This blog combined with your willingness can be a help to you. Let us begin with some common symptoms of Bipolar Disorder (which is the updated label for manic depression since they actually go hand in hand). It's the combination of two extreme emotions (that's what the word 'bi' in Bipolar comes in since 'bi' means two). On the upside emotion, they are infatuated with their own ideas and try to act out their fantasies in reality. This usually leads to financial problems as well as other problems. When things don't go their way, they blame shift it on others and other circumstances but it's never their fault according to them. Their fantasies write checks that reality can never cash in the end.
On the downside, they can be extremely irritable and possibly violent but they can usually be all bark and no bite in most cases. They usually have (in both states of emotion) a perfectionist attitude and can be very competitive and bossy. They can cry uncontrollably and turn around and be extremely excited the next. There are a lot more examples to be mentioned but I will now focus on the Biblical source of this label by examining a couple of characters in the Bible who would be diagnosed with this in our modern day.
King Saul
If you read about the life of King Saul in 1 Samuel, you will find that he would go from one extreme to the other in his emotions. He would get so angry that he would try to kill David but then turn around and be nice to him. I think King Saul was spoiled and centered his life around 'stuff' rather than substance. As in 1 Samuel 10:22 in the time when King Saul was first presented to the people (although it was not God's will for them to have a king in verse 19) he was nowhere to be found because in verse 22, "....he hath hid himself among the stuff."
In my own experience with talking to people labeled Bipolar, I find they have the same situation as King Saul. Some of them come from backgrounds where they inherited money and were spoiled. They later have a situation where they are rejected (such as King Saul was later rejected and David was anointed king and tried to prevent him taking the throne). They substitute that rejection with rebellion and they substitute their disappointment with 'stuff.' It's important to examine the person and find what I call the 'idol of the heart' that is hindering the will of God for their life.
As the Scripture reveals, Saul was very rebellious and stubborn which Samuel pointed out to him in 1 Samuel 15:23. This was also caused by Saul wanting to be EVERYTHING to EVERYBODY. He interfered in the priestly office which was forbidden of him as a king. People with bipolar tend to want to be the shepherd as well as the sheep and they go into denial once they realize they can't be both. Another king in the Bible had this same problem and he winded up with a bizarre behavior in which he ate grass like an ox and no longer took care of himself. His name was Nebuchadnezzar and you will find this story in Daniel 4.
Near the end of that chapter you will find how his sanity was restored which is the main solution to people that fall into this category. Now we will examine another person who would have the Bipolar label today but from a different perspective.
King David
There's an interesting occasion in David's life on how he avoided danger when nothing else was available to him. In 1 Samuel 21:13, David "changed his behavior before them, and feigned (or pretended) himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down his beard." If you read the context, he saved his own life by doing this because they sent him away from a king who would have put him to death. This is the case of what I call the 'camoufladger' where people willing act bizarre to be catered to or get what they want. You will be amazed at how many people who are labeled with a 'mental illness' actually that by their own choice.
When we were babies, we knew how to manipulate our environment by crying. It's already in our nature to use behavior to manipulate. As we grow older, we get more advanced in how we get catered to. We move from crying to other behavior patterns under the disguise of mental illness. But there is also another case in the life of David that must be addressed. Later on in 2 Samuel 12:5, he had already committed adultery with Bathsheba and got her pregnant. He also set up the murder of her husband so he could quickly marry her before she started showing.
The Lord then sent a prophet Nathan to let him know that he didn't get by with it. Before he let David know he was referring to him in the story he gave in 2 Samuel 12:1-4, David (in verse 5) was extremely angry and toward the man Nathan told about who killed another man's lamb. Now, understand that the penalty for killing another man's sheep in Old Testament law was not punishable by death. They just restored the lamb fourfold but David wanted to also kill the man. In other words, people who are overly angry and overly judgmental toward others usually do that because they want to hide something awful they are guilty of.
I call this 'covering up your log with other people's splinters.' Most people who stay in the downside emotion of Bipolar Disorder are usually hiding a deep, dark secret underneath that will always affect their conscience until they confront it. I always tell the person who fits this category that what you try to cover, God will uncover. But what you uncover, God will cover (read Proverbs 28:13)! It's important to also note that the 'secret' underneath is not always something that they did sinful. Maybe something sinful happened to them (such as rape, molestation, etc.) but they feel ashamed to open up about it.
The result will be constant dependence on medications, alcohol, or illegal drugs which will only relieve the symptoms for a little while. The source is never dealt with and they will always attempt to FEEL good without BEING good. There's more that can be said but I will close with a couple of verses of Scripture to meditate upon.
-Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:16)
-If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9)
