Boy Interrupted

The other week in my mail I got my weekly subscription to People magazine and on the cover was a picture of Catherine Zeta Jones with the caption "Battling Bipolar Disease". I then went on Perez Hilton later in the evening to see that Demi Lovato had come out to say that her "anger" issues....were also a result of her battling this traumatizing illness. Of course, there was also Charlie Sheen and his "not bipolar-biwinning" statement and the struggles of the character Silver on the new 90210 with the disease. It was almost as if bipolar disease was everywhere, or was trendy even. It made me wonder if somehow being bipolar was the new "celebrity rehab", and if instead of ACTUALLY suffering from this illness, these celebrities were somehow trying to justify their actions and behaviors with a name. A very scary, and lifelong debilitating, one at that. Sure, putting a face to an illness is great for fundraising (see Christopher Reeve's and paralysis or Michael J Fox and Parkinson's Disease) and awareness, but does it lead to over diagnosis and a warped understanding of what the actual illness is (a la ADHD)?? Probably.

On a bit of a whim I went to a screening of the movie Boy Interrupted, followed by a Q and A with the filmmaker. The film centers around the filmmaker's son, his battle with bipolar disorder, and his ultimate demise by suicide. I have never before been so captivated and so moved by a movie (especially a documentary) in my life. Perhaps it was because his parents were documentary filmmakers by profession and they had meticulously chronicled the life of their child, but there truly are few "disease" movies where you garner a complete understanding of the illness (and its' impact on the family) after watching, and this was one of them. What struck me most about their story, beyond the sheer sadness and life altering impact being bipolar had on his short life and that of his friends and family, was how young Evan (their son) was when he began to have suicidal thoughts and questions. He asked his drama school if they could perform a play he wrote about a boy who dies just so he could see a funeral play out, he often asked his teachers about suicide, and, he even told his mother he was going to hang himself and proceeded to show her how (which, shockingly, she took photos of because no one, including the doctors, believed just how serious his case was). Having never known that kids (we are talking like 6 or 7 year old kids) could be this serious about their emotions and death, these stories and images utterly shocked me. 

His treatment course was unusual and perhaps it was because little was known about the illness, especially in children. He was placed on Prozac at a young age, which, later on, the mother acknowledges that she regretted. Then, after he climbed the roof of his elementary school and threatened to jump, he was placed in a family treatment home and ultimately, placed on lithium, which helped Evan to regain his life. He was "normal" and happy for years, making friends, making films, and being a typical kid. The problem, however, was that when he was 15, he decided with his parents and his doctors to try to be weened off of the lithium. This was, ill-advised, to say the least, and he quickly went downhill. His mood swings were back, and his parents noticed. In fact, he was scheduled to go back to the doctor to likely be put on lithium again on a Monday, but his appointment came a few days to late. After meticulously typing out a note listing the pluses and minuses of being alive, he made the decision that life was not for him and jumped out of his window to his death. While it is true that many bipolar patients choose to stop their medication, or maybe they go off of it in college when they aren't under their parents' supervision and the health center does not compel them to take their medicine, in Evan's case, the doctors and his family supported this choice, and ultimately...he died as a result.

Listening to Evan's mother speak following the film, I had thought she would have been filled with regret, but she was not. I could see that she had made this documentary as a method of coping, and not, as much as you would think, as a way to educate others. Sure, that is what this documentary ultimately does for the viewer, but, in her responses it was clear that she mostly just wanted the film, and Evan, to speak for itself. Having already lost another family member to likely the same disorder (Evan's Uncle), this disease had more than come to define her life. While I did not see in her the pain that I saw in my family friend's mothers eyes after losing her son to suicide still years after his death, when asked a question about her other son, it was clear that she had not really moved on as much as I had thought.

She replied, "Tomorrow is his 15th birthday. That is a hard year for us to celebrate".

Perhaps these celebrities are really bipolar, but, if this documentary and her struggle has taught me anything,  it is that I would not wish this disease label on anyone.