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Catherine Zeta-Jones and Bi-Polar Disorder II

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Wed Apr 13, 2011 at 11:23:16 PM EST
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Catherine Zeta-Jones has Bi-Polar Disorder II. What does the II mean?

Bipolar II is less severe than bipolar I. The key difference is that patients with bipolar II do not have full-blown manic episodes. Rather, they cycle between milder, hypomanic episodes and episodes of major depression. Women are slightly more likely to have bipolar II than men.

...many bipolar adults — particularly those with bipolar II — are misdiagnosed with clinical depression. "People tend to seek treatment for depression, but not for mania because it feels good,"

[More...]

More from the BBC:

Bipolar II. Where you have more than one episode of severe depression, but only mild manic episodes (called ‘hypomania’).

The Douglas family certainly has had more than a fair share of misery the last few years, between Michael's cancer, moving from Bermuda to New York so their son who is dyslexic could attend a particular special needs school, son Cameron Douglas's much-publicized drug case and prison sentence and a financial crisis.

While there were also high spots, like Michael Douglas' announcement his tumor is gone, Catherine receiving a Commander of the British Empire award from Prince Charles, Catherine had some public meltdowns. It's too bad her seeking in patient treatment for Bi-Polar II couldn't remain a private matter. I suspect some tabloid was about to out her admission to the mental health facility (reportedly Silver Hill in Connecticut) and they made a decision to pre-empt it and announce it themselves.

Best of luck to the Douglas family. They are certainly due for some.

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    Catherine Zeta-Jones and Bi-Polar Disorder II | 24 comments (24 topical)

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    I have (5.00 / 2) (#5)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 06:04:18 AM EST
    a dear friend, my best friend, who has this. She's been fighting it for 30 years or more. It's hard to control even with medication. When she was first diagnosed with it the only thing they could do was basically make you a zombie with lithium. Mental health treatment has gotten better but the depressive episodes are still very hard to treat at least in her case.

    The meds (none / 0) (#9)
    by gyrfalcon on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 10:03:30 AM EST
    affect everyone differently, but I'd be surprised if the lithium made her zombie-like since as I understand it, the side effects for it are more along the lines of terrific jumpiness and irritability and the like.  But because lithium works so incredibly well on this disease when it does work, they'll often try giving patients on lithium yet another drug as well to try to control the side effects.  Just my guess is that it's that second med that made your friend feel zombie-like.

    But problem is that lithium only works in about half the patients.  If it doesn't work for someone, then there's a whole number of other things that work less well that they have to try.  It can seem an endless series of trying different drugs, different side effects, loss of effectiveness over time, and then often protective hospitalization to safely take the person off drug X and try drug Y when it's all out of the system.

    We had a family friend when I was a child who had classic, very extreme bipolar, with manic periods every few years in which he got completely, wildly, "call the police" out of control, followed by just appalling crashes.  When lithium came along, they put him on it and his condition was totally controlled by it for the rest of his life with no bothersome side effects.  I have a friend now who has been on lithium for several decades and I never had a clue she had any mental health issues at all until she told me about it.

    Parent

    Lithium (none / 0) (#17)
    by shoephone on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 08:19:47 PM EST
    I had a friend who suffered from what we then called "manic-depressive disorder." He had been on lithium for a few years, and yes, it controlled the manic episodes, but he hated that it numbed and dulled his emotions, He went off the lithium and tried a series of nutritional/natural substance remedies. They didn't work as well on controlling the mania, but he felt like he was alive. However, it did make his behavior more erratic. It's difficult to find a happy-medium-type therapy for a lot of sufferers. And, as most people know, alcohol and drug use makes it much worse.

    Parent
    That's (none / 0) (#19)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 09:02:55 PM EST
    pretty much my friend's experience. The lithium took away the mania but left the depression. She said she hated the lithium because it took away the good part (mania) and just left her with depression still to fight. She said she got so much done when she had the mania and then after lithium she didn't even have that.

    Parent
    That's a major problem (5.00 / 1) (#20)
    by gyrfalcon on Fri Apr 15, 2011 at 12:07:20 AM EST
    with this disease.  The hypomania, not so much the full-blown, which is wild and generally miserable, is so enjoyable and often so productive, especially for people in creative fields, that some folks are willing to trade and suffer the periodic depressions if they can keep the highs.  Can't say I blame people for wanting to make that choice.

