Fox News host Tom Sullivan really stepped in it Jan. 28 on his radio show. While he stopped short of calling a guest “crazy,” he just may deserve the title himself.
“I think bipolar is like the latest fad. Everybody and their brother is getting diagnosed with bipolar. And last time I checked, we all have good days and we all have bad. And I don’t consider that an illness and I don’t consider that a disability.”
Give Sullivan an earful on his Facebook page.
Our illness transcends good days and bad days. The bad days are beyond horrible. How would Mr. Sullivan like to wake up in the morning feeling like a ton of bricks were pushing down over his body? How would he like to cry hysterically for no reason at all? For months on end. How would he like to experience extreme paranoia and be afraid to go outside?
In the interview, Sullivan speaks with a 30-year-old caller who has been diagnosed bipolar since age 17. “I know that I personally would not be alive today without medication and without therapy because I would’ve killed myself,” the caller said. It’s amazing that she is able to keep her cool.
The audio from the radio show is accompanied by a stock photo of a woman in a pink bathrobe lying down watching TV on her couch. There are different degrees of bipolar disorder. For some, it is a very low-functioning disease that requires a little help from the government via disability. Others are high-functioning people who are doctors, lawyers, teachers, and more. With medication and therapy, they can be highly effective contributors to society.
Just look at Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D. She is bipolar, a professor of psychology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and the author of six books, including the best-selling An Unquiet Mind, which is like the manual for those diagnosed bipolar.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, more than 10 million Americans struggle with bipolar disorder. That’s more than the entire population of New York City. The NAMI website states:
This mental illness causes unusual and dramatic shifts in mood, energy, and the ability to think clearly. Cycles of high (manic) and low (depressive) moods may follow an irregular pattern that differs from the typical ups and downs experienced by most people. The symptoms of bipolar disorder can have a negative impact on a person’s life. Damaged relationships or a decline in job or school performance are potential effects, but positive outcomes are possible.
Sullivan continues:
What were these people called twenty-five years ago, before they came up with this bipolar diagnosis? I think it’s something made up by the mental health business just to be able to give people prescriptions and keep them coming in and paying them money.
There was a diagnosis twenty-five years ago. It was called manic depression. That official diagnosis dates back to 1902. The ancient Greeks even used the terms melancholia and mania to describe the mental illness.
Sullivan goes on to say that bipolar disorder is a disease cooked up by the “psychology business” in order for Big Pharma and licensed psychiatrists to profit. “I don’t know why we have to create these new illnesses and create all these medicines for something that really wasn’t a problem in the first place,” Sullivan continues.
It’s uninformed bozos like Sullivan who don’t deserve a soapbox to peddle their hateful, xenophobic views.
Here’s the audio clip of the exchange between Sullivan and the caller.
How do Sullivan’s comments make you feel?
