Funny or Offensive?: Babies and Manic Depression
98% Of Babies Manic-Depressive
NEW YORK—A new study published in The Journal Of Pediatric Medicine found that a shocking 98 percent of all infants suffer from bipolar disorder. “The majority of our subjects, regardless of size, sex, or race, exhibited extreme mood swings, often crying one minute and then giggling playfully the next,” the study’s author Dr. Steven Gregory told reporters. “Additionally we found that most babies had trouble concentrating during the day, often struggled to sleep at night, and could not be counted on to take care of themselves—all classic symptoms of manic depression.” Gregory added that nearly 100 percent of infants appear to suffer from the poor motor skills and impaired speech associated with Parkinson’s disease.
From—where else?—the Onion.
liz | 12:34 PM | Funny or Offensive?
I find it somewhat humorous considering how too many doctors are quick to label anyone with mild mood swings as bipolar. If that is the case, then aren’t these babies bipolar too? Makes you wonder.
I dunno … stuff like this makes it “OK” to continue making fun of those with mental illness. So, I am going to go with offensive. Jokes about people with Alzheimer’s aren’t OK, so why is this?
I think it’s funny, but for me it was like crying at a racist joke or a “blonde” joke. Like I feel a little guilty for finding it funny because bipolar and Parkinson’s are real diseased that can destroy lives and familites.
Apparently I can’t spell today. And the word I meant was “laughing” and not “crying”…
Let’s try to look at the angle the joke was taking before reverting to our old “mental illness joke = offensive” ideas. Not all jokes about racial differences are racist, and not all jokes about bipolar disorder are derogatory or ignorant.
It sounds like the writers at The Onion are aware of the rampant overdiagnosis of this disorder. The joke isn’t aimed at bipolar people– it’s aimed at the way our society overpathologizes basic human behavior. (Admittedly, the Parkinson’s line was a little more risky, but it made me laugh.) Part of being mentally healthy is about possessing the ability to laugh at yourself, people!
I have come across enough eejits in my life who would take one look at this “article” and say that people with bipolar are babies. Maybe that is just my experience, though.
I think it’s funny as hell. I just wish people wouldn’t read these things to suggest that bipolar disorder is overdiagnosed in *every* age group. That might very well be the case with children & younger adolescents, but the whole idea that mental illnesses are generally overdiagnosed is patently ridiculous.
Certainly some people are misdiagnosed, but the reality is that just about every type of mental illnesses — esp. bipolar — is seriously underdiagnosed. Even statistical estimates of the percentages of the mentally ill in the U.S. factor in large numbers of undiagnosed, untreated victims.
I’ve just seen way too many relatives suffer needlessly from mood disorders (esp. bipolar). The modern stigma against mental illness isn’t reduced by constant references to the myth of overdiagnosis. Such claims, at least concerning adults, only feed into the common view of mental illness as a an attention-grabbing scam among the upper middle class.
This is probably just me, but i’ve been unable to locate the mentioned article on the Journal Of Pediatric Medicine’s website and it appears http://www.theonion.com doesn’t provide any citation that I can find. I’m interested in reading it but i cant seem to find it to save my life.
I’m not exactly ROTF but there’s a certain truth to the overdiagnosis. What’s weird is that it was underdiagnosed for years. I was labeled unipolar and given Paxil and Xanax by a GP. That was it. Needless to say, I was crazier than a shithouse rat and acted out financially, temperamentally, and of course sexually. I was in fact born bipolar because my parents were undiagnosed horror shows. I really believe the illness is inherited or at least set loose early by a trauma the specifics of which I won’t describe here.
I hear so much about bipolar now that I refer to it as the New Designer Disease. Bipolar tends link with alcoholism, though that’s certainly not always true. So I hear a lot of alcoholics talk about their bipolar disorder…but a lot of them have nothing to do with “regular” mental illnesses.
The Onion itself specializes in bad taste, which is why it’s funny. Two weeks after 9/11, they had a “roving reporter” interview where some guy said “If I don’t get my steak and fries in the next two minutes, the terrorists have won!” On a far less funny note during that same period, God gave a press conference in front of Ground Zero. “Look, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it until you hear me: No more killing in my name! What part of that don’t you understand? No more killing!” And God turns his back. His shoulders are trembling because he’s weeping.
Clearly satire on overzealous diagnosis and this wierd inherent human condition to find something wrong with us. The addition of Parkinsons is pretty risky but still well within the edgy side, not offensive shock.
Course the vapid “United States of Tara” (just renewed through 2010, yoo hoo!) is another matter…
Let me semi-correct my last comment. I did a bit more reading, & clearly there is a good deal of scientific debate over overdiagnsis vs. underdiagnosis. Personally, I just get sick to death of the assumption that because people talk more about bipolar, no one really has it. Obviously we shouldn’t go slapping the label on anyone with mood swings or anxiety. But I know too many people who have refused to seek help because they see bipolar & depression as “fad” diseases. Even if it’s the shrinks who do the overdiagnosing, there’s a very common belief that patients seek these kinds of diagnoses. I don’t know a whole lot of people who would willingly risk careers, friendships, family & public humiliation just to join a hipster medical trend.
We just don’t know enough about exactly how bipolar works to draw a sharp line as to overdiagnosis &/or underdiagnosis (both can happen at the same time, assuming the wrong people are being diagnosed & the right people aren’t). But I got a little carried away. Anyhow . . .
Funny. Bipolar runs in my family, so I know I’m not insensitive to it. And this made me chuckle.
Hahahahahahaha!!! hahaha ha ha
This made me laugh right in my cubicle. I’m diagnosed bipolar and I think it’s damn funny.
If I wasn’t able to find humor in this kind of thing, I think my life would be more miserable than it already is half the time.
Although I was charged with being a humorless bp on another blog, I thought this was very funny.
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