Bipolar Disorder and Empathy

Empathy…. the ability to place yourself in someone else’s shows and feel what they are feeling. A simple concept, something that someone suffering from bipolar disorder should be easily able to do given the struggles that come with bipolar disorder. Yet so many discount the ability for someone with bipolar disorder to be empathetic. Whether it be the extremely highs or lowes that do along with bipolar disorder. For me I have experienced someone the highest highs and lowest lows, but I have never felt like this effected my ability to be truly empathetic. Maybe I am blinded by my disorder, but I have always cared about others and their struggles. I have always tried to relate my struggles to the struggles of others through empathy. The question still lies, does having a mental illness such as bipolar disorder truly affect one’s ability to be empathetic. And are those that discount the ability of someone with a mental illness just see weakness because of the mental illness and not truly the ability to show empathy. Research separates empathy into two different types of empathy, affective empathy which is the ability of someone to feel or share the emptions of someone else and cognitive empathy which the ability of someone to recognize the emotions of another person and understand those emotions. Many people say people with bipolar disorder are unable to show and feel concern for others and as a result are unable to feel empathy for others. The only time research feels that people with bipolar disorder can show empathy is during a manic phase and people going through a depressive phase are unable to show empathy for others. I feel that the research is wrong because people with bipolar disorder know what it is like to be at high and lows thus increasing their ability to show empathy. People going through a depressive phase may be in a low, but it doesn’t mean they are complete focused on themselves.