Carrol Cox wrote: > > The impenetrable prose might be due to bipolar illness also. On occasion > when a bipolar friend (especially what is called a "rapid cycler") is > sinking (or rising) into the manic phrase their discourse becomes steadily > more disjointed and incoherent, though sometimes they can parenthetically > note that fact themselves. Yes. People in the upstage of mania often have a feeling of great [sometimes intellectual] power, grandeur and invincibility, sort of like A cocaine high. Having a conversation [well, listening] to an unmedicated bipolar intellectual in the upstage is quite an experience..often making unconventional associations and giving monologues for hours at end making it very difficult to discern an overall pattern. When in university,I once listened to a bipolar for 11 hours straight pontificating on everything from Plato to pornography. Althusser's writing does have some of this in it. Mania is very dangerous and can manifest itself in different ways. A woman I used to know had intercourse with 7 different men in one night. The most common symptom is partying and spending money, rarely violence.If you suspect someone is going through the upstage, immediately hide their bank book etc. Many bipolar's end up in the streets for this reason. Another friend got committed in Indonesia after spending every penny he had in a few days. Some spend tens of thousands of dollars in a week. The scariest thing is that when someone is going through mania they don't know it. You all of a sudden have this feeling of grandiosity and power. I got labelled a biopolar when I was in university after telling my doctor that I hadn't slept in about 5 days, was reading about a dozen books and writing 4 papers simultaneously. I've since rejected the title after finding out Idi Amin was a bipolar:-) Also, most of the drugs given to bipolar's result in substantial weight gain. Psychosis is different and much more complex. Paranoiacs are usually the ones who get violent towards others or themselves. Paranoia often comes from being isolated and being alone too much. Psychotics cannot differentiate reality from phantasy. Someone in psychosis might attack another with a knife on the belief that that person is the devil persecuting them etc. I don't think Althusser was that out of it. Sam Pawlett
