Link to programme info here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo/programmes/?id=manic_depressive
Part Two is on next Tuesday at 9pm on BBC2.

I'm fortunate in that I've responded fairly well to medication (sodium valproate, a mood stabilizer which is an alternative to lithium; mirtazipine, an antidepressant; and zopiclone, a hypnotic agent for those sleepless nights). It has never quite gone away though. Mania was quite fun until it got to the point where I could see and hear things that other people couldn't. Depression, as many people here know full well, is the pits. Interestingly, when Stephen Fry asked people if they wished they could get rid of the condition, most people said no. I understand why - if I could live life on a permanently hypomanic basis it'd be bloody great.