Bipolar Disorder

A once happy family was struck by a work related accident that leads to an unending life of misery. The father was a factory worker in a cement company. He was about to operate on a machine with a belt when a shout was heard. He saw a man in pain, crying for help. The man’s index, middle and ring fingers were cut and profusely bleeding.

Two days later, the man accused the father and demanded to pay the expenses incurred in relation to the accident. Not satisfied with the payment, a death threat followed. This prompted the father to stop working.

Unusual behavior

A month after the accident, unusual behavior was noticed by the wife. The father was extremely irritable. He yelled at people whom he thinks were doing bad. He assumed himself as the “chosen one” of the Lord. He sleeps less and talks more, was very active and easily distracted by bad news heard over the radio or written in the newspapers. He was a huge spender. Unable to withstand the problem, the wife seeks the help of the neighbors and the priest. The latter conducts exorcism but to no avail.

Missing

The father went missing until one concerned friend informed the family that the father was confined in a mental hospital. The family saw the father in a robot-like condition. The doctors treated the father with Haloperidol, a neuroleptic and a butyrophenone medicine use to treat delusions and hallucinations, and with Biperiden, which alleviates muscle rigidity, lessen abnormal sweating and salivation.

But why the robot-like condition? The doctors did not bother to elaborate as the family immediately checked out the father.

“Chosen One”

Months had passed, the family lived normally again. Happy with the development, a follow up checked up was far-fetched. After five years, the said sickness again appeared. This time, the father wants to heal the world, to help the needy, and to talk to the president. The father also wants to get justice for the death of his elder brother who was shot dead ten years ago without knowing the assailant. The police did not bother to investigate for reasons they only knew. Disrupted, the police who were threatened with the father’s impossible mission imprisoned him for malicious mischief. The father was bludgeoned with an m-16 because he was mistaken to be a spy. He was transferred to a mental hospital and there he was injected again. He suffered muscle rigidity and walked like a robot. After a week, the father was checked out.

The family wants a follow up checked-up but the father strongly resisted. He will never drink any medicine prescribed by a psychiatrist.

Effect

Coping with mental problems like this is no joke. One has to have the will to persevere no matter what the circumstances will be.

Today, the father is still in the state of mania. The father’s eldest son graduated in college with honors and his elementary daughter too. The dilemma did not affect his children’s performance in school but in general, the family suffered huge debt.

Is bipolar disorder hereditary? Or was the disorder the result of the trauma? This is the question the family wants to know.