Olga & Bi polar

[Lyss]

according to wikipedia:

Also called bipolar affective disorder until recently, the current name is of fairly recent origin and refers to the cycling between high and low episodes; it has replaced the older term manic-depressive illness coined by Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926) in the late nineteenth century.[3] The new term is designed to be neutral, to avoid the stigma in the non-mental health community that comes from conflating "manic" and "depression."

And another source: ( http://www.caregiver.com/channels/bipolar/articles/brief_history.htm)

In 1913, Emil Krapelin established the term manic-depressive...In 1980, the term bipolar disorder (1980) replaced manic-depressive disorder as a diagnostic term...

So Olga could not have been diagnosed as bipolar, because the term bipolar did not exist back then. I hope this is a good answer for your question Schvibzik.
kind regards

Lyss

[azrael7171918]

I doubt that Olga suffered from Bipolar disorder...
during her later years in life i believe she suffered from depression, but a war would make anyone depressed.

You also have to remember that Olga also had a few friends on the outside plus she even read the newspapers that arrived. She was always said to understand the situation not only of the war but the political situation in the country.  Also Nicholas was said to have closed door discussions with her.

Az

[helenazar]

I wonder where they got the idea that Olga had a nervous break down specifically in 1915...   

[Forum Admin]

Only a trained psychiatrist can make a diagnosis of Bi-polar disorder. So, unless and until one shows up here and is willing to read alot of Olga's writings and first hand accounts about her, this question cannot be answered.

As for people "jumping" down your throat, instead of taking some sort of offense, did it occur to you that it was a childish and essentially speculative question? Many of the regular users here are grown up (which Schvibzik clearly is no) and are fairly advances historians and scholars on the subject.  Many "newbies" assume that they can just waltz on in and ask questions which have been discussed many times before, or ask highly speculative questions, such as this, which really belongs in the Having Fun section and not in the serious history threads.

We try to encourage young people to ask questions, of course, but we also want them to learn and grow as well, so stop taking things so personally, maybe a lot of the regular posters here have been around for a lot longer and maybe know a lot more on the subject.

Thanks.

[Romanov_fan]

Yes, this is a very speculative question- sometimes inaccurate web sites have these kinds of ''facts'' about otma, and they are things that are unprovable. They have been gone for almost a century, and they died very young, without alot of scrutiny put on them- unlike Alexandra, their mother, for whom there is more historical evidence when asking questions.  Nothing of the historical record suggests she was bipolar at all, so it is not a question that really makes much sense with regards to Olga. Asking if she was depressed, as has been done on threads before, is a question that has more merit, and for which there is more evidence, because some things might indicate this at the time of World War I. But, that isn't true of this question, which has never been asked to my knowledge before.

[Holly]

Personally, I know quite a bit about Bipolar disorder.
Olga wasn't Bipolar, I'm very sure of that. Bipolar disorder is more than just depression. Olga was very stressed at the time and I'm sure any young woman would be the same in her position, but you're going way too far with it. A lot of people her age have those same feelings and you don't call them Bipolar.
Doctors can't even diagnose young individuals with Bipolar disorder. They have to reach a certain age before they can be diagnosed with it because young people naturally have similar symptoms like depression and mood swings. It's a little funny for someone to even ask if she had it.

[clockworkgirl21]

You can't be diagnosed with the personality disorder until you're 18(Which I think of kind of stupid, because it should be looked at on a case by case basis, but whatever). However, a doctor can put someone under 18 on medication, they just can't be officially diagnosed.

[NAOTMAA Fan]

As for people "jumping" down your throat, instead of taking some sort of offense, did it occur to you that it was a childish and essentially speculative question? Many of the regular users here are grown up (which Schvibzik clearly is no) and are fairly advances historians and scholars on the subject.  Many "newbies" assume that they can just waltz on in and ask questions which have been discussed many times before, or ask highly speculative questions, such as this, which really belongs in the Having Fun section and not in the serious history threads.

Now this is exactly what you complained about on your other thread Shvibzik. People here just have varying opinions, and express them in what way they can. If that doesn't suit you, then that isn't anyone else's problem.

