Summary
Now I am certain that showing the public how bipolar disorder affects everyday life allows for a better understanding of bipolar. For people with bipolar disorder, emotional breakdowns aren’t a choice. Even simple daily activities can cause patients to experience tremendous emotional strain, psychological tension, and a loss of emotional control. These responses are pathological and uncontrollable.
Raising awareness can make a significant difference in changing the previous perceptions and discrimination surrounding bipolar disorder.
My thought
Before this intervention, people commonly attributed the behavior of individuals with bipolar disorder to a “lack of willpower” or “weak character,” believing that patients merely needed to change their mindset to recover. This view often conflates bipolar disorder with being “overly emotional.”
By presenting the emotions and dilemmas of bipolar disorder both verbally and visually, this intervention makes the abstract inner world tangible and visible. It visualizes emotions and feelings, providing the public with a more intuitive and emotional way of understanding the condition. Raising awareness, promoting accurate understanding, and reducing stereotypes are crucial steps toward creating a supportive environment.
Accurately describing the emotional changes, behavioral responses, and daily challenges faced by people with bipolar disorder can offer a clearer understanding of the condition. Through language, audiences can better grasp the mood swings experienced by patients, fostering empathy. When the symptoms of bipolar disorder are clearly articulated, viewers come to realize that patients are not ‘deliberately behaving badly’ but are grappling with physical
Feedback from tutor/group
Jasminka and my group members loved the idea that I used red and blue paper to represent bipolar disorder. It just so happens that the colours red and blue correspond well to the two emotional states of bipolar.
KZ gave me some useful suggestions:
Some people who do not realise that they have an emotional disorder may start out with one of the emotional states, for these people they do not realise that they have an emotional problem, they may just think that they have a lot of emotional ups and downs. Through this intervention, it can be better for people to examine their own mental states, or it can be said that it is like a TEST.
Meanwhile, my group member suggested that I could make the presentation more interesting by having the tutors put on red and blue glasses at the beginning of the presentation, so that they can start from the experience of two emotions respectively.
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