When watching Stephen Fry with BBC (2006) in The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, I personally found myself challenging the emerging information, much like the narrator of the documentary. There are differences between the detection and treatment of bipolar disorder in the United States versus Great Britain. Overall, the United States utilizes a system of early detection for multiple disorders, including bipolar. Great Britain however, acts under the assumption that a bipolar diagnosis should be avoided until adulthood, and I am inclined to agree (BBC, 2006). There are both biological and diagnostic considerations to consider when providing a bipolar diagnosis. Similar to personality disorders, behaviors such as impulsivity and aggression may be merely a part of development or potentially another disorder. …show more content…
The implications of an earlier diagnosis has been associated with negative life outcomes and increased suicide attempts (Inder, et al., 2008, p.124). Based on research indicating those factors, I can understand why early detection is important to someone with bipolar. However, my beliefs are concerned with the often over medicating of youth while they are still physically and cognitively developing. Perhaps an extreme example, but the Jensen family in the Stephen Fry documentary showed a plethora of pills to control every emotion and action of the young boys, Ian and Todd (BBC, 2006). Even while highly medicated and in special behavioral schools, these two young men still display violent behavior and an inability to express their emotions clearly, suggesting that further psychological investigation could be