Bipolar Disorder & The Refer, Rinse, Repeat Phenomenon
Ryan W. McClellan, MS
Senior Marketing Manager | Digital Marketing Specialist | Entrepreneur | Author | Public Speaker | Business Consultant
"Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and to have her nonsense respected in a manner almost seductive to the taste..." - Charles Lamb
It was a relatively hot day, if I recall, when I received word from the Department Chair at my school that I was being called to the Dean's office.
The reason at the time was unknown, albeit purposeless.
However, in due respect, I met with the Dean.
Much like that scene in "Jurassic Park" where the Velociraptor hides in the bushes and eats the gatekeeper ("Clever girl..."), it was a direct ambush.
"You Cannot Return"
After a long and arduous meeting, I learned that apparently, colleges these days have no idea what the term: "Bipolar Disorder" truly means.
That scares me for two reasons:
1) It is dangerous to use words when you know little about their meaning, and
2) It is not right, nor moral, nor cognoscible to use said term to deny them rights.
I was told I could never return to the campus again, and that, my dear reader, was the point where I fell into a relapse, and everything went black.
Fast forward around a year or so, I guess I had made my point clear. The school was now being investigated for a now-in-prison Dean, and an audit.
Said audit cost them $17 million in funding and left the school vacant of life for almost two years, until they bounced back under new ownership.
There Is A Point, I Promise
(The last time I said that, I never got to the point...)
Three days prior to the incident, the 2018 Parkland Shooting took place, and guess what key phrase the news decided to focus on?
No, it was not the parents, nor Marilyn Manson, nor a video game. It was mental illness, and I was not the only Bipolar student to enter that Dean's office.
Thus, I give you the term:
"Refer, rinse, repeat."
The Point Here Is Simple
Because I promised you a point, I will make it a good one:
Colleges these days have no idea what mental illness encompasses.
In my time at my present school, I have encountered something that has changed my life forever: the fact that mental illness is not too revered.
I have been called four times with a simple question:
"We just want to make sure everything is okay."
It usually occurs after I mention to a professor that I am "depressed," which in my eyes, at least, means I am simply within the reasoning of mental illness.
Now, bear in mind that when I was a Psych Undergrad, this never happened.
They understood that Bipolar depression simply means: "Leave me alone for three days and I will be fine." However, many professors see it otherwise.
So What Is Refer, Rinse, Repeat?
You will not find this phrase on the web, and it is because either a) I made it up, or b) I heard someone else say it and decided to take credit.
Either way, it is now a published article.
"Refer, rinse, repeat" occurs when a professor or faculty member does not know how to deal with a student. So, what do they do? Well, they refer.
And typically to the wrong person.
They refer the "troublesome" student to a different department, and then rinse their hands of the blood they shed and repeat in hindsight.
Of course, this is okay to some minor degree. I see no harm in referring a student to a higher party with the mentioning of "depression."
In fact, I give them credit. If I was any other student without a mental illness, then perhaps "depressed" is an indication of malintent, but for me, it is not.
Rather, They Refer...
A 2018 study found that 43.5 percent of mentally ill students were referred for externalized problems compared to 27.9 percent without a mental illness.
The math is not that difficult: the mentally ill are seen as already emotionally damaged and thus, their issues are noticed more often than "normal students."
Also, did you know that Section 504 disability rights only include around 10 bullet points for mental illness versus an entire manual for physical impairment?
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Mental health issues are not a crisis.
Rather, they are a perspective, and to refer a student who is already anxious and depressed to a student "support" center will a) feel more alienated, and b)
...will feel stigmatized under the light of an already prominent darkness.
What We Can Do About It
I invite you to answer the following question in a comment:
"Who is more dangerous: someone with Bipolar Disorder or someone with the ability to refer a student to a secondary party and stigmatize them for it?"
I think 9 out of 10 of you will agree that the latter is more dangerous, and here is why: as someone with Bipolar Disorder, I know all too well how difficult it is.
I also know how it feels to be labeled something I am not. And yet, more often than not, the mentally ill student will be considered a threat to society, or worse.
There is nothing more potent and despicable than stigmatization.
There is a novel solution to this problem: simply teach the professors and faculty members that terms like: "ADHD" and "Bipolar" do not insight "danger."
Refer, Rinse, Repeat
And yet, I have been referred to student health facilities on four different occasions simply because I was already deemed a threat...
This phenomenon is psychologically damaging, albeit intrusive on the student's rights, and it is time we do something about it.
The first step is to train faculty members on college campuses more about these illnesses. They are no different than a student with a vision disorder.
The only difference is, one cannot see while one is simply incapable of seeing the glass as half full, and that is not the student's fault; it is genetic, that is all.
The second step is to enact a new set of rules where students who are "mentally ill" are treated in the same mandate as one with a learning disability.
The Only Difference Is Sight
Backing up a moment, I wanted to touch bases on a point I just made: though a blind student cannot see, the mentally ill student cannot see a glass as half full.
I want you to reread that sentence.
Does that not put this into perspective? When did the question move from: "Why is this student acting out?" to "How do we 'fix' them?"
You see, you cannot escape the grasp of intolerance, and an article by Koller et. al. stated rather bluntly: "Mental health is a stigmatization that is here to stay."
There is less and less support for students with a mental health issue, and what little support does stand upright on its hind legs is somehow broken.
Fun fact, and you will love this one:
An article by Marcia Grace found that Bipolar Disorder is the third most heritable trait, and that Schizophrenia affects 1 percent of the population.
What, then, can we say about heart disease versus a Bipolar infrastructure?
This is an epidemic that is not going away, and it is time we begin to recognize the failures of our actions. We are taught to "not stare" at the disfigured.
Why is someone with a chemical imbalance such as myself still stared at?!
I Am Trying To Infuse Humor, But...
You see, when trying to make this fit into The Content Marketer's Diary, I am reminded of how often I try to mask social issues with a humorous undertone.
However, unlike my other articles, this one is personal to me.
I think it is about time for all of us to recognize that "refer, rinse, repeat" is a very real phenomenon, and there is no right way to fix it.
All we can do is recognize that just as the blind cannot see through sight, the more stigmatized in our nation simply cannot see the glass as half-full...
I Invite You To Learn More
If you feel you have been blind to mental illness, click here . It is a useful website that I send to all of my professors before classes start.
It is a resource that will show you how internally damaging this disorder truly is, yet how little it truly enacts anything so much as close to "dangerous."
And hopefully, if nothing else, you can walk away from this article educated.
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