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RTÉ Radio 1: CPsychI President Dr Lorcan Martin discusses Bipolar Disorder on Supercharged with Anna Geary
Anna Geary, host of Supercharged on RTÉ Radio 1, discussed bipolar disorder with College President Dr Lorcan Martin, along singer Arlene Bailey who has lived experience on Sunday, 29 January.
Read a quote by Dr Martin from the discussion below. Listen to the segment in full on the RTÉ Radio 1 website here. The segment with Dr Martin begins around 13:50 and ends around 25:45.
In terms of the ‘low’ side of it, at its very worst people can become psychotic, when we talk about the delusions and hallucinations. And then obviously, you could be faced with the tragedy of self-harm or suicide. When someone is ‘high’, they can do all sorts of reckless things: put themselves in debt, put themselves at risk with maybe sexually promiscuous behaviour. There’s a whole raft of things like social embarrassment, breakdown of relationships, loss of jobs. So very often people think, “Well wouldn’t it be lovely to be slightly manic all the time?” It really wouldn’t, because it has a huge impact on your life. And the longer it goes on, the more severe it gets, and the greater that impact. And that’s why it’s important to address these things early and address them properly with specialists.