As someone who has bipolar as well, I think it’s an important thing to talk about and glad he has. Now that he has, I hope we can too without being shut down. It’s not uncommon in our field but it has a huge stigma attached to it that’s unhelpful to the people with it, or to the people are are affected by a friends, coworkers, or loved ones mania or depression. When I’m under a lot of stress I tend towards mania, especially when it’s “good stress” like an achievement or great new job or something really exciting to work on. Inexorably I get drawn into a pit of despair, especially as I start to realize the impact my mania has had on my relationships and reputation. I have a good network and good self awareness built over 30 years of meditation and Buddhist study, so the impacts are mitigated.
I suspect if people understood bipolar and were willing to discuss and learn, we might understand better what Elon does and why. He’s not bad. He’s just different. Bipolar is considered an dimension of neurodiversity, and like other aspects like autism, is nothing to be ashamed of.
