# Is Kanye bi-polar?



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Kanye West hospitalized for exhaustion, according to reports

We are somewhat accustomed to his impulsive outbursts. But are the explanations for his behaviour simply overlooking the possibility that the man has a moderately-managed bipolar disorder? Consider this comment:
_"Kanye West was hospitalized on Monday and reported to be suffering from exhaustion hours after he abruptly cancelled the remainder of his tour following a week of no-shows, curtailed concerts and rants about politics.

A source told People that West was "exhausted and currently dealing with sleep deprivation" but that he was "fine."

....He's just exhausted. He's been working around the clock on fashion design, both on his own line and the Adidas line. He's a notorious workaholic, so balancing both that work - which is extremely important to him - and the rigours of the tour every night, it really wore him out," a source told People._"

So let's see if I have this right. He's going for long periods without sleep. (I think many here have done that without going on bizarre energetic on-stage rants.) He appears to be overcommitted to way too many activities. (for which he has the latitude to say "Nah. Let's slow down on that one.")

In the text on psychiatric diagnosis we used in a graduate course some years back, the author cautioned "If you find the client charming, always suspect mania". Not that charming people are necessarily manic, but one of the ways in which it spins out of control is that they become far more charming and charismatic than usual, such that the beginnings of mania are overlooked and attributed to something else. I'm not one to diagnose-by-Google, but consider this list: Hypomania and Mania in Bipolar Disorder

So, the lad has me wondering.


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## SG-Rocker (Dec 30, 2007)

Here's a question, and please don't misinterpret....

Can someone explain to me what drives the fascination with Kanye and the whole Kardashian / Jenner thing.

In today's 'reality' world I find it highly unlikely that anything that happens in the media, be it a hacked cell phone sex tape to a public 'meltdown' to be real.
I think it would be safe to assume that everything that we see, hear and read is carefully scripted for maximum ratings / trendability / whatnot.

My wife was watching Obama doling out awards earlier. Everyone was an actor / celebrity.
I mean Robert Deniro has been a number of great films, but does it necessarily make him an exceptional person as a whole.
I mean, at the end of the day actors and actresses play make-believe for a living - not exactly on par with the works of Steven Hawking, Elon Musk, etc...


/rant


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

SG-Rocker said:


> Here's a question, and please don't misinterpret....
> 
> Can someone explain to me what drives the fascination with Kanye and the whole Kardashian / Jenner thing.
> 
> ...


The media creates our infatuation. Simple.

When you give awards to a bunch of useless drama students, you increase there percieved value.

Makes it easier to guide the masses is all.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Back in grad school, a classmate ran a study where students were presented a series of more or less randomly-generated Anglophone names and had to make some sort of unrelated judgment (e.g., does the name have a double consonant in it? yes-no). Some of the names in the lengthy sequence were repeated. At the end, the students were presented with a shorter list and asked to rate how "famous" the person with the name likely was. Given that these were undergrads, there would have been plenty of people they didn't know and expected not to know, so they were just guessing. Names that were repeated were judged to be more "famous".

In general, what is familiar also tends to be judged more positively. Show people things like a picture of the Mona Lisa in its original orientation or its mirror image, (and how many of us would be dead certain about which way she is looking in the painting?) and the original orientation is judged to be more appealing than the mirror image.

So, in some respects, popularity breeds itself: of _course_ it's popular - I've seen it before!

The infatuation with anything Kardashian would appear to be a byproduct of both supermarket checkout lines and publicity agents.
However, as for Mr. West, he has his moments of brilliance, but now I'm wondering if they are the result of a man with some mental difficulties. I don't want to spread unfounded rumours. It's just that when someone collapses on stage and is hospitalized for "exhaustion", I get it. When "exhaustion" is offered as an explanation of someone going on a long bizarre rant, I'm less persuaded.

Kanye West cancels entire Saint Pablo tour following stage rant - BBC News


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

This isn't the first time his mental health has been questioned. There was a fair bit of talk earlier this year when he released the new record.
here are a few articles from around that time:
Malik Yusef Speaks On Kanye West's Possible Mental Disorder
Is Kanye West literally off his meds?
Kanye West Co-Writer Rhymefest Says Rapper Needs Mental Health Counseling | SPIN


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

mhammer said:


> Hypomania and Mania in Bipolar Disorder
> 
> So, the lad has me wondering.


Your post was both interesting and the links surprisingly easy to read, thanks for the "food for the thoughts". However I don't see him too much as charming, he might be just abusing some substances.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

It's the over-commitment to too many activities that sticks out for me.


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

only if both sides are dicks.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

jb welder said:


> This isn't the first time his mental health has been questioned. There was a fair bit of talk earlier this year when he released the new record.
> here are a few articles from around that time:
> Malik Yusef Speaks On Kanye West's Possible Mental Disorder
> Is Kanye West literally off his meds?
> Kanye West Co-Writer Rhymefest Says Rapper Needs Mental Health Counseling | SPIN


Didn't people start wondering when he went up to 'help' accept Taylor Swift's award? He maybe had a number of WTF moments before that but that's the one that sticks in my head.

