BIPOLAR DISORDER A documentary about Simon Barnard, and his affliction with bipolar disorder.

More on the DVD "Living with Bipolar Disorder"

"Living with Bipolar Disorder" is a documentary about a young film director, 26-year-old Simon Barnard, and his affliction with bipolar disorder.

It sets out to explain the fundamentals of a potentially life-threatening mental condition that most people know and understand very little about.

This short film offers an honest, intimate and often graphic documentary account of a young life interrupted by a condition affecting an estimated 1% of our population.

More on bipolar mood disorder

Bipolar mood disorder is one of a group of mood disorders that include manic episodes, depressed episodes, and mixed episodes. These are the most common of all mental disorders, mainly because of the prevalence (occurrence rate) of depression. Let’s clarify these terms:

• A mood disorder is characterised by disturbances in physical, emotional and behavioural patterns. These mood patterns can range from great elation and agitation to extreme depression with a serious potential for suicide.
• A manic episode is characterised by an abnormally good and elevated mood, or a very irritable mood. This is severe enough to interfere with a person being able to perform their normal activities of daily living, such as working, interacting with friends and family, sleeping and eating. The person in a manic episode may have very grand ideas of their own importance and power. They may jump loosely from topic to topic, all the while speaking very rapidly and sometimes incoherently. Their behaviour may seem very "speeded up" or agitated. In severe cases, the person may seem to have delusions, or see or hear things that those around them don't.
• A depressed episode is characterised by a depressed mood, with sad and empty feelings, bouts of crying, and thoughts of worthlessness or helplessness. Depressed persons lose interest in their activities of daily living, such as working and socialising. They may either lose or gain weight, sleep excessively or have difficulty sleeping, they may feel very tired and look “slowed down”, their thinking and concentration may be poor, and they may become preoccupied or even obsessed with thoughts of death and dying.
• In a mixed episode, symptoms of both depression and mania can be seen every day, and they alternate rapidly.

A few scenes from the DVD "Living With Bipolar Disorder"