Rhetorical Analysis Of The Bipolar World

Truth of Bipolar Disorder Bipolar disorder (or manic depression) is often looked down on as something to fix or something that does not belong in a “normal” society. As Sascha DuBrul is an American writer who is diagnosed with manic depression and a co-founder of The Icarus Project, which actively works to unite those with BPD and create a better understanding to the public. In his narrative “The Bipolar World”, he explains it is a concept that is widely misunderstood by others who do not share the same experiences which ultimately isolates people with bipolar disorder even more. Throughout his piece, he successfully explains that people must work together as a whole to develop a better understanding of BPD and how to connect with people

He shares his story to the audience by taking them on the journey with him from when he “juggling a dozen projects” (DuBrul 10) at once to his current state of stability and desire to make a change. For example, his sentences are long and full of information. In paragraph three Dubrul writes, “I seem to have a new idea every couple of hours and would lie in bed unable to sleep while the thoughts shot back and forth … like a pinball game…” (DuBrul 10). The lack of punctuation emphasizes the inability to control his thoughts and emotion, which is a symptom of manic depression. Expressing his excessive amount of ideas on a daily basis, allows the audience to learn what it is like to not be able to pace themselves and a first hand look into the mind of a person diagnosed with BPD. It establishes a sense of trust and reliability between the reader and author because they are taken a step closer toward understanding the mind of a person who is affected. Gaining the audience’s trust increases the probability of people agreeing with him when he says that they are misunderstood and there needs to be a better way to identify them in the “outside world” (DuBrul

In the beginning, he describes his hatred for drugs when he says, “But I wasn’t convinced, to say the least, that gulping down a handful of pills everyday would make me sane.” (DuBrul 11) It seems as if he is immediately dismissing the medicine’s true intentions and sticking with the claim that they would not help him; however, as the story progresses he explains, “... the fact that I’m sitting here writing this essay right now is proof that there drugs are helping me.” (DuBrul 14). A person who was extremely confident that the drugs will not help him has changed his mind in the end upon reflection. His transition from hating to accepting his medicine directly corresponds with his goal to show people, who see manic depression as some kind of disease, to reflect on what they actually know about it to increase the understanding of what BPD actually is. It is not something that needs to be fixed, but rather something brilliant that needs further analysis and comprehension. He tries to get the audience to see that like himself, they too can change their mind on something they were so sure