It's sad that people like this can be known by only one name. I wish I coulda looked at this string and thought "kanye who?". I suppose our parents thought the same thing about Elvis. Pop culture, you gotta love it!


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## ronmac (Sep 22, 2006)

Sincerely, I hope he is just a giant dick. Mental illness is something I wouldn't wish on anyone.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Bi-polar all the way to the bank. Nothing charming about Kanye.

He's just an arrogant asshole megalomaniac. If he's bi-polar, it's nothing new.

It is interesting though what a mess EVERY Kardahsians husbands become...Lamars near suicide, Scott Disicks addictions, Kanye bizarreness, Bruce, well....Caitlyn...etc. And yet for ththe most part, the gals continue on unphased.

I don't buy the exhaustion thing, because I don't personally think his "work" is all that demanding. I doubt he designs shoes or anything really. He lends his name to the work that others do. I'd like to see him try working like an average person, who buys their own groceries, cooks their own meals, takes care of their own kids, has to show up to work on time, commute for hours, and put in a full day, whether they feel like it or not, and comes home to their homely thankless wife wearing sweatpants and crocs every night. He'd blow his brains out.

From what I hear, he's been blowing off shows lately....and what I understand is, if it's due to assholitis, he's on the hook for the losses...but if it's health related, it's covered by insurance. Hmmmm.....


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## fredyfreeloader (Dec 11, 2010)

I am not as educated as mhammer nor as well spoken. I do think my experience with musicians over some 50 years allows me to speculate a little. I personally think part of his problem is mental, as he allows his gigantic ego to run rampant whenever the situation arises. Many years of seeing stupidity from performers like him, leads me to believe he can't control that ego whenever he feels his right to the spotlight has been usurped by someone he considers significantly inferior to him, in stature and in talent. I've seen musicians/performers refuse to take the stage in circumstances where another performer, prior to said musician/performer, has played a song or performed other material that said musician/performer had prepared and planned for that particular occasion, rant and rave like a perfect pecker head and walk out. I think it comes with the celebrity side of performing. 
There is an old saying "to bad, so sad, he's just a big dumb _ _ _ _." 'nough said.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

Kanye, wanna see your future?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Thanks for the nod, freddy.
The thing to remember about mania is that impulse-control shrinks down to near zero. Many of you will have seen the movie "Up", and be familiar with the dog whose train of thought can be easily interrupted by "Squirrel!". That's characteristic of mania. Impulsiveness and distractibility are two sides of the same coin. And as we experienced at work here, when a former co-worker went manic on us, it can be expressed in terms of becoming committed to, or involved with, a zillion different things. Every single one of those things is another squirrel.

So I don't doubt that the guy is not doing *all* the work for all the things he is "involved in", but he is "involved" in more than a normal human can attend to.


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## Guest (Nov 26, 2016)




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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

I just watched the video of the rant, for one the guy makes sense to me.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

He's bi-polar, and if he's not, he's afflicted with some other form of mental illness of equal or greater effect. For that he has my sympathy.

I've never understood his popularity, but somehow there is an audience for him. For that he has my bewilderment, dumbfoundedness even.

Neither of the forgoing negates being a jack-ass. Being a jack-ass, bi-polar, and popular are not mutually exclusive. Not recognizing, or caring, when he's a jack-ass is itself a special kind of disabling affliction.

The man is a mess, but compared to a great number of other people I'm concerned about, he's better positioned to get help. On that count I find it hard to care.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Mooh said:


> He's bi-polar, and if he's not, he's afflicted with some other form of mental illness of equal or greater effect. For that he has my sympathy.
> 
> I've never understood his popularity, but somehow there is an audience for him. For that he has my bewilderment, dumbfoundedness even.
> 
> ...











You should charge for wise words like that.


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## BSTheTech (Sep 30, 2015)

Pretty sure this question sits solidly in the WGAF realm.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

#pizzagate


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## TheYanChamp (Mar 6, 2009)

Bi-polar maybe, but cocaine is a hell of a drug!







Pretty unprofessional of him, but if he has an opinion and an audience, at least he's speaking his mind.. definately made some valid points if you have a few mins to find the full version. Gotta love the related illuminati Alex Jones conspiracy crap that is all over the internet as a result.


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## TheYanChamp (Mar 6, 2009)

This may be considered a crazy rant to a low info fan or TMZ celebrity fluff piece, but jump to around the 9 minute mark for a taste of the more coherent parts. Politics aside, he's actually making sense. I still couldn't listen to it all since it was annoying and frankly I have better things to do. I'd probably take a min to read a transcript if I respected the guy more.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

As Mooh said, he is likely bi-polar or suffers from some other serious mental malady. I have a close relative and a friend who have serious bi-polar afflictions (there are different degrees of severity) and without medication they are completely different people.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

I think its drugs combined with a massive ego.
That would suck though, buying tix to a show and the guy, who prob showed up late anyways, pisses away 25min ranting.

Its odd to me the way artists these days communicate with each other, publicly at their own concerts...or I suppose tweets, also publicly.
We know they can use the phone:
Kanye West and Taylor Swift Famous Phone Call Transcript

I just don't understand how this generation communicates.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

Ranting, rapping.

Potato, potahtoe.


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