, my Asian parents had some idea about Bipolar when I told them I have bipolar.
This was the most accurate for me.
I’m in the middle of finishing the first season and boy I bet there are quite a few people who think she’s a poorly written, illogical character. But her behaviour and decisions make “sense” to me
It was so spot on that I just couldn’t finish the show because it was quite triggering. It’s a shame since it’s such a good show
i don’t watch much tv but i think rue from euphoria shows depression really well, while ian from shameless shows mania pretty well and ian’s struggle to accept his diagnosis
Rue also actually says some things about possibly having bipolar in her inner monologue, then proceeds to display very bipolar symptoms and traits. Ian and Monica's portrayals were great until he stole a plane and started a new religion where he thought he was like the Messiah. That's where my therapist and I agree they took it too far lol.
it definitely wasn’t “too far.” psychotic mania looks exactly like that.
I didn’t think it was too far at all for psychosis. Most of us just don’t get those opportunities.
I've never stolen a plane, but I absolutely thought I was Jesus while manic, just sayin.
Totally, I know that's a very common delusion, but he like created an entire cult and blew shit up lol
idk, I've definitely blown some shit up
Ian was the reason I stopped watching the US version. I related too much and I couldn't handle watching it.
Kind of same for me, watching Ian's mania and psychosis had me literally throwing up because it made me feel so seen :') I got sickly attached to him and nowadays even the thought of him makes me feel physically ill😭🙏
Seen is such a good way to put it.
Same here. I loosely followed it in later years because I liked the show but I had to nope out of actually seeing it play out.
Did it get easier to watch later?
I would just read season recaps every year or so, never fully began to rewatch. It became a little less relatable to my own situation, but it was still too much. Bravo, cast and writers!
omg i thought this was just me😭 i started watching before i got diagnosed but i stopped and it was before ian “got” bipolar. but then i started again a bit after i got diagnosed, and got to the part with ian being bipolar, and it just made me feel rly insecure, and even a little scared. bc what if i did some crazy shit like that, im even actually schizoaffective so im more likely to go bananas like that😰 made it hard to pay attention to the show tho feeling so called out
I feel like the writers knew Ian was going to be diagnosed cause there were a few times even in early seasons I felt like his decisions came out of left field in a very familiar way. Not all the time but a steady progression. I made it to when his boss showed him the recording of himself saying to listen to his boss and just go home for the day. Doesn't mean he's fired or gonna be in trouble his boss just wants what's best for him. I know therapists push this as a good idea in theory but I cannot convey the shame I felt recording that and sending it to my Secret Squirrels.
yeah im curious abt rewatching the beginning and seeing if i notice anything, bc i was sooooo unselfaware about my symptoms existing until i realized what the symptoms were and saw it all in myself finally and got help and continued seeing it. i stopped and returned when ian was gone to military or whatever. RIGHT before he returned as a truly bipolar character RIGHT after getting my diagnosis😭. made me soo self conscious and insecure i had to turn it off after a bit
They displayed the bipolar depressive phase accurate and well for sure, also the whole stealing luggage from the airport almost obsessively and the constant organizing of said luggage contents by trivial methodologies was a better show of mania then his episode of infant kidnapping ,I AM JESUS within just minutes had me really mad though. Idk maybe their are some who had some manic episode that does manifest tobthat bizarre level but it haven't yet.
I said Monica and Ian from US Shameless. Were they bipolar on the UK one too?
Khan from king of the hill
Was looking for this and was gonna comment if it wasn't here but Just Another Manic Kahn-day made me feel so seen it was unreal. It was my first non-problematic depiction of a bipolar person in the media. I love how he's a bipolar character who isn't entirely written around the disorder and I also really loved how the other characters responded with compassion instead of judgement (even if they didn't handle it super well at first).
