We'll Hear Lots About Bipolar Disorder Soon

Andrea Yates, who drowned her children in a bath tub in Texas a few years ago, will go back on trial on March 20. Her previous murder conviction was thrown out last year based upon bogus testimony by an expert witness. It's never been clear how sane she was or wasn't at the time, but the suspicion was that she was schizophrenic. Last year, however, her mother and brother were on CNN and said Yates has bipolar disorder. It will inevitably come up at her trial. The Bill O'Reillys and Nancy Graces of the world will act shocked that she could claim insanity. Some boob will say bipolar disorder is just an excuse for going on criminal rampages. CNN will probably spend two minutes discussing the disorder in the simplest way possible. That will leave all the rest of us to be suspects just a little bit more each day. Or maybe not.

A few years ago, I tried to get my editor in Portland to let me write publicly about the disorder and my experience with it, since it kept popping up in the news. He refused, principally because I was the paper's city hall reporter and he feared that important sources like the Mayor and Chief of Police either wouldn't talk to me anymore or would make sure they had armed guards when they did. I understood his reluctance. It is a leap into the unknown discussing living with that which scares the hell out of most reasonable people.

Two years ago, in Seattle and at another paper, I began writing publicly about having bipolar disorder. It was very scary to do that. I figured my career was over and that people would avoid me on the street. The response was the exact opposite. Two weeks ago, I was at a press conference and the Chief of Police came over to talk to me. Last week, I interviewed Seattle's Deputy Mayor and he and I got tense with one another in the manner in which that sort of relationship should be. People talk to me on the streets all the time these days.

I don't know what demons drove Yates to kill her children or what punishment she merits--I cannot imagine a sane person doing such a thing--but I do know about demons. They can be beaten. Life goes on. You interview the Deputy Mayor and hang up the phone and file your damn story and pay your taxes and go home. I hope that kind of thing doesn't get lost in the next few weeks when the media starts stirring the pot over the Yates tragedy. There are many examples out there of how life plays out with bipolar disorder and they merit as much attention as the bad ones.