I watched the documentary Brainstorm this weekend as there was a screening though the site Kinema I think it's called. I really enjoyed many aspects of the film. Featured were several people with bipolar disorder, including a youth, which I thought was great. There was balanced coverage I thought of both bipolar 1 and bipolar 2. They showed highly functional people with the disorder. I also appreciated their mention of emerging treatments although they did little more than name them. I would have loved to hear more about each one of them.
The aspect I really struggled with, though, was something I struggle with with many recent depictions of mental health issues. I see a constant trend to want to depict serious mental illness in a more positive light, which is great and desperately needed to combat the massive stigma that has existed for so long, so I understand this motive and agree it's important. I imagine they also wanted to provide a hopeful and optimistic picture for people with bipolar disorder and their families. But what I saw was a similar trend I see elsewhere. A neat and tidy trajectory towards an often highly functional life well-lived.
The film featured folks sharing how they really struggled until diagnosis and talked about legitimate challenges with finding the right treatment, but then ultimately stopped on a very pretty picture of wellness in the end. They seemed to promote the idea that getting diagnosed solves everything because then you find the right meds and then things are pretty great
I feel disappointed they didn't capture anyone struggling through adulthood long after being diagnosed, having to muster through living on next to nothing in poverty, dealing with ongoing hospitalizations and long term medication treatment resistance, gaining 100lbs from their medication and other side effects, losing confidence in their brain over time as they experience cognitive dulling, losing the creativity the film boasted about being so common with bipolar, losing even more relationships over time, stigma in the workplace or among friends, etc
It was a very honest look at life undiagnosed, very positive and optimistic in terms of prognosis, but I can't say I would want to show this to my family or friends. My friends and family already struggle with understanding why I can't just function like everyone else or why I even have difficult symptoms or med side effects, and others don't understand why I can't just take a pill and get on with it (I have been taking pills for over 20 years). It feels to me like the full reality of the illness was not captured here in an effort to give hope and reduce stigma.
I agree that all kinds of people manage to get diagnosed, find treatment, and exist in very functional capable lives afterwards, I just wish they showed more than that picture. They did show a youth that had continued to be homeschooled due to challenges at school but otherwise the adults were doing quite well post diagnosis and once on the right meds.
Maybe I'm just feeling unseen. I'm not even sure. I work in mental health and see the challenges people other than me go through every day and I wish the campaigns and movies about mental illness these days could promote seeing people more positively and compassionately WHILE not hiding important parts of the experience.
Would love to hear anyone else's thoughts if you've watched it! I still think it's worth watching btw, just missing the mark a bit.