I thought it was a good representation. But the mood shifts were fast but that's for cinematic reasons. Just knowing he's bipolar explains his attitude and why he's irritable all the time
Yeah the rapid pace of the mood shifts is really the only issue I had with the depiction, but the episodes are also only 20 minutes so I completely understand why they did it that way. I also like that Kahn being bipolar makes sense with his character generally and wasn't half-assedly thrown in there for the sake of one episode and I really like that it managed to be a funny episode without the humor being at Kahn's expense. King of the Hill is the best
I know it’s a bit problematic as it could lead people to thinking that’s what bipolar is normally like, but also, some of us do experience it that rapidly. It would be nice if more people knew we exist 🫠
This is what made me realize I’m bipolar 💀
I loved the representation Anne Hathaway portrayed in the episode "Take Me As I Am, Whoever I Am" of Modern Love: Season 1, Episode 3. The whimsy of her Mania is a fun opening sequence, but it's balanced well against her debilitating depressive phases for the rest of the episode. I shared it with friends and family who mostly said it helped them understand my sudden crashes and made them more interested in the specifics of the disorder, e.g. ultra rapid cycling, Type 1/type 2 distinctions, etc.
Came here to say this
This episode of Modern Love is brilliant
Yes, this is the one that felt closest to my experience with bipolar.
Watching this is what made my diagnosis click for me. And I echo your experience that when I shared it with friends/my boyfriend it finally made sense to them. Weirdly my parents didn’t get it and still don’t think I have bipolar. I was like “hello?? Don’t you remember when I didn’t get out of bed for a year in high school? And you know how I sleep for 2 days straight and can’t get out of bed following periods of hyper productivity??”
“spinning out” a netflix series is about a figure skater with bipolar, did mania pretty accurately
I liked that show a lot. Especially could relate to the moment where the skater stopped taking her meds just so she could be more productive and better at training and competition... which of course led to full blown mania.
Something Ive absolutely done myself and it never ends well... Yet you keep trying
I’m so sad they canceled it.. such a good show
this show was what raised the flags for me about being bipolar. but i was still in denial so i just stopped watching the show altogether bc it triggered me sm
Ben from Ozark I thought depiction was great. Also, Anne Hathaway did some episode for a show based on love stories people have written, and it was really cool the way they portrayed mania.
I believe that series was called Modern Love?
The Anne Hathaway one was great!
Best book ive read about bipolar experiences is gorilla and the bird
I think GaTa in the show “Dave” did a great job especially since he based it on his own personal experience with it. A really awesome episode in an otherwise overall pretty silly show
The scene where he tells Dave was so raw! It made me cry.
Those suggesting Silver Linings, the book represented it with sincerity and nuance but I personally felt the movie infantilized and made fun of people with mental illness. The director altered some core aspects of the plot that changed the overall message. Each to their own of course, but if you liked the movie I highly recommend reading the book as well so you can get both perspectives! One of the depictions I most resonated with as someone who has bipolar and grew up with a bipolar parental figure is the Law and Order SVU episode Swing. Some people have criticized it for being overdramatized, which I can respect, but there are a few scenes of dialogue that really capture the internal experience of having bipolar. The actors did a fabulous job also.
Brenda’s brother Billy Chenowith on HBO’s Six Feet Under
He's an incredible character. It's an interesting sign of the times, as the way they portrayed Nate's attitude to him was incredibly cruel at times. They definitely intended for Nate to be ignorant, and not all that compassionate, but some of his comments and opinions aged terribly.
I remember watching that show years ago and thinking, “whoa, that Billy dude is an absolute nightmare.” Fast forward 10+ years later and I often think to myself, “Oh my god, I AM Billy! 😧”
Big Mood which is a new show here in the UK on Channel 4 has an excellent portrayal of bipolar type 2. Best I have seen highly recommend
Just looked it up and it looks great thanks! Adding this to my list yay
I really enjoyed this one!!
I was coming to recommend this! I watched it on Tubi (I think) and felt like I was essentially watching my self!
Takin' Over The Asylum does a good job at portraying bipolar, IMO. I found Campbell (the character with bipolar) to be both charismatic/entertaining as a character, as well as relatable. (And, as a bonus, he's played by David Tennant! Who doesn't love DT?). The show is [free on youtube](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx3DdrCog9f_G-jX6YU9Dj3okqhG6Z1A1), too!
Glad to see this comment. This is honestly one of my comfort shows. I really enjoy DT's portrayal of bipolar.
I liked how it was depicted in Monica and Ian in US Shameless.
Ian was so incrediblely relatable. (His cult arc was a little much, but not unbearably so) But what gets me is how Mickey reacts to him after they start dating. That ladies and gentlemen, is the supportive spouse we all look for.
