My name is Kimberly McGilvray; I’m a Senior Rover Scout/Cub Scout Leader with the 21st Highlanders at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. When you meet me for the first time, you wouldn’t expect me to have a constant inner turmoil. You might assume that I am attending university and volunteer with a local Scout group. I have a mental disorder marked by alternating periods of elation and depression, which is known as Bipolar. Wikipedia provides a good plain language definition:
“Bipolar disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis for a mood disorder in which people experience disruptive mood swings. These encompass a frenzied state known as mania (or hypomania) usually alternated with symptoms of depression. Bipolar disorder is defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or more depressive episodes.”
To illustrate this point, I have created the graph below with the following explanation to help you understand.
The blue line across the middle of the picture is the “normal” range of human emotional ups and downs.
“Downs” are when you get dumped by your partner, find out that after all your studying you still fail your exam, hear about your parents getting a divorce, or your pet has ended up on death’s door – for example.
“Ups” are when you’ve just passed that exam, eaten a rather delicious burger, finally got that promotion you’ve been waiting for, found out you’re about to become a parent, or just had delicious mind altering sex – for example.
The green line is an example of the mood swings a normal person may experience, kind of veering from ups and downs at an occasional but not overly dramatically or sudden sense.
The purple line is someone suffering from bipolar. I think you get the gist, somewhat sudden, erratic, and way above and below the normal range of ups and downs.
So, what does that have to do with anything? Continue reading
Númenor is the legendary island located in the Sundering Seas to the west of Middle-Earth. Traveling by giant ten person voyageur canoes and then by hiking, the 1st Kimberly Scout Troop rose to the challenge before them to reach Númenor, 564 meters above sea level.