    The two people I know who've had their conditions well controlled by lithium have done absolutely fine with it and not experienced at all feeling suppressed.  The one woman I know now who's been on it for decades still has a distinctly exuberant personality and approach to life.  It's a total mystery why it works so differently in different people.  Her only problem with it is that she can't eat tomatoes, which she adores, because tomatoes contain lithium and even a slight overdose can be disastrous.  Not a bad trade at all for her, though.

    Parent

    It's (none / 0) (#21)
    by Ga6thDem on Fri Apr 15, 2011 at 06:44:07 AM EST
    just like all other psychiatric medicines. Some will work on most but then there's those that don't work on others. In a "lab" they work but when put out there but when dealing with the different makeups of individuals it doesn't always play out the same.

    Parent
    My sister has been diagnosed with this form (5.00 / 3) (#6)
    by ruffian on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 09:00:39 AM EST
    of bi-polar disorder too. In her case she spent years self-medicating with alcohol before she was finally diagnosed and treated. I'm not sure which anti-depressant she is using - they change the mix every so often - but it has helped her a lot. The depressions were so bad she was frequently suicidal.

    Anyway at least C Z-J can get the best medical care. I hope she gets good help - I really enjoy her performances.

    It is a lot harder to deal with if you have no insurance and are on medicaid.  

    God forbid trying to do it with (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by Militarytracy on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 09:35:36 AM EST
    no insurance.  How horrible, can't imagine.  I have really only officially known a handful of people with any sort of bipolar disorder.  I worked with one person, but they were having a lot of success with their medication.  I would have never known if they had not shared with me that they had to deal with it.  Later though, a person that my husband worked with had a major manic episode.  He had reached out to us as a friend too, and then we witnessed him have a major manic phase.  Nobody likes to play armchair shrink though and this person is so happy and very charismatic even if you yourself would never do the things they are attempting to do.  I mean, who do we think we are?  So it was a very long time before he was officially diagnosed.  When he finally was, a major depressive phase had begun and he tried to take his life, lots of people fighting about what needed to be done and what could legally be done right before he did that.  He is permanently damaged too from his suicide attempt.  Everyone who knew him here has spent a lot of time trying to figure out what we could have done should have differently because there is a lot of guilt over what ended up happening.  I think everyone did the best they could.

    Parent
    Actually (none / 0) (#13)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 03:45:44 PM EST
    I don't know if "zombie" is what you think it means. When i said zombie I meant not drugged out zombie but it really messed up her emotions. The lithium did take the manic away but didn't really solve the depression problem much.

    Anyway, she's no longer on lithium because of the issues she had with it and is now on other meds. She still fights depression in the months of Jan and Feb but manages to do pretty well the rest of the year.

    Parent

    So she has a seasonal affective disorder (none / 0) (#14)
    by Militarytracy on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 04:52:37 PM EST
    on top of it....OY!

    Parent
    Apparently (4.50 / 2) (#16)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 06:46:38 PM EST
    and apparently I replied to the wrong post. Gak, what a day this has been!!

    this was supposed to be for gryfalcon above.

    Parent

    When I live farther North I (none / 0) (#15)
    by Militarytracy on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 04:55:20 PM EST
    am affected by winter too.  If I'm close to the Canadian border it used to get pretty bad after Christmas, but it is supposed to subside as you age too.  The farther North I go though, the more months I'm affected.  It's bizarre.  My doctor when I lived farther North said he thinks it goes back to when human beings followed the herds with the seasons.  I guess some of us didn't evolve :)

    Parent
    I have some seasonal affective disorder (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by shoephone on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 08:26:43 PM EST
    I have lived in the Northwest for 26 years, but being a Calif. native is in my blood. And believe me, every year, from November to April is hard! Fortunately, I'm a high functioning person, and generally happy, make sure to get out of the house and get excercise, see people, etc. And I swear that the UV lightbox I use on the darkest mornings helps considerably. Best $200 I ever spent. Paid for itself in the first year.

    Parent
    I have a box, it just doesn't get used now (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Apr 15, 2011 at 07:31:04 AM EST
    I used to have one of those portable head visors too.  It made my face look ghostly strange, and I would wear it while I was driving kids to school early in the morning.  But it was worth all the strange stares.  It made me feel much better, and I could get light exposure on a dark morning and take kids to school at the same time.

    I went cross country skiing one time in January though when the sunlight was really bouncing off the snow and was super bright, really changed my brain chemistry quickly.  I felt really good that evening.  I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night though and felt like something was wrong and my right arm was numb.  I went to get up to get a drink of water, I thought I had slept on my arm wrong.  As my feet hit the floor though I realized I couldn't feel my right foot too.  And then I realized the whole right side of my body felt numb.  It only lasted for a few seconds but I was terrified.  When I got to the emergency room they gave me a CAT scan with dye, and the doctor said I had the most fascinating migraine thing going on he had ever seen but I was okay.  I had no light box then, it was feast or famine but the presence of light does seem to have a huge affect on some of us.

