Thursday, January 31, 2008

Ooops, she did it again.

I just want to say that I called it over a year ago. Even before the "smacking a car window with an umbrella while sporting a shaved head" incident, I sensed that Britney Spears was bipolar. While I won't be crying on youtube to leave Britney alone, I probably have more sympathy for her than the regular Joe.

As much as people have delighted in seeing Britney self-destruct, (our society loves to bring down that which they brought up) I have been cringing and have had repressed memories of my young adulthood come to light. For those not in the know, many mental disorders have their onset and often hit their debilitating peak during young adulthood. Bipolarism is no exception; 20-24 was hell for me and I'm amazed I'm still here and I was never hospitalized.

If you take someone who is bipolar, who is an early 20-something and then throw in some sort of significant stressful situation- well, you'll have what we're witnessing in the tabloids. Fortunately for me, I wasn't followed by hordes of paparazzi to document the whole experience because I had similar factors at that period of my life. My parents went through a separation at the time, I was struggling in college and my behavior and mannerisms weren't pretty to say the least. (although, admittedly there was some fun amidst the madness)

There is a certain freedom to going off the edge. You have no sense of consequence and immediate gratification (however jumbled it appears to the outside world) is your only desire. I'm sure Britney's recent hospitalization won't be the last. However, the silver lining is that it's likely she'll learn to cope, find the right mix of meds and come to terms with her disorder like I have. Most of us manic-depressives do in today's modern medical world. So, I will look forward to seeing Britney tramping it up on the stage again in the future. Heck, with this life experience, she may even be profoundly slutty and poignantly whorish.

No comments: