Bipolar Disorder: Homeland Movie
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Bipolar Disorder: Homeland Movie
Bipolar disorder also called manic depression is a condition currently affecting many individuals globally. Bipolar disorder is characterized by excessive mood swings in the affected person which might lead to the making of harmful decisions by the individual in some cases. Also, bipolar disorder is unique from other types of depression because of the manic or hypomanic emotional episodes that are different from depressive episodes (Carvalho et al., 2020). In a TV show known as Homeland, an actress Carrie Mathison portrays the mania and bipolar disorder that triggers various new behaviours in her throughout the show.
In bipolar disorder, the mania and hypomania episodes are the emotional highs an individual undergoes including overconfidence, hyperactivity and overexcitement. Besides, the affected persons also experience depressive lows characterized by sadness, excessive quietness and lack of interest in activities. Bipolar disorders can be fatal in many cases, since the affected may start experiencing suicidal thoughts which if not controlled or noticed earlier leads to worse scenarios. Moreover, the disorder is mainly caused by high levels of stress, excessive use of alcohol and other drugs, and also can be inherited from a close family member or relative. Psychiatric treatments of bipolar disorder are more efficient during the early stages of the disease (Vieta et al., 2019). The disorder has no cure but its worst symptoms can be controlled when treatments are done early, hence avoiding suicidal activities by the affected.
Carrie Mathison, an operations officer in the Central Investigation Agency in the Homeland movie shows most details and characters of an individual with bipolar disorder. Throughout the show, Carrie undergoes emotional swings, affecting her career and personality. In season 1 of the show, Mathison carries out various investigations about Nicholas Brody, who she believes is a threat to the nation’s security (Showtime, 2011). Unlike other CIA agents who believe Brody is an American soldier who was taken into captivity by the Al-Qaeda, Carrie thinks he has been sent as a spy to the state, thus a national security threat.
Carrie starts investigating more about Nicholas and ends up having bipolar disorder because of the excess work stress and less time for resting. David Harewood, the CIA counterterrorism director suspects Carrie of carrying out some investigations on Brody because of her actions during the meeting to welcome Nicholas back home after being held captive for eight years. However, Carrie is determined to know the truth and secret of Brody, to the point of risking her health by stressing a lot since she spent most of her time investigating Nicholas, rather than going home to rest.
At the end of the first season, Carrie’s situation worsens as she starts showing serious bipolar disorder symptoms, leading to her hospitalization. After sometime, Carrie had to go home to her father and sister who is also suffering from bipolar disorder. Mathison’s sister, who is also a psychiatrist, gives her some medications like clozapine and lithium meant to help in her condition. Even while undergoing severe bipolar disorder symptoms, Carrie is still strong and determined to continue her investigations on Brody. Additionally, her condition gets better until it suddenly worsens when her enemies at work sabotage her medication (Series Trailer, 2014). Some officers within the CIA are threatened by Carrie due to her determination in continuing her investigations, therefore tampering with her drugs to slow the process.
In addition, Carrie is strong and it is difficult to know whether her characters are due to her personality or bipolar disorder. For instance, she goes to the bar, meets other guys whom she sleeps with and even goes to the extent of kissing Ayam and Brody. The whole situation is confusing since it is difficult to know whether she did the actions willingly or out of hyperactivity from bipolar disorder. However, Carrie still manages to continue with her investigation till it finally becomes clear that Brody was indeed sent by Al Qaeda as a spy in the state.
Bipolar disorder is accompanied by the symptoms mentioned, which not only affect the affected person’s health but destroys their relationship with close family or friends. In the case of Carrie Mathison, her new characters made her abandon her daughter, who had to live with her sister as she was focused to go back to Afghanistan to continue with her job. The situation worsens when Carrie loses custody of her daughter because of her irritability and unstable behavior. Carrie damages her good relationship with her workmates and whenever she goes it’s chaos and trouble which is caused by bipolar disorder.
Furthermore, unlike other persons with bipolar condition who experience a lot of distractions and always fail to finish their projects, Carrie is determined in her work to the extent of abandoning her baby and family to finish her investigations on Nicholas. The feature makes her unique from other characters in the show and individuals with bipolar disorder since she seems strong and can survive the harsh symptoms of the disease to accomplish her work. Besides, Carrie managed to reveal the truth about Brody to the nation and CIA, leading to Brody being killed.
As the most common feature of bipolar disorder, mood instability is also evident in Carrie, who is sometimes low in emotions and maniac at other times. Despite the condition, Carrie manages to control her actions well and is it hard to tell whether her characters are bipolar driven or her personality. At some point in the show, Carrie’s condition leads to self-destruction, irritability and instability as she did some actions that later put her at risk, like losing her daughter Franny.
Throughout the movie, even though Carrie was strong, ambitious and determined in her work, the bipolar disorder affected her in some ways. For example, Carrie fell in love with Brody, the criminal he was investigating, which in some way slowed and impacted the whole process negatively. In addition, Carrie did not know what to choose between love and her work, since she wanted to reveal the truth about Brody, and did not also want to lose the love of her life in the process. The situation placed Carrie in a difficult position, which might have been some reasons for prolonged bipolar disorder, but she managed to choose her career and exposed Brody.
Bipolar disorder is indeed one of the most serious and fatal conditions that have negatively impacted the lives of more than 1% of the population globally. Unlike Carrie who managed to deal with the situation till the end of the show, some victims of the bipolar disease have committed suicide and other harmful actions due to lack of early treatment. Finally, various measures like stress reduction or avoidance, enough sleep, taking a controlled amount of drugs or alcohol can help in preventing bipolar disorder, hence improving the overall health situation of a nation.
References
Carvalho, A. F., Firth, J., & Vieta, E. (2020). Bipolar disorder. New England Journal of Medicine, 383(1), 58-66. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1906193
Vieta, E., Salagre, E., Grande, I., Carvalho, A. F., Fernandes, B. S., Berk, M., … & Suppes, T. (2018). Early intervention in bipolar disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 175(5), 411-426. https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp.2017.17090972
Series Trailer MP (2014). HOMELAND – Season 4, Full trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6cTHsA-MQc
Showtime Series (2011). Homeland Season 1, Official trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyFmS3wRPCQ&t=113s