and A.I.D.S. Three friends begin a dangerous three-way relationship that spirals out of control, leading to dire consequences that haunt them ten years later. For that matter, can’t she attend school closer to home? For example, Cam’s incredible dexterity with a lit cigarette, his total lack of awareness and disregard for how much and where he smoked, is and was so very reflective of the role cigarettes played in the lives of so many during that era. “And look who came out of it? It’s on a scale—it slides around—and you never really know if they’re in mania, or they’re just happy, or they’re sad, or they’re deeply depressed. Was this review helpful to you? To capture those qualities and still have him be vibrant and original was tough, because that culture can really flatten people out. Maya Forbes writes and directs a personal story of bittersweet childhood living in livid conditions with her sister, mother and eccentric bipolar father. I wish both my girls would end up like these two women.” The task of playing young Maya fell on the shoulders of Imogene Wolodarsky, Forbes’s real-life daughter with the film’s co-producer, Wally Wolodarsky. I’m a therapist in private practice and the author of a novel (also called Minding Therapy) and a (guess what, same-titled) screenplay (not soon coming to a theater near you). “Landslide”: Evolution and Meaning Of a Major Hit Song, “Tomboy”: A 10-Year-Old Girl Not Committed to Her Birth Sex, National Coming Out Day 2016: “Stand in the Light”, “Instructions For a Bad Day,” A Poem By Shane Koyczan, Bob Newhart As Brief Therapist in Hilarious Spoof: “Stop It!”, “Shawshank Redemption”: Hope and Other Themes, 30 Rock Therapy: Jack Role-Plays Tracy’s Shrink, Hardest Part of Being a Therapist: “7 Questions Project”, “Daughter Detox”: Dealing with “Unloving Mothers”, “You Should Have Known” Basis of “The Undoing”, “Confessions of a Sociopath”: You Might Know Her, “The Sociopath Next Door” by Martha Stout, “Better Than Before”: How to Change Habits, “Ratched”: Its Depiction of Mental Illness and Treatment, “Ace”: Angela Chen’s New Book On Asexuality, “The Gifts of Imperfection” by Brene Brown: 10th Anniversary, #Unfit (The Psychology of Donald Trump): New Film, Sixth Stage of Grief Modeled by Joe Biden, “Permission to Feel”: Marc Brackett’s RULER Approach, Anger at Injustice: Kamala, So-Called “Mad Woman”, “I Know This Much Is True”: Mental Illness in Family, “Surviving Autocracy” by Masha Gessen: Insight, Rules, “Big Friendship”: Therapy Helps the Rough Patches, Toxic Positivity at the Top Affects Us All, Mary Trump: His Failures As Well As His Enablers’, Sarah Kendzior Quotes: On Being in a Gaslit Nation, Pessimism, Defensive and Strategic Types, Can Help, Unorthodox, Little Fires, Mrs. America: Oppression, Three (+) For Pride Month Viewing: Behind the Scenes, “How to Be An Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi, Racism and White People’s Responsibility: Two Authors, “Douglas”: Hannah Gadsby, Funnier Than Trauma. I was very drawn to Mark’s innate goodness and his humanity,” says Forbes. Oh, Dad, Poor Dad! The film was written and directed by Maya Forbes; and it's based on her own life experiences (as a young girl, with a bipolar father). Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? But it didn’t kill whatever was original in Cam.”. awareness during the early 1980s. And the 47-year-old actor had no trouble accessing the character. Susan Newman, Ph.D., is a social psychologist and author. Infinitely Polar Bear is the story of how love can provide the incentive to get better. In bipolar disorder, it can be difficult to know whether it is the disorder itself that is causing the out-of-control mood swings or whether the condition is triggered by external factors such as drugs, alcohol, or stressful situations and relationships in general, as it can be hard to disentangle a bipolar disorder from other mood or psychotic disorders, especially when illicit substances are involved. When he is released, he moves to a small apartment while Maggie works to support the children.