Direct line to becoming a Nazi? No. Does it help create the perfect mental conditions to be susceptible to conspiracy theories, racist tirades, xenophobia and every other ism? Yes. Will that happen to everyone who goes untreated? No. My dad has Bipolar I, currently undiagnosed because he would refuse mental treatment every single time it was brought up. He was originally a pretty easygoing, kind hearted man, but as his swings between mania and depression continued & got worse (alcohol didn’t help) he became more prone to anger, irritability, he would sleep for 1-2 hrs a night when manic, and genuinely began to believe in himself as some sort of genius artist and that the entire world had a personal vendetta against him and his attempts at success. He would rant for hours and would have to be talked down from ideas of assaulting people. His manic episodes would last months until his body couldn’t handle it anymore and then he’d be depressed, drink more, more prone to anger than even in mania, paranoid, and even more convinced the world and everyone in it was personally conspiring against him (this is the big one that leads to conspiracies and then antisemetism and racism) and that he’d fail everything he’d ever done and how none of it was even good or worth anything. The longer these swings lasted, the further he fell into the conspiracy hole. He legitimately made himself a duct taped phone case with a layer of aluminum foil in it so that “they” couldn’t track him. He wouldnt tell me who “they” were. He tried to tell me his family was in the freemasons and if I was ever in trouble ‘they’ could “fix things” for me. This is about where I cut contact with him, but my brother was younger and he still had visitation rights. He only got worse, and became sexist, transphobic, homophobic, racist, xenophobic, angry, and even more of a conspiracy theorist. He ended up abusing the fuck out of me and my brother, the latter who ended up in the psych ward because of him, and my dad harassed the nurses and social workers on the phone so badly they stopped taking his calls and told my mom he could only speak to my brother if my brother consented, which is not really a protocol they put in place for parents with custody rights, but he’s genuinely insane.
Supposedly now he’s sober, but he’s funneled the manic energy into God now, which really only scares me more. Bipolar disorder can straight up destroy a person, it’s really unfortunate. The worst part is that the affected person HAS to be willing to take part in their treatment, or it won’t work. Which is why you see so many people out there who refuse to acknowledge there is any sort of problem with their behavior or refuse to get treated for their issues, because they’ve disconnected from reality to the point where they believe that the issues are not theirs but everyone elses’, or that they’re afraid to lose the energy they relied on during manic phases.
velvetufo t1_iynuxtn wrote
Reply to comment by cheesefondue in TIL that long term Bipolar disorder may damage the brain lead to changes to executive function by phage83
Direct line to becoming a Nazi? No. Does it help create the perfect mental conditions to be susceptible to conspiracy theories, racist tirades, xenophobia and every other ism? Yes. Will that happen to everyone who goes untreated? No. My dad has Bipolar I, currently undiagnosed because he would refuse mental treatment every single time it was brought up. He was originally a pretty easygoing, kind hearted man, but as his swings between mania and depression continued & got worse (alcohol didn’t help) he became more prone to anger, irritability, he would sleep for 1-2 hrs a night when manic, and genuinely began to believe in himself as some sort of genius artist and that the entire world had a personal vendetta against him and his attempts at success. He would rant for hours and would have to be talked down from ideas of assaulting people. His manic episodes would last months until his body couldn’t handle it anymore and then he’d be depressed, drink more, more prone to anger than even in mania, paranoid, and even more convinced the world and everyone in it was personally conspiring against him (this is the big one that leads to conspiracies and then antisemetism and racism) and that he’d fail everything he’d ever done and how none of it was even good or worth anything. The longer these swings lasted, the further he fell into the conspiracy hole. He legitimately made himself a duct taped phone case with a layer of aluminum foil in it so that “they” couldn’t track him. He wouldnt tell me who “they” were. He tried to tell me his family was in the freemasons and if I was ever in trouble ‘they’ could “fix things” for me. This is about where I cut contact with him, but my brother was younger and he still had visitation rights. He only got worse, and became sexist, transphobic, homophobic, racist, xenophobic, angry, and even more of a conspiracy theorist. He ended up abusing the fuck out of me and my brother, the latter who ended up in the psych ward because of him, and my dad harassed the nurses and social workers on the phone so badly they stopped taking his calls and told my mom he could only speak to my brother if my brother consented, which is not really a protocol they put in place for parents with custody rights, but he’s genuinely insane. Supposedly now he’s sober, but he’s funneled the manic energy into God now, which really only scares me more. Bipolar disorder can straight up destroy a person, it’s really unfortunate. The worst part is that the affected person HAS to be willing to take part in their treatment, or it won’t work. Which is why you see so many people out there who refuse to acknowledge there is any sort of problem with their behavior or refuse to get treated for their issues, because they’ve disconnected from reality to the point where they believe that the issues are not theirs but everyone elses’, or that they’re afraid to lose the energy they relied on during manic phases.