This is the first review I felt like I needed to make because I am someone living with Bipolar I disorder and have been severely disturbed by its ridiculous portrayal in this show. All I can think is the writers clearly have no personal experience with the disorder at all and needed a band-aid for their shallow writing.
Throughout the show both the mother and daughter only experience exaggerated episodes of Mania (especially the daughter Kat). I have never experienced or have met anyone that has experienced episodes of Mania like the ones Kat goes through; running 9 miles without realizing it then running 9 more and still having the energy to bounce off the walls, or staring at yourself in the mirror and hearing what sounds like "white-noise", or having amnesia from a manic episode. Ridiculous. The same kind of thing is repeated with the Lithium, sleeping for 4 days straight after going back on it, what? Do you wanna know what going on Lithium is really like writers? It's like everything is happening far away and you can't respond to it, you can barely concentrate for .5 seconds at a time, you just exist and your basic instincts are barely registered like needing to go to the bathroom, and at least for me and a few people I've met, severe nausea for like the first week. There's more to it and everyone has different reactions but still not sleeping for 4 days or taking half a pill less than prescribed and flying into a ridiculous manic episode. Also what doctor would prescribe amphetamines for a Bipolar patient? Again, ridiculous.There is more I can point out like the promiscuity but, you know, I have other things to do today.
That said there are a few things portrayed somewhat accurately. Like wanting to hide your diagnoses from everyone you know because of general ignorance and stereotypes about the condition (which this show hasn't helped in alleviating). Being obsessed with perfecting something; like with the character Kat, practicing your skating routine over and over and over and still thinking it isn't good enough.
I really did want this show to be good and a solid representation of a condition most people are still ignorant about, but it just isn't. If you watch this show please research Bipolar yourself and realize this is just a sensationalized version to add depth to one-dimensional characters in a dramatized plot about competitive skating. And to whomever reads this rant, thanks.
Review of Spinning Out