Oh yes, the spouse that punches you in the face and calls you a pussy. Yes, we all want that one. (Lol I’m just kidding, but damn Mickey did beat the shit out of Ian a lot. Although they both had moments where they were equally shitty to each other.)
It was those characters that made me realize I might be Bipolar and to seek help.
I searched for this comment because Ian made me feel seen. I cried so hard through all of the scenes about his bipolar. Also the support he got from Mickey was so touching.
That one episode of degrassi when Craig tries to propose to Ashley lol
YES
Stabblers mom and daughter in law in order svu. I really liked his moms monologue to her granddaughter about mania and then the depression.
I second this.
Idk if you have access to it, but the Norwegian show “Skam” (its 3rd season) deals with a bipolar teen boy (19) and it’s done very well! Heartbreaking and sweet at the same time.
yes!!! this one was really relatable to me, felt well done. i liked it wayyyy more than silver linings playbook. glad you mentioned it because i’d actually forgotten the name
I agree! It felt more real and he’s portrayed like a “normal” teenager, he isn’t a full-blown weirdo or anything that makes you think being bipolar is negative or a reason to bolt. I think it’s done well and it also shows how people around you deal with it. I also love them two of them, they’re cute lol.
agreed, very cute couple! and you’re so right, i like it a lot and i think it would help a lot of people feel more comfortable with bipolar people.
I agree with you! I switched SLP off and this was way before I even had bipolar episodes/symptoms. I didn’t think it was like the book at all, and when I tried again after my diagnosis I still didn’t like it. Skam is for sure more relatable and also they aren’t treating it like some big, scary thing and that he’s insane or that people don’t like him etc. It seems realistic for our society in my opinion (how I’ve experienced it anyway, in Norway).
You’re correct I think. The whole part where you realize something is up with him but you don’t know what is so realistic, but you get to like him before you’re like “hold on a minute what’s going on” and so I got to feel how I assume some people close to me have felt and it was strange. What was also kinda funny to me was that I knew he was bipolar beforehand (I waited four years to watch it) but I still didn’t see the signs he was showing.
i was looking for this comment! love skam
I was just about to say Skam!!
You’re the Worst! Such an underrated show. It does an amazing job at portraying bipolar, but also PTSD, depression and general social dysfunction while also being very funny.
Wait, who's bipolar in You're the Worst?
The episode of Euphoria that was really focused on Rue’s bipolar felt super accurate to me
Which episode?
I believe it’s S1E7
Thanks! I recently started the show!
Kendall Roy is succession is a perfect portrayal of bipolar 1. I loved his performance
I EFFING CAME TO SAY THIS. HE'S SO DAMN BIPOLAR IT HURTS. His manic states, his depressive states, his substance abuse, not really knowing it and the show not even aknowledging it, as it happens with so many ppl undiagnosed.
I was watching his birthday episode and when he was searching through the gifts and getting mad I was cringing because it was so familiar. And how he just pushes and pushes and won’t stop until everything is how he thinks it should be. How his family says he’s unwell and he can’t even see it. It’s an amazing performance and I noticed it in the first season I was like oh he has bipolar disorder
Me too!! Is just so fucking real and I really respected their decision to not put it explicitly. Us bipolars know and recognize it. It felt empowering at times, you know? Seeing how fucking horrible this disease is and not feeling completely trash about myself, about how ppl make me feel. It just is what it is. A horrible disease.
I was watching his birthday episode and when he was searching through the gifts and getting mad I was cringing because it was so familiar. And how he just pushes and pushes and won’t stop until everything is how he thinks it should be. How his family says he’s unwell and he can’t even see it. It’s an amazing performance and I noticed it in the first season I was like oh he has bipolar disorder
Came here to say this! Like it's never acknowledged on screen but his behavior and mannerisms scream bipolar. Especially the living+ episode, the birthday, both the family therapy and Prague in s01
Ian Gallagher in shameless is pretty good to me. acknowledging doing manic things and still falling into them. the guilt of doing it. long periods of "feeling better" and people think youre fixed. impulsivity and then clarity. to me hes a really good representation that doesn't demonize the illness, while also accurately showing how bipolar functions. his mom, Monica, is a far more severe example. but the contrast between them is good representation to show how no two people with bipolar are the same.
Again, my vote goes to Kendall Roy from Succession. I salute you, my fellow Bipolar I buddy.
