On Bipolar I and Schizophrenia

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Here's a Japanese video of a young woman developing Bipolar I Disorder:

http://www.smilenavigator.jp/soukyoku/a ... ie_01.html

She starts getting very talkative at work, loud, and hyper. Her colleagues are worried by this strange change in behavior, wondering if she was always like that. At home, she'd go home and get on her laptop, and then she would think of ideas for stories and she would think that she got the perfect idea multiple times, talking loud to herself and singing; her parents notice and think she is acting strange. The story mentions that she stops sleeping mostly and at work she feels like she's doing everything perfect but instead she's screwing up and gets called out by her boss. She goes into a rage, walks out the door, and quits. She then starts buying all sorts of clothes and make-up and going out all night in gaudy outfits.

Then a number of weeks later, she is depressed, can barely get out of bed. The massive debt and quitting her job sink in and she feels very bad about herself and cannot even get up from the bed. Her parents take her to the doctor who diagnoses her with Bipolar I Disorder and gives medication. A year later, she has stabilized and is back working a job again, and she's thankful to the doctor for her intervention.

http://www.smilenavigator.jp/tougou/abo ... ie_01.html

This is about a girl who just started senior high school (equivalent to 10th grade in the USA). She starts to get fixated on the television in an unusual fashion. This goes on for a while, until one day, she's pissed! She yells that every channel she turns to they're sharing her secrets with the world! Her dopamine shoots up. She says she can neither allow nor forgive the revelation of her secrets on television. Apparently, this goes on for months whenever she comes home from school and her parents are very concerned that she keeps having these anger outbursts because she thinks the television is broadcasting her secrets.

She starts raising hell at the local TV stations, which probably got security called on her. Her parents try to reassure her that nothing of the sort is happening, but she's furious at their denial and goes into a violent outburst, hitting her parents. Her dopamine is flowing!

Finally, her parents take her to a doctor who diagnoses her with tougou-shicchou-shou (schizophrenia). Her parents tell her the name of her illness and she is very ashamed and sad to have such a diagnosis, but her parents try to cheer her up. She starts taking the medication and calming down, bringing the dopamine down to a normal level. She's become pretty laid back, but feels much better than when she was yelling about the television. She takes maintenance medication and starts to think about her future. (Apparently, she's not in senior high school, anymore. In Japan, attendance of senior high school is not compulsory.)

http://www.smilenavigator.jp/tougou/abo ... ie_03.html

At age 17, this girl starts hearing voices and is diagnosed with schizophrenia. Her dopamine is flowing. She takes the medication, but her emotional expression is off. Though she's no longer agitated, her emotions start to go flat, and she stops talking with her family. She then stops taking the medication on her own. She has no motivation, no spark, no initiative, and her hygiene has been greatly impacted. She's lost interest in the things that used to interest her. She ends up spending most of her time in her trashed room, stinking up the place, and barely moving at all. She has periods where she stops moving. Her dopamine level is very low. She is now 19.

She thinks just taking a bath is too much work, so she doesn't do it, but her mother insists and drags her out. The dragging and the pulling, the resistance seems to raise her dopamine a little, as though she finds it stimulating to resist her mother like that. Some helpers come and get her back on the medication. She will now come out of her room from time to time to watch her favorite anime. The helper suggests that she style herself after her favorite character and the girl showers. She starts to leave her house to run errands and finally smiles a little.