Genius is one of the positive traits on the bipolar spectrum. These are the words of Tiffany A. Greenwood, a scholar published in the American Journal of managed care. She further goes on to explain that bipolar sits between madness and genius. This is not a new phenomenon really. Aristotle once said ‘No great genius has ever existed without a strain of madness’. In other words it takes a certain level of lunacy for one to be great at what they do. Think Leonardo Da Vinci and Michael Angelo. These were two great artists and engineers who lived centuries before our time. Their methods were both unconventional and ludicrous, yet they achieved such great genius inventions. The two artists also had something else in common. They were both believed to have extreme mood swings. Today we call those extreme mood swings bipolar mood swings disorder. It is classified as a mental disorder, hence it is a kind of mental illness.
Beyond the extreme mood disorder, Bipolar is also characterised by sharp cognitive components. The American journal of managed care has called these traits positive aspects of bipolar. It is because they work for good for the patients. According to the association, artists are 10 x more bipolar than the general population. It also states that people who have relatives with bipolar mood disorder have higher IQs than the average person. How could they not really? Remember that bipolar mood swings disorder is often characterised by racing thoughts, fast speech decreased need for sleep and conceptual over inclusiveness.
I breezed through university. I was a very bright students at elementary and high school. This was despite the fact that I was also insomniac. I often tossed and turned the whole night and only slept for a few hours, only to wake up and go to write a test which I would pass with flying colours. I went on to even get coveted prizes and scholarships due to my sharp brains. Not surprisingly, when I was hospitalised for bipolar mood disorder in 2017, I found myself in the same care centre with highly qualified professionals. From university professors to authors and artists, the centre would easily pass for the CIA control station. Alas, we were all there and not at our desk jobs. This is the big irony of bipolar.
Most people living with bipolar mood swings mental disorder are so bright that they even don’t get to use all those brains. They are full of ideas. In fact they are so full of ideas that they often get a new idea before fully implementing the one that they have started. And then the depression sets in! Then nothing gets done. Take me for instance. I have authored quite a few books, I have started another, I am reading three books right now and I have not yet finished crocheting the doll, which I intend to sell. I have started and abandoned a few blogs and I am studying social media management, despite the fact that I am also a qualified lawyer, with no job. So what have my bright brains given me? A wall full of awards and accolades and a bank account full of nothing.
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