Of the literal hundreds of mental disorders with which people must contend, few are as misrepresented as Bipolar Disorder. Fewer yet have such a social stigma bound to them. The actuality of the disorder seems to be lost somewhere between rushed diagnoses and an uniformed public. This is especially an issue as BPD knows no racial, social, or ethnic boundaries. Even those in high standing can be affected by BPD. One such case of this was Kurt Cobain’s, lead singer of Nirvana, diagnosis with Bipolar Disorder. Kurt Donald Cobain was born on February 20, 1967 in the city of Aberdeen, Washington (Cross, 2002). He showed great interest in the arts early on, gravitating particularly towards music (Cross, 2002). Cobain was put under much stress as a child, as his parents constantly argued and fought (Cross, 2002). This constant unrest lead to Cobain’s parents to divorce when he was nine (Cross, 2002). He spent much of his childhood passing forth from household to household (Cross, 2002). It was claimed in Kurt’s most notable biography that he would actually lock himself in his closet seeking solitude, and found solace only though playing a guitar which he received as a gift from his uncle (Cross, 2002). In his teen years, Cobain began taking drugs indiscriminately, namely heroin (Cross, 2002). He lived as something of a vagrant from 1984-1985 (Cross, 2002). His relationship with his father grew more distant through these times, and eventually led him into a rocky adulthood which was put on public display and exacerbated through performances from his band, Nirvana (Cross, 2002). When…
