WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Just what we need: Another cop show that turns mental illness into entertainment.
A&E is producing a pilot about a tough — and beautiful — Los Angeles police detective, Maggie Bird, who suffers from bipolar disorder and is reassigned to a desk job when her bosses learn of her illness. The detective's dilemma is this: "Her illness makes her brilliant as a detective but makes her personal life hell," A&E senior vice president of drama programming Tana Nugent Jamieson said. "So she is teetering on and off her medications."
Well, this should be interesting. I don't want to judge the show, "The Quickening," before seeing it.
A&E has a solid, respectable record of bringing mental illness into our living rooms with programs such as "Intervention," about addicts struggling to get clean and sober, and "Obsessed," about the struggles of those living with severe anxiety disorders.
So how will A&E handle bipolar disorder? From what little we know about the program, it sounds as if the detective will be forced to choose between her medication and her career. She waffles, going on and off her meds. This often happens in the real world, and I applaud A&E for showing viewers the byproduct of this devastating behavior.
But it would be wrong to feed the misperception that mood stabilizers dampen our creativity and work flow. This is not true — when doctors responsibly prescribe these medications and patients take responsibility for their mental health.
I know. I take a mood stabilizer for my bipolar. I was worried about how it would affect my writing and energy.
The best way for me to describe it is like this: My thoughts come one at a time now. I am able to think them through before acting on them. My mind does not race. I can focus for long periods of time. If you tell me a phone number today I can (usually) remember it. My energy is not frightening and people do not raise their eyebrows and step back when I walk into a room.
But even if I deluded myself into thinking I had to choose between my career and my medications, it would be selfish to give into my mania and stop taking my mood stabilizer. I am painfully aware of the havoc I can wreak on my life and those around me when I am not on my medication. I also know there is more than one mood stabilizer and more than one doctor prescribing them.
It is my responsibility to contact my doctor if my medication is not working. And it is my responsibility to find a new doctor if my doctor does nothing more than write me a prescription every three months during a 15-minute office visit.
I am worth it and so is that detective.
Christine Stapleton writes for The Palm Beach Post. E-mail: christine(underscore)stapleton(at)pbpost.com. To read previous columns, go to PalmBeachPost.com/depression