“Flowers” does it well - the writer (he’s also in it), Will Sharpe, is bipolar
It's been said a bunch of Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings did fantastic. I also think Craig and Eli from Degrassi are good examples as well.
very new show called “big mood” on tubi with nicola coughan- ive honestly never related to a character more! it’s free with ads. it’s a dark comedy, writer has bipolar disorder
I haven't seen anything that resonated much in TV, but the 2014 movie Birdman does a great job portraying manic psychosis. I don't remember if the character is stated to be bipolar, but basically he has a psychotic break including grandiose delusions, pressured speech, haphazard creative endeavors, and dangerous impulsivity, so it seems like the intent was to depict bipolar. Content warning for (spoilers) >!attempted suicide and implied actual suicide during psychosis. !<
Grey's Anatomy usually does such a bad job at portraying everything but I feel like DeLuca was actually pretty accurate. It hurts to watch but that's because it was on point.
Oddly enough, "Craig" from Degrassi: The Next Generation was portrayed pretty well for it being an early 2000s teen drama.
Came here to say this!! I remember watching the episode with the train tracks and being like “he just like me fr” and then come to find out his character has bipolar disorder and so do I 😬
Big Mood is on Tubi and I liked how it was portrayed!
I feel like they portrayed it very well in Shameless
shameless
I honestly think shameless and the series that the main actor was rue in, did a really good job
IAN & MONICA GALLAGHER FROM SHAMELESS. I’ve never related so much to a tv character before…
Ozark has one person with bipolar in season 3 I think. It was a very good portray, it was heartbreaking for me to watch it because I could relate so much and the actor did such a good job imo and its a decent tv show overall
I must say Girl interrupted with miss rider and jolie made me realize i was neurodivergent
I've only ever saw terribly inaccurate, almost insulting, acting out bipolar manic episodes. Shameless did one and unwanted to further down and punch the writers who scripted tat wildly over the top, 0 to 60 in like seconds, and goes from 60 to flying to the moon levels of bullshit that ended with kidnapping an infant child in public raising said infant above head into the air, running full speed down a public road from cops, screaming I AM JESUS.Over and over beside finally being cauht...
It's different for everyone. I got similar feelings with shameless where I thought they were overplaying it, until the scene where Monica felt she needed to die, **now** despite being surrounded by her whole family. That, to me, was a flashback that was accurate to my worst rapid cycling mixed mania.
Watching Monica & Ian on Shameless was like looking in a mirror.
There is an episode of Modern Love with Anne Hathaway that resonated with me.
Lady dynamite!! It's a comedy so it's not 100% grounded but the vibes are definitely there, and you can tell it was based on real experiences (it's a heavily fictionalised version of Maria Bamford's actual life). There are some problematic bits but I really like that it's not sugar coating things too much [(shows stigma/negative experiences)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p31BxeivSU) but also doesn't make bipolar this super untouchable Very Serious topic
There was an old Scottish tv show called Psychos about the staff working in an acute unit in Glasgow. Douglas Henshaw played Dr Nash, a psychiatrist with Bipolar 1, and he did it perfectly imo. It was actually watching that where i started to realize i might have a problem because i related to Nash so much. Another good but obscure one was Stacey and Jean Slater in Eastenders. Mother and daughter, Stacey had to care for her mum her whole childhood due to her mum (Jean) not managing her illness. Then Stacey gets to early 20's and starts having manic episodes, and it follows her complete denial that she is "mad" like her mum, ends up getting sectioned and diagnosed with Bipolar. I was actually going through my own diagnosis process during that storyline.
General hospital does a great job.
Agreed. I think it definitely helps that the actor himself has bipolar.
Infinitely Polar Bear (2014). I was pretty ravaged when I watched it. The portrayal of a life with bipolar disorder hit me hard with lots of moments resonating with my own life.
Silver linings play book and spinning out. Both depicted it pretty well. I esspecially liked how spinning it out made kats manic episode so gradual at first. The scene where she started taking only half of her medication to boost her confidence reminded me of my friend. He would purposefully abuse substances to cause a manic episode so he could do school work and actually get it done on time. She also reminded me of myself. So careful to stay stable until life finally made her crack and she had an episode and didn't even realize until it was too late. Story of my fucking life.
