After viewing this video, discuss the case of Kathy and describe your understanding of how her case is different from other individuals with bipolar disorder. What would you do to help Kathy address these differences? Rapid Cycling Transcript (TXT) [Begin on-screen text] Case Study of Bipolar Depression Kathy: A Rapid Cycler [End on-screen text] >> Kathy: I know I’m running out of time. I know my cycle must be getting close, and I’m getting a little frightened. because I feel so very good. And it’s times when I feel this good that I have to cover my ass. Because when I get depressed, I get very suicidal and I forget about how well I feel. And I have to tell people, it’s like I make all my game plans when I’m well. I have to, I tell them what was going through my mind during my last depression. What I was going to do to kill myself. I try to cut off all my actions. I cut ’em off at the pass. [cars passing] [Begin on-screen text] Kathy Schweizer, St. Louis [End on-screen text] >> Kathy: When I feel really, really good, I could stay on my bike forever. [cars passing] >> Kathy: It makes me feel free and I don’t feel free very often. [cars passing] >> Kathy: It’s the only time that my mind is clear and I don’t think about the illness. I’m just me. I’m not mommy, I’m not wife, I’m just Kathy. [cars passing] >> Boy: Here it comes. [Girl shrieks] >> Girl: Let me try! Here I’ll try. Here Amy. >> Kathy: Please get your shorts on. [children chattering] Richie, get off the roof! [children chattering] You can’t be on the roof. No roof! >> Girl: Mackenzie you have her dolly? >> Kathy: How’s the baby? >> Girl: Mackenzie said that you were going to bring your dolly. >> Kathy: Sometimes, my pain is so great, I’m afraid I might do it. I might get so sick. I might accidentally kill myself and destroy the one thing I love, which are my children. That’s my girl. >> Girl: What’s your dolly’s name? >> Kathy: Who loves you? Kathy? No I’m Kathy. >> MALE VOICE: The mood disorders or the affective disorders, those are pretty much synonymous terms, occur in two flavors. One is called unipolar, or unipolar depressions, and these are people who only get depressed periodically. Then, there are other people, with another form of the disorder, called bipolar illnesses. And these people get both high at some times, and low at others. And that is say they get manic at some times, and depressed at others. One of the hookers is in the past, these people were called, frequently, manic depressive psychosis. As if all people who went one way and then the other way were crazy. But a very large fraction aren’t crazy at all. They’re moods just flip both ways. Woman: I feel so alone. >> Male Group Member: Well that’s the whole thing. That’s why it’s real good that you’re sitting here, isn’t it? I live by myself, and when I get depressed, I feel like there has never been a good day. There have been times where I have wanted to die. I mean, I have prayed to die. I have cursed God and asked him, please, take my life. But there was one little ray of hope. >> FEMALE VOICE: I mean, I can come up with a million reasons why I want to die sometimes, but none of them are good enough reasons to do it. But yet they’re good enough to me. And it just hurts so bad. And there’s been times when I’ve called Paul, and I’ve said, “My God, what am I doing? Why am I here?” >> Kathy: But see, you people, you don’t have that many episodes. I’ve had four times seven. I don’t even know what that comes to. >> Woman: 28 >> 28. 28 times, up and down. And okay, maybe I do get upset and I want to get out. Because I’m tired. But sometimes I just don’t see much hope. I see what– >> Mary Ellen Harris, R.N. (Kathy’s Nurse): Kathy is special because her cycles come so rapidly. I’ve had some patients I haven’t seen since the first time I’ve treated them. I have some that I see once a year. We have some that come in maybe twice a year, but they’re out in a few days, and that’s usually because they’ve refused to take medication. She does everything the doctor orders, and yet she’s still here. Three, four times a year. And each time that she’s come in, she has felt more despondent, more depressed, and more hopeless. And this time I was real, I was very worried about her. >> Kathy: Living in pure hell for the rest of your life, that’s what it reminds me of. Staying alive for your family because it’d kill ’em if you die. I stay in a living hell. For me, I cycle four times a year, four or five. Some depressions are little dips, some are big dips like this one and you end up in the hospital. They scare the hell out of me. I’m terrified I won’t ever come back from it. I love my family very much, and I can’t stop them. Rapid Cycling Video with Closed Captioning >> MALE VOICE: The characteristic discouragement and hopeless feeling that is associated with some depression, inevitably seems to lead patients to think that life isn’t worth living. They’d be better off dead. And they may actively think of taking some steps in those directions. And I think that there’s a spectrum of intensity of these feelings. Some patients will only have it in an intellectual idea. Well, I could always commit suicide. And in fact, one of the interesting things is that some patients will tell you what seems strange, knowing that they can kill themselves if things get bad enough, helps them, they say, tolerate the situation. >> Kathy: With medicine, and time, and hospitalization at time, yes I can pull myself up. I’m not so sure though if I want to do that anymore. Cause I’m going to go down again. And I don’t know if I have enough energy to go to the other side. [birds chirping] Kathy: Let’s go play bike tag. >> Girl: Liar! >> Kathy: Let’s play bike– hi darling. We’re going to play bike tag. Okay. Come on John, I’ll explain bike tag with you. >> Kathy: When I get really, really depressed, I don’t remember this. >> Mom! Can we watch? >> Kathy: You can sit out here and watch. >> No, can we can we, can we play by walking? >> Kathy: What? >> Kathy: When I’m really, really depressed I won’t remember how fun it was to ride my bike. Or how fun it is to go up with Sharon in the tree house. Or how much fun I have playing soccer with the kids. I don’t remember any of that. I just remember a lot of pain, and I want to get out. [family chatter] //END TRANSCRIPT//
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