As for Olga having Bipolar, I don't beleive that to be so. Like Holly and Clock said, Bipolar is near impossible to diagnose at a young age. I've known Bipolar at first hand, and I don't find it entirely comparable to Olga. These children, let alone the entire family in itself, faced enormous stress with having to share the burdens of their parents and the war that ravaged all of Europe. Olga being the most perceptive of the girls, she would have easily become emotional. With so much expected of her and all her efforts to do all she could (not to mention the suffering of her patients), the stress could have developed into depression, which would seem likely from all we can read about Olga's character.

A Bipolar teen or child would have symptoms similar to schizophrenia, ODD, tourettes, and ADHD. From what we know, Olga was simply emotional at times rather than having violent outbursts and breakdowns. Thus I don't really beleive Olga was bipolar. If she did have any abnormal behaviour, maybe there is a possibility that she became disturbed by the gore of the Tsarskoe Selo hospitals.

[JBenjamin82]

I wonder where they got the idea that Olga had a nervous break down specifically in 1915...   

You bring up a good question, Helen. I found an interesting article about nervous breakdowns at the Mayo Clinic website, which can be read here. Olga was ordered to rest in late October/early November of 1915. If she was no longer able to complete her daily activities due to her condition, which seems to have been the case to some degree, I suppose her experience could be loosely described as a nervous breakdown of sorts.

Personally, I don't think that Olga was bipolar. Had Alix wrote of Olga staying up for over twenty-four hours, tearing down a wall in her bedroom on a whim, then I'd probably wonder. But as it is, Olga's behavior doesn't seem to have been that extreme. In my opinion, her behavior lacks the extremes that characterize bipolar disorder. I know a few people who suffer from the disorder (some of whom I'm fairly close to), and I don't see many behavioral similarities between them and Olga.

[Akira Takahashi]

I'm normally a lurker on this site, but I logged in to respond to this message.  Frist of all, I might come off as bias because I was a psychology major turned antipsychiatry, so I personally don't believe in the existence of bipolar (no proof of any mental illness other than what neurologists have discovered).  However, when I first started to study psychology, it occured to me that Olga, in our modern times, might have been labeled bipolar.  Especially given that it's become a very trendy diagnosis in the industry.  No, you don't have to exhibit extreme behaviors in these days.

Personally, I think Olga's "condition" was the result of being incredibly smart and sensitive to her surroundings.  For example, what prompted her break down?  Working as a nurse, which is something that someone as sensitive as Olga shouldn't have had to do.  Moreover, she seemed to understand Russia's political situation much better than her parents, or so I've read.

As for Alix, I think the same can be said of her.  Given that she had four daughters, one right after the other, and endured years of stress trying to give birth to a boy, it's no wonder she was stressed!  That and the fact that she didn't seem to be physically healthy all that often...

[helenazar]

Olga was ordered to rest in late October/early November of 1915.

Thanks, JB. Being ordered to rest could be due to a lot of different things, including something physical. Assuming it was because of a breakdown is jumping to conclusions...  I will do a little digging about that time period.

[WildChild2]

Hi, I am new at this. but i read on a wikepidea site about her. and i dont know if it is true. i read that she broke a windstill in a room probably her room or the nursey. because she didn't want to work in the hospital. and that maria have to write a letter to the hospital explaining why olga didn't come. then another time she broke some things in the cloak room or in a room in the hospital.

[Sweet_Angel]

I don't really think Olga has Bi polar because I just think that she was kind of stressed and then got nerves breakdown of all the things that was going around her. I first born and have a enormous press on me to do all things well in life. I not say that Olga as  a first born child had this press on her. But she had a lot of press on her as a first born, being the example for her younger sisters and all these things she learned on the way and know more things about what was happing to her can make everbody have a nerves breakdown.

[Grandduchess Valeria]

It's maybe nonsense but to think about the pressure of a marriage...don't forget that she was firstborn and had already "meetings" with candidates but wanted to marry a russian. I think thats also one point which add up to her mental condition. 

[Tasia]

I agree with you Sweet Angels! I have two parents that are Bi polar &&&& I don't think that Olga was Bi polar! She was just sometimes moody, and there's no evidence from doctors that she was, like GD_42 said. That's true GD Valeria!