Analysis Of Sascha Dubrul´s The Bipolar World

Bipolar disorder (or manic depression) is often seen as a problem that needs to be fixed or a mental illness that cannot fit in a “normal” society. This assumption creates a division between people who are “normal” and people who are diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BPD). Sascha DuBrul, an American writer who is diagnosed with manic depression, writes about his experiences with his isolation from the “real world” in the article “The Bipolar World”. Throughout his article, he explains that manic depression ultimately leads to the alienation of people who are bipolar because BPD is a concept that is widely misunderstood by people who are not diagnosed with BPD. he successfully explains that people must work together as a whole to develop a better …show more content…
He shares his story to the audience by taking them on the journey with him from when he “juggling a dozen projects” at once to his current state of stability and desire to make a change (10). For example, his sentences are long and full of information. Dubrul writes, “I seemed to have a new idea every couple of hours and would lie in bed unable to sleep while the thoughts shot back and forth around my head like a pinball game as I planned out the next 40 years of my life,” (10). This quotation serves as bridge for readers who do not have BPD to feel the inability to fully focus on one thing at a time that bipolar people do. Often times, people with manic depression have too many ideas at the same time to the point where it becomes extremely tiring and overwhelming. To simulate the “manic state” that people with BPD go through, he eliminates all the commas in his sentence to create a sense of struggle where his audience must comprehend many different ideas and read it fast enough to catch a breath at the same time. Therefore, the lack of punctuation helps DuBrul’s audience understand and physically feel the overwhelming thoughts that consume people with BPD each …show more content…
The author relied on others’, who are just like him, stories, books, and personal experience to understand the need of connection with others. Therefore, writing this narrative provides the outside world a little taste of a person with manic depression’s mind by portraying values, expressing his anger and frustration, and comparing his shifted skepticism to the ultimate goal of doing the same with the audience’s interpretation of those with BPD. Establishing his credibility helps him grab more readers’ to listen to his claim because he becomes trustworthy and it is more likely that people would listen to him. Indicating his exhaustion with the loneliness he feels allows the audience to pity him and be more motivated to reevaluate how they perceive manic depression. Comparing the sudden change of heart between him and medicine highlights his goal to change the readers’ perspective on BPD as a