    Parent

    Oh, dear (5.00 / 2) (#23)
    by Zorba on Fri Apr 15, 2011 at 08:06:45 AM EST
    That must have been scary!  And what you really don't want to hear from a doctor is "You have the the most fascinating (any kind of problem) going on that I've ever see."

    Parent
    Bipolar II (none / 0) (#1)
    by gyrfalcon on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 12:13:12 AM EST
    is only "less severe" in that the manic episodes aren't as wild.  The depression is just as bad.  I know a couple people who fit the term (never actually heard the "bipolar II" term before the Zeta-Jones story), who have occasional episodes of hypomania that slightly relieve an overall pattern of terrible, intractable depression and regular bouts of it so severe it's like dropping into a horrible black pit.

    The stories by non-medical reporters about Zeta-Jones understate the seriousness of the condition, IMO.


    I wonder if that's what my old (none / 0) (#2)
    by sj on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 01:13:44 AM EST
    boss suffered from.  I used to say he wasn't manic-depressive, he was depressive-more depressive.  With occasional bouts of joviality.

    It was a hard for us around him to deal with.  As he was also my friend, I felt such helpless compassion for him.  When he wasn't driving me crazy :\

    Parent

    How do they tell the difference (none / 0) (#3)
    by Militarytracy on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 04:19:45 AM EST
    between it and regular depression?

    Parent
    I think with regular depression (5.00 / 2) (#7)
    by ruffian on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 09:03:06 AM EST
    there is never a manic period, or even what we would call a 'normal' emotional state. All depression, all the time.

    Parent
    And please forgive me for making (none / 0) (#4)
    by Militarytracy on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 04:22:15 AM EST
    depression sound like fuel grades.  I suppose there isn't anything "regular" about depression.  How do they tell the difference though?

    Parent
    And there's even a Bipolar lll (none / 0) (#10)
    by Lacy on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 10:57:07 AM EST
    When I studied bipolar syndrome 20 years ago, Bipolar ll was generally used to describe the circumstance when antidepressant meds triggered a manic/hypomanic episode, whose symptoms were generally not extreme...(BUT, any bipolar individual is far more prone to suicide than someone with unipolar depression...7 times more likely by one large urban study.)

    Newly described Bipolar lll now refers to a fairly mild cycling constellation of symptoms.

    And do beware of the older male psychiatrist who may have a well concealed disdain for women (plus other mental problems of his own)...One of these scoundrels can torture patients to the point of suicide. It's actually easy: A hypomanic woman comes in crying over her life falling apart...He sees tears and gives antidepressants which drive the mania into orbit, the buffoon then gives anti-psychotics which actually do create depression, but Dr Narcissistic MD now won't give anti-depressants "since they didn't work" and tells patient she can expect a worthless life because she is "hopeless"...Patient shoots herself at his office. [RIP MMB 9/27/44-7/7/87]  

    I am very sorry for your loss (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by sj on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 11:15:07 AM EST
    What a tragedy.

    Parent
    HOWEVER (none / 0) (#24)
    by diogenes on Fri Apr 15, 2011 at 10:17:55 PM EST
    Whatever you may say the "older male psychiatrist" and his bedside manner, the evidence based practice is NOT to give antidepressants to a hypomanic patient because it can worsen cycling; in 1987 the proper treatment for mania was lithium (plus antipsychotics and/or benzodiazepines if the mania was bad enough).  People who are manic do cycle into depression when their manias are under control; that is the cyclic nature of the illness.  Actually, a really safe and sure treatment for severe bipolar depression is electroconvulsive therapy.

    Parent
    Bipolar II diagnosis (none / 0) (#12)
    by diogenes on Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 03:45:25 PM EST
    People who report a new diagnosis of Bipolar II Disorder usually have a history of mood swings.  The real diagnosis ranges from mood swings due to Bipolar II disorder to mood swings from a personality disorder to mood swings from alcohol/drug use to mood swings from a severe stress to a combination of the above.  People like to have the Bipolar II diagnosis because it is a lot less stigmatizing.
    As the hair dye commercial says, only her psychiatrist knows for sure...

    Catherine Zeta-Jones and Bi-Polar Disorder II | 24 comments (24 topical)

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