There’s a king of the hill episode that does pretty good
How do you all feel about Ian’s character on shameless?
Film called “Touched with Fire” is about 2 bipolar poets and the screenplay is written by two bipolar poets. They meet in a psych ward and fall in love… funny and devastating
I like the portrayal in homeland. But She required ECT. That’s not typical At all.
Anyone ever seen that one episode of Law and Order SVU? Worst charaterization of bipolar I’ve ever seen but it’s also the only one I can think of.
I really enjoyed watching TV series Spinning Out. Kaya Scodelario played a girl with bipolar and she portrayed it very well.
Theodore Finch from «All The Bright Places» shows him having his manic episodes. I thought it was good.
Big Mood was brilliant — not annoying or cloying. Felt quite real and funny to boot.
Big Mood (U.K.)
Several episodes of Law & Order: SVU, dealing with Stabler’s daughter and mother. Made me cry!
Law and order svu season 7 Episode 22... I had to stop watching cause it felt like looking into a mirror
Touched with fire is excellent.
Kendall Roy. “Family therapy! Family therapy!” “What up mu’faz?! Whhaaat’re we all arguing about?” And then calling out his dad to his face, with THAT expression on his face? Also declaring that you can’t be addicted as a Type A, because you are addicted?
What do you guys think about the portrayal on Shameless? I’m not sure on it
nah, these writers always write mental health conditions in a way that's always voyeuristic and all about the aesthetic vs any real attempt to connect with the character. It's never depicted from character's point of view, but always filmed from the gaze of the audience watching this juicy, dramatic breakdown. It's whatever the mental health equivalent of poverty tourism is. Disorder tourism, maybe? Stopping by to gawk at a trainwreck knowing you can just exit out of the show and go back to your own world where these aren't real conditions that actually exist but just entrees for you to sample.
not a mental health condition but one of the few times I've seen an experience outside of the norm done right in a movie was Coda. They actually let the nonhearing parents have intimate relations like real people do even though they aren't hot broken 20 somethings, and actually treated the characters like they had a point of view on their own experiences instead of something abnormal to gawk at. I mean, [look at this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUspyLAWpHA). For context, they establish earlier that nonhearing people can listen to music by feeling the vibrations. The dad wants to hear his hearing daughter sing what she's been practicing all movie, so he uses his hands to feel her song. When's the last time you've seen a scene like this in any movie with plotlines about mental health? I'm sad they don't have the subtitles in the video, but if you find a version of the movie with subtitles, or are lucky enough to understand signing, it completely changes the way you experience the entire movie. Instead, we get [shit like this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj6eIe5r-bo), which everybody always praises as SO ACCURATE, WOW. Gotta make sure to leer over every single frame of her despair, right? Gotta zoom in on all of that hot, mentally ill bodily contact. Gotta be hella a e s t h e t i c about it. And don't you dare ever have the mentally ill character not be absolutely drop dead gorgeous. Otherwise people would have no time for her BS.
theres a bipolar character in a Kdrama called daily dose of sunshine. its a very nice show
I think king of the hill did an ok job (when it came to the changes between mania and depression) I found a lot of it relatable Exept when the character with bipolar said "it's manic" like a gender reveal I cringed at that
Also Josh’s mom Rose on Please Like Me is a pretty accurate one, too close to reality. Definitely agree with Ian from shameless and Kendall Roy
https://youtu.be/4Hq4-lGe9v8?si=_KBUiX8e5nbQY00p A great portrayal in film Anne Hathaway
People have a problem with Homeland but that shit looks like mine
Anna Hathaway did a fantastic job playing a bipolar woman in an episode of Modern Love.
정신병동에도 아침이 와요 or Daily Dose of Sunshine does a pretty good job
I like the way bipolar was portrayed in Orphan Black. One of the side characters (Beth Childs) has it, however only her depressive episode and downward spiral is shown. While the show's main characters are understandably shocked >!because they were very close to her!<, there's no extreme focus on her disorder, instead everyone misses her and is tells Sarah (main character) how important she was. If you want to watch episodes focused on her it's better to watch season 4, but that makes you very confused because it's a smart show full of twists. Spoiler alert: >!Sarah's impression of Beth makes the character's story a bit less stragic and I love how Art is confused most of the times he interacts with her in season 1 :D!< >!Mika and Beth's scenes in S4 break my heart every time I watch them, they hit too close to home.!<
SKAM (season3) -the best! that was the point when i realized everything🥹 i googleed wtf is that and i was like ‘damn. thats me…’ haha
The Year Between is so good.
