I’ve never had my bipolar medication switched for LSD by a national intelligence agency – not to my knowledge, at least – but in last night’s episode of the political thriller Homeland, CIA operative Carrie Mathison dealt with the fallout from exactly that.

After taking a back seat for most of Homeland’s fourth season, Carrie’s mental illness has returned to the central plot.

I am often asked, as someone who has the illness, what I think of Claire Danes’s portrayal of Carrie’s bipolar disorder. Is it an accurate representation? Is it fair? Is it offensive? As with any depiction of mental illness in culture – and especially on screen – there’s a lot of debate within the community.

The smartest and the dumbest

A charge is often levied that Danes’s portrayal is sensationalised, but I’d argue that it isn’t. For a start, much of Homeland is extreme and requires a considerable suspension of disbelief; that’s what makes it so enjoyable. But Carrie’s bipolar is the least sensationalist thing about it.

The genius-madness binary is a particular irritant of mine. Not all people with bipolar are chess grandmasters, eminent poets or artist savants, and Homeland acknowledges this.

It’s true that Carrie is exceptionally intelligent, and it is also true that her manic episodes – a period of the illness often characterised by rapid thoughts and a surplus of ideas – have resulted in significant breakthroughs in her work.

This was particularly pertinent in the Abu Nazir plot-line in season one, after she had discontinued her meds (a common occurrence in those with the illness).

But not only was this heightened state accurately represented – Carrie’s timeline, which covered the wall of her flat, reminded me of the time I plastered the pages of a novel I was working on from skirting board to cornice – but all the negative aspects of mania were also depicted.

The lack of risk inhibition, the elusiveness of sleep, promiscuity, alienation of friends and family, drinking. Eventually, Carrie ends up in hospital; thoughts crackling like popcorn, anxious and overactive, bewildering those around her.

I laughed at the scene in which she’s obsessed with acquiring a green pen (“my kingdom for a fucking green pen!”), because it was so on point. Ditto when her boss, Saul, calls her the “smartest and the dumbest fucking person” he’s ever known.

The path back to mental health

The depiction of Carrie’s recuperation after her breakdown at the beginning of season two was especially affecting. She spends time with her sister and father, who also has bipolar, and is intent on sleeping well, relaxing and taking her medication regularly to regain stability.

Anybody who has had to deal with the struggle of a path back to mental health will recognise this stage. For me, after a particularly bad episode when I was discharged from hospital, it involved cutting out all alcohol and caffeine and taking long walks on Oxford’s Port Meadow.

The writers could have taken the excuse of a season break to not screen this mundane part of her rehabilitation, but they didn’t. It was a decision as responsible as showing the effects of suddenly stopping medication.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Carrie at the end of season one, during a manic episode.

It’s also incredibly apparent how Carrie’s strong support network is imperative to her wellbeing. In addition to her family there is her mentor Saul, understanding colleague Quinn, and her longtime friend Virgil. Brody, when he was not busy plotting to blow up the White House, was accepting and loving after Carrie disclosed her condition.

People are fired because of mental health issues all the time

Perhaps one aspect of Carrie’s illness which stretches credulity is that she would have been able to keep her condition secret from the CIA – a government agency whose business it is to uncover secrets.

However, plenty of people hide their mental health conditions from their workplace. In a recent Friends Life survey, 40% reported that they had hidden depression and anxiety from their boss. And it’s not surprising the agency initially got rid; people are fired because of mental health conditions all the time.

The support Carrie eventually received from her colleagues, however – even from the cantankerous Lockhart in the current season – has been a positive example of how people with bipolar can thrive in work with support in place. It’s a refreshing reflection given that unemployment rates for people with persistent mental illness has been recorded at up to 90%.

Carrie’s detailed timeline to catch Abu Nazir. Photograph: Showtime

‘I never want her bipolarity to be a gimmick’

Of course, not everything about the portrayal is perfect. Carrie’s treatment with electroconvulsive therapy was quite far-fetched, given that it’s often a last resort. But it is extremely effective, and it is still used in bipolar.

The show didn’t depict Carrie’s pregnancy, despite this being a huge trigger for both antenatal and postpartum depression in women with bipolar (although we do see her struggle with being a mother in season four). Her quick recovery from the latest episode, deprived of meds and pumped with hallucinogens is naive.

But most of the time, the show gets it right. When Carrie is depressed, for instance, she sleeps for days, waking to darkness. She looks like shit. She drinks. She’s catatonic.

Danes has spoken previously about how important it was for her to nail the depiction, telling CBS:

“I read a lot of books, I met with people who had it, and ultimately I found the internet to be the greatest resource.

“I am always monitoring the depiction of her condition. I never want her bipolarity to be a convenient gimmick. Like, it’s fun to see crazy Carrie? I just want to treat it with more respect.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Claire Danes talking about playing a character with bipolar.

The sister of one of the show’s lead writers, Jamie Stiehm, has bipolar disorder and wrote an op-ed in the New York Times about it.

The show has also received awards and praise from mental health bodies. Courtney Reyers of the National Alliance on Mental Illness has written that Homeland portrays mental illness with “compassion, clarity and responsibility attached”. And Wilma Townsend for the Center of Mental Health Services wrote that the show was “a good educational piece for both the general public and people who have a mental illness”.

Plenty of people have commented on Danes’s manic “cry-face”, and it’s even inspired a Saturday Night Live skit. But, you know, I think that’s just her face. In the way that Jack Nicholson’s crazy eyebrows are just his eyebrows.

In a world in which mental health stigma is still devastating, it’s fantastic that films and TV programmes are upping their game when it comes to representation.

Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence did great work in Silver Linings Playbook, and Kirsten Dunst nailed bipolar depression in Lars von Trier’s Melancholia. Perhaps it’s because, in the age of social media, there are greater repercussions for getting things wrong.

That the lead protagonist of one of the most popular global television shows – watched by the president of the United States, no less – is intelligent, charming, attractive and just happens to have a serious mental illness, is nothing short of a triumph.