Media Distortions Of Bipolar Disorder

I've noted on this site in the past how the media regularly screws up reporting on mental health issues--everything from the prevalence of bipolar disorder to what meds fall into which class of treatments. Here are two examples.

In the first, a doctor writes in his advice column that bipolar disorder affects "between 3 percent and 8 percent of the population." Last year, NIMH upped its prevalence number to 2.6 percent from 1 percent--and 2.6 percent seems about right if you understand that most of that number is comprised of bipolar 2, cyclothmia, etc. Then again, I have seen actual researchers in actual published papers claim that bipolar disorder affects up to 11 percent of the American public. I think such grandiose claims are without foundation and are based on sloppy community surveys.

And, then, my good pals at the Associated Press have had an article out the last couple of days concerning a solider in Iraq who reportedly was diagnosed with homicidal tendencies, given some Seroquel and sent back into battle. Allegedly, he then went and murdered some Iraqi civilians. Disgusting...both the alleged act and sending him back into action. The AP commits an error of its own in describing Seroquel as a "mood regulator." Apparently, the AP is buying the hype that Seroquel is now a mood stabilizer, not that it has been approved for maintenance of bipolar disorder. I have long complained about the AP's many mistakes in its mental health coverage primarily because the AP isn't supposed to make mistakes of fact and because its wire stories show up in hundreds of papers around the country and the world. I guess the rigor they apply to political reporting doesn't apply to health reporting.

But such flawed nonsense is rampant is the blogosphere as well. "People with bipolar disorder are constantly on a roller coast ride between severe depression and mania" and "As mystery writers, we might tend to think of characters with bipolar disorder as our villains. When they are on the manic end of their cycle, these people are more likely to behave impulsively and commit arson, theft, take drugs, or engage in reckless driving. Most patients with bipolar disorder have little capacity for insight into themselves and what motivates them, and so they are frequently a pain in the ass to deal with."

The above is from a writers blog entitled Working Stiffs. Perhaps someone might wish to email the poster and let them know just how wildly off-base they are. Unless of course they plan to write mysteries with African-American characters as villains due to their over-representation in the criminal justice system. I'd write them myself but I think I might to prove to be a pain in the ass. For real.