Neither would own a gun. Two years after they'd made the pact, her friend shot himself. He hadn't called her. When she woke up and found she was alive, she realized that if she didn't take her lithium regularly she would die. Lithium causes acne, weight gain and trembling, and it has a stigma attached to it.
People love mania in the early stages, but then become psychotic in the later ones.
For others, it starts with social withdrawal, mild depression, mood swings, violence and great irritability. She added that parents should be on the lookout if there's a family history of psychiatric illness. Every case of suicide isn't preventable, given that many people are volatile and do it on impulse, but, from a public health perspective, most can be prevented, she said. Information about manic depression is widely available in schools, but the quality of the materials varies, she said. It could be included in orientation packets at colleges.