Mr. O Donnell's Poem

The primary character of the work is John F. O’ Donnell an American comedian. In the podcast Mr. O’ Donnell is doing a stand-up show in which he shares with the audience his experience during a manic episode. Even though Mr. O’ Donnell chose a “funny” way to share his story, he did an incredible job educating the audience on mania and walking them through the experience of someone who has actually lived it. He also did a good job showing the symptoms even though he wasn’t really going through a manic episode then and there. To begin, mania is defined as an extremely elevated mood usually associated with bipolar disorder (google). Mr. O’Donnell shares his story where he believed that the CIA and the Nazi’s were working together to stop the
His belief that the CIA and the Nazi were after him because he had discovered their secret was unrealistic. Also, at one point he mentioned he believed he was living in a higher awareness than everyone else that’s how he knew all these things like the government spying on us and such. Mr. O’ Donnell demonstrated inappropriate social behavior a few times in his story. One time was dropping his phone into a girl’s coffee and running away, because he thought it was tapped. Another time was when he stayed in someone else’s hotel room and made a whole spectacle when they showed up. To summarize, the symptoms that Mr. O’Donnell presented were rapid thinking, increased talking, grandiose beliefs, and inappropriate social behavior. Continuing, for someone to be diagnosed with a manic episode they must meet DSM-IV criteria. A criterion that must be met is that the period of abnormal elevated mood must last at least one week, criteria that he meets (Krans). Other criteria they must meet is that during that period they must present with three or more symptoms. Mr. O’ Donnell presented with three of the symptoms which I previously mentioned grandiose beliefs, racing thoughts, and increased talking(krans). Therefore, based on that I would argue that he should have been diagnosed with a manic episode during that time, if he wasn’t
The problem with that is I don’t have enough information to make that argument. It is known that mania is a part of bipolar disorder (krans). So, the way I understand it works is that you would be diagnosed with bipolar disorder if you have a manic episode and a depressive episode. From what Mr. O’ Donnell says in podcast I have made an argument about him being diagnosed with having a manic episode, but I can’t do the same for depressive episode. He does talk about the shame and guilt he felt after coming out of a manic episode, and that could have been a depressive episode but I don’t have enough