being bipolar channel 4

Tabilock · 06-03-2015, 04:54 PM

did anyone watch this?

I have just watched it on 4od and was really upset as they showed some incredibly worse case scenarios and all the people had such a large amount of support.

I actually wrote and comaplined to channel 4 as i didnt think it was a fair reflection at all.

Anyone have any thoughts?

not_so_insig · 06-03-2015, 05:28 PM

I havent seen the documentary in question, but unfortunately sensationalism sells - they are liable to use people at their worse. People being extremely high/low tends to bring more viewers than someone who is stable.

tiptoes · 06-03-2015, 05:48 PM

I watched it. It has received rather poorly on twitter and most of the blogs I have read.

I really hated the language the programmed used and the focus of the narrative.

I am sorry that it upset you. How are you doing?

Arienette · 06-03-2015, 09:07 PM

I watched it thinking it would be good but I thought it was a bit naff.

It didn't really explore "being bipolar" so much, and the whole 'trauma trauma trauma' narrative annoyed and frustrated me.

And the fact is, medication does help - why disregard that, or rather, try to.

I don't think the opportunity was used to it's advantage here to talk about bipolar on TV. x

sherlock holmes · 06-03-2015, 09:26 PM

I wont watch it. I've only heard bad things about it, and I think watching it will just upset me.

Sketchy · 06-03-2015, 09:26 PM

It felt like the narrator had some sort of agenda, and just wanted to be proven right, which can be a bad approach.
To be honest, I found the program frustrating and not fully informative and rather one sided.

Sketchy · 06-03-2015, 09:31 PM

I also thought it's portrayal of medication to be dangerous. Although I don't have bipolar, I sometimes feel I shouldn't take medication for numerous reasons (which then I get worse) and I really know I need it to function just now. Watching this could give the impression it's not needed and influence people to stop meds without help.

Charmed · 06-03-2015, 10:18 PM

The director of where I work was in this, it was also filmed in the building I work in... I never actually saw it though so couldn't comment on the quality.

Tabilock · 07-03-2015, 02:30 PM

I just didnt like the fact they only looked at worse case scenarios and think that programs like that contribute to causing a stigma around mental health issues. I wrote a complain and got a generic response basically saying how they researched and checked it was ethical to show these people

I didnt dispute that at all just pointed out they were very narrow minded

Fire Fly · 07-03-2015, 03:09 PM

I didn't think it was right to show the manic patient his footage. He was clearly unwell and vulnerable.

Epicene · 07-03-2015, 05:32 PM

I actually thought it made a change to have a presenter who was more psychologically rather than psychiatrically focused. But she did seem to make presumptions and I felt the language was very 'them and us'. I think if anything though, it showed how complex and diverse bipolar disorder can be and that's always useful when it comes to awareness raising.