Bipolar or Tripolar?

Bipolar Disorder: Also known as manic depressive disorder, a psychosis characterized by alternating periods of mania and melancholia, or mental depression.

A few weeks back a friend of mine who is bipolar experienced some visual hallucinations and checked himself into the psych ward of a local hospital. I drove down to visit him one afternoon which is something that I wasn't all fired up to do. I'm not motivated to do anything that doesn't directly benefit me in the short term. But you people have taught me to behave as if I give a shit about someone who isn't me, because it's the right thing to do. We're all about doing the next right thing in this program.

A locked psych ward is an interesting place. Someone has to come out and unlock the door to let you in, obviously, because the whole place is locked, being as it's a psych ward. After they let you in, they lock the door again which means now you're locked in, too. Then they usher you into a visiting room, which has to be unlocked, and after you enter they lock you in there. I was really locked in. I was not getting out of there without some serious help.

My buddy was fine. He has an illness which can be controlled with medication and he's aware when things go awry. I asked him about his floor mates. "Lot of attempted suicides," he said. He thought for a minute, then mentioned a man and a woman that I know in A.A. who suffer from a more severe form of bipolar disorder. "People like Dick and Jane, when they're not on their meds," he explained.

I'm never thrilled to see Dick and Jane at meetings. Sometimes they're fine but sometimes they're all over the board. Their thinking isn't clear, or it's uncomfortably weird. Dick and Jane aren't scary or violent; they just dance out on the fringes of normal behavior from time to time.


"I'll tell you something else," my friend said. "I've had people from The Program in here constantly, and I don't think anyone else on the floor has had even one visitor. I didn't think that sounded fair.


I ran into Dick at a meeting recently. I walked by my friends and talked to him. It wasn't an interesting conversation. I don't enjoy my time with Dick. But it felt important to make the effort. I'm going to assume that when I was new and oozing all kinds of toxins that everyone was totally thrilled when I cornered them after a meeting.

I'm going to assume that.