This book was basically my life for a whole semester.



Emily Martin’s Bipolar Expeditions takes a focused look at United States culture and society, particularly in regards to how it views people with bipolar disorder and to an extent other mental illness as well. Her work in this book suggests that in a country that is so geared towards viewing success in economic and political terms, different aspects of bipolar are both revered and feared. To a critical outside observer, the slowing down and mo

This book was basically my life for a whole semester.



Emily Martin’s Bipolar Expeditions takes a focused look at United States culture and society, particularly in regards to how it views people with bipolar disorder and to an extent other mental illness as well. Her work in this book suggests that in a country that is so geared towards viewing success in economic and political terms, different aspects of bipolar are both revered and feared. To a critical outside observer, the slowing down and more introverted aspects of depression associated with bipolar can be viewed as succumbing to the pressures of what is deemed ‘normal’ life, while the more hectic side of bipolar, mania, is almost viewed as a type of creative energy that keeps pushing against all odds to achieve this nebulous idea of success.



Martin draws on her own experiences with being diagnosed with manic depression and subsequent psychosis in the US mental healthcare system as both inspiration for, and hindrance to her research. She found conflicting societal views that could shape a person’s experience with this kind of mental illness raging from praise for the creative potential of a manic high, to the barely concealed disparagement of the ability of someone with mental illness to function in an academic environment in institutions such as Princeton.



While it seems this work by Martin does face some shortcomings in discussing the day to day reality of those living with manic depression, it also presents very valid concerns about how society markets some aspects of bipolar disorder while demonising others. However because of this, there does seem to be a tendency through the piece to lump the manic appearing nature of individuals driven to financial success in the same category as those suffering with mania as a mental illness, which may serve to marginalise their experiences as individuals. What is clear however, is that bipolar disorder, as well as other forms of mental illness, do not exist in isolation from a broader cultural context. Mental illness both influences and is influenced by cultural norms and politics. In this light, Martin appears to maintain, mental illness can be viewed as both being produced through culture and being productive of culture, with socially acceptable forms of engagement inevitably being as fluid as the highs and lows of manic depression itself.