[HPforGrownups] Could Sirius have been bipolar?

[ReturnOfTheMutt at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 110747

In a message dated 8/20/2004 12:24:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
susiequsie23 at sbcglobal.net writes:


> The 
> depressive phases, which again, are not hour by hour or day by day, 
> but lengthy phases, we're more familiar with--typically true 
> clinical depression, I believe.
> 

This depends completely on the person and sometimes on their age.  Fetching 
abnormal psychology textbook... yay, I still have it!  It says there are two 
major types:

Bipolar I, in which the person has at least I full manic episode.  They may 
not have depression, but they might.  And there's Bipolar II where there's at 
least one episode of major depression followed by at least one hypomanic 
episode (mild mania)

There's also rapid cycling, in which the person experiences at least 2 full 
cycles of mania and depression w/in a year.  It can be a lot more than that.  A 
lot of the time in kids (who usually get diagnosed as learning disable, adhd, 
or having oppositional defiant disorder) it cycles several times a day or 
week.  The reason I'm bringing all of this up is that people associate bipolar 
with a dramatic mood change over a long period of time.  It's not always like 
that.  The more you cycle the worse it is because there's an in between time 
where you're manic as hell and you want to do something and make a difference, 
but you're also depressed.  Some types of antidepressants increase this, and 
you're much more likely to commit suicide during these periods.  Or behave 
recklessly in a self destructive way.

This stupid text book is out of date, because there's also something called 
early onset bipolar, which starts in early childhood.  There are book on it.  
There are support groups for the parents who feel like they're trapped in hell. 
 I get the feeling that this might have been what Sirius had also.  He almost 
killed Severus, undoubtedly got punished for it, but it doesn't seem to have 
affected his behavior toward Severus at all.  Punishment doesn't usually 
affect these kids.  You can take away privileges, yell at them, or try rewarding 
them for behaving, and it doesn't change anything.  You can beat them and 
they'll still throw tantrums.  

Rereading this, I see another way that that fits in with Sirius.  He left his 
parents and went to live with James.  All we know is that he left because 
they were mudblood haters.  They might have hated him just as much, because he 
was a little tyrant who tried to force his tolerant views on them.  James's 
parents wouldn't have seen this in him because a) they wouldn't set him off by 
ranting out mudbloods, and b) bipolar people are utter angels around non-family 
members.  They're usually charismatic, and I might be biased here, but they 
seem pretty bright to me.  Often they're creative or talented and other people 
love them.  They're not the kids throwing tantrums in the grocery store.  They 
wait until they get home.

Harry was locked in the cupboard and whatnot, with the intention of breaking 
his spirit.  I get the feeling that if the wizard world had never been shown 
to him, it would have worked.  With a bipolar person, all that would have done 
was make them more spirited.  Harry behaved, and pretended to be broken by 
what they did to him; a bipolar person  wouldn't have.  If you're not bipolar and 
you don't know somebody who is, you might think it's crazy that they'd 
continue to misbehave despite a sure consequence, but they do.  Punishment isn't a 
deterrent.  (Not sure how much this fits into adult onset though, but if he is 
bipolar, I wouldn't be surprised if Sirius had it as a kid.)

I really don't think he's bipolar though.  And diagnosing fictional 
characters with mental disease is one of my hobbies (I think Brian Kinny from QAF is 
bipolar, but that's another subject).  If he's depressed at the time, he would 
have stayed put.  People who are going through the depressive stage have a very 
'screw it' attitude, that can block out everything else, even a godson's 
needs.  If he was manic he wouldn't have seemed so depressed.  Plus, he had reason 
to be depressed.  He was locked up in that stupid house with that stupid elf 
and that stupid picture.  That can do it for somebody who's emotionally 
sensitive (and yes, he *is*.  He *needs* attention.  He *needs* validation from 
others).  Bipolar people don't need a reason to be depressed.  They just get 
depressed. Prior to that, he did seem manic, but that could just be the way he's 
set.  I'm BP and I seem hypomanic when I'm normal, and when I'm depressed I seem 
just like everybody else.

Mary, who is amused that her spell check tries to change Kinny to kinky.


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