It looks like a teacher caught sexting a 14-year-old student at a Christian high school might use the bi-polar defense.  I read the story this morning. Geneva Henry, the 29-year-old mother of three kids under 8, admitted to police that she sent lewd text messages to the student but “blamed” her behavior on bipolar.

 It makes perfect sense to me. That is classic behavior of a bipolar 29-year-old mother of three caught in a manic episode. I am not saying Geneva is innocent. But I am not going to roll my eyes at the first whiff of a mental-illness defense either. For some reason we consider paranoid schizophrenia a valid mental-illness defense. But not bipolar. Why? Because most people do not understand the episodic features of bipolar.

 “Expansiveness, unwarranted optimism, grandiosity and poor judgment often lead to an imprudent involvement in pleasurable activities such as…sexual behavior unusual for the person, even thought these activities are likely to have painful consequences…Ethical concerns may be disregarded even by those who are typically very conscientious…” according to the DSM-IV.

Even worse, many people don’t accept that this is a REAL illness. People with tuberculosis often cough. People with bipolar often act bizarre and break the law.I am not saying we should forgive the bipolar their trespasses as we forgive the paranoid schizophrenic for theirs.  But let’s not label bipolar a Twinkie-defense. Let’s give bipolar and Geneva their day in court. 

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    Last reviewed: 8 May 2009