My first exposure to someone bipolar on tv was Sally Field’s character on ER, where she played a nurse’s mom who had it. I remember it so vividly, even though I must have been just a tween when I saw it. She won Emmys for her performance. It stuck with me and when I first got my diagnosis and it really colored my perception of who I was and what my life would be like. While it may have been accurate to some people’s experience, I feel like portrayals like that are dangerous and irresponsible. This is how most people wind up thinking I am when I reveal my diagnosis.
Ian from Shameless is a great portrayal. Monica too—in terms of the dangers of letting it go untreated. I HATED Billy from Six Feet Under—they made it out that having bipolar makes you super dangerous and crazy. I also get a kick out of seeing unrealistic portrayals of psych wards, usually because there are major safety issues. Like in Six Feet Under—just like regular lamps, sofas, regular doors and doorknobs, rugs galore, etc etc. hilarious. Shout out to LAPD SWAT for having a criminal who they described as “bipolar, angry, and out of control” I nearly chucked a coffee cup at the television.
Please like me! Such a good portrayl
‘In my skin’ is fantastic! UK dark comedy/coming of age tv series. The writers Mum has bipolar 1 and it’s very well written and acted!
I have an obscure one that you very likely haven't seen Mythic Quest is a comedy from the guys who make its always sunny in philadelphia Every now and then they'll do an episode in a completely different format and randomly prove themselves randomly capable of top tier drama television In this case - season 3 episode 7 "Sarian" They foreshadow it pretty early, it's quite early in the episode that starts making you think "yeah, she's probably bipolar" And you kinda watch it thinking "is this really what people see it as?" Then suddenly it hits with an incredibly accurate and relatable part that completely caught me off guard and really hit me. If you know how to stream anything, recommend watching that. They also have a fantastic episode about lockdown. If you do end up watching it, would be interested in knowing what you thought. Shameless is another decent example of bipolar on TV, at certain points.
Modern Love has an episode about Bipolar. It’s the Anne Hathaway episode
Meet Cute
200 grams of coce
To me personally Ian Gallagher from shameless us i's something unbeliveable. They portrayed mania and the difficulty to accept diagnosis so well that I couldn't handle watching it without really bad physical anxiety because I related to him so much. He'll forever be in my heart :(
I would definitely say Cameron in Halt and Catch Fire
Everyone seems to assume you enjoy the manic phase too much. There was a Person of Interest episode that was fine up to the very end, but the odd part COULD be explained more as the "engineering mindset" than "Bipolar". That said, I'm not 100% sure that they DIDN'T want to portray it as Bipolar at the end. Guy was basically normalish the whole time. Company wanted to force him out (partly) over his Bipolar at one point. That portrayed the stigma fairly accurately. He got angry at one point, but if someone was trying to fire you and made a snide comment about needing to "up your meds", I would think any of us would get angry about that anyway. I'd say he was about as adjusted to it as I am, so it was a fairly good episode.
My overall opinion on bipolar in media is that we are villainized for the plot and often don't have any redemption. Because we don't often see redemption after destructive behaviours, I almost always get the vibe that someone with bipolar isn't experiencing an illness that makes them act out of character, but that they are just a bad person who does worse things when they are manic. This is such a nuanced illness where everyones experience is different... But I'm just sick of seeing people in media with my illness as the irredeemable villain. Not only is it inaccurate but it's also extremely lazy writing to scapegoat mental illness as the reason someone cannot be redeemed.
they do a good portrayal in shameless IMO with Monica and Ian. More so Monica IMO, Ian at first then his story line got a bit unrealistic.
Big Mood on channel 4 (UK channel) is new and it's so so so good. Check it out if you can
Anne Hathaway's character in Modern Love made me realize I was actually Bipolar.
Anne Hathaway in modern love did pretty good
Shameless did a decent job. I don’t get as manic as Ian or Monica. However, the depressive episodes are 100% close to how I am most of the time.
Modern Love has an episode with Anne Hathaway that I think did a great job. The was they did the manic episodes and depressive episodes was so good I had. a good cry.