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What is wrong with the joke below?
A medical professor had just finished a lecture on the subject of mental health and started to give an oral quiz to the first years. Speaking specifically about manic depression, the senior doctor asked, 'How would you diagnose a patient who walks back and forth screaming at the top of his lungs one minute, then sits in a chair weeping uncontrollably the next?'
A young man in the rear of the room raised his hand and answered, 'A Premiership football coach?'
It is just a joke but does it represent something a lot more sinister?
This joke sums up peoples ignorance of Bipolar and mental health in general! What they are talking about is utter shit! Ultradian cycling is the most severe form and has hours between cycles, in fact it is something that is so rare that many Psychiatrists don't believe it exists! Because of things like this people actually beleive anyone with Manic Depresion is like this!
The most common number of swings is 4 per year. Many people on medication have less or none! The same people who write shit like this that perpetuates ignorance in society probably believe all Schizophrenics have multiple personalities also. I have Bipolar and haven't had an episode in years!
It is just a joke but unfortunately many people actually believe these jokes to be based on fact. Suicide is the biggest killer of young men between 18-30 and peoples ignorance puts a stigma onto people that prevents them from looking for help. I am constantly shocked at how backward peoples opinions are and how quickly and negatively they judge.
Sorry for the rant but a friend of a friend ended their life recently so it made me want to do something.
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