In 1999 General Hospital fans got a birds eye view of the beginning stages of character Sonny Corinthos' Bi Polar disorder after Sonny's wife Lily was killed in a car bomb explosion.

 

At the time the writers had  Carly going to see him and he was an absolute emotional mess, this all was brought to the fore front when Juan had been shot at and it affected him mentally and emotionally.

 

Back then he had not been diagnosed however  Carly and  Jason referred to it over the years as his dark place.

 

What I like and respect about this storyline is the fact that  Maurice Benard who plays Sonny Corinthos has Bi Polar Disorder himself and he could do the storyline justice and with class because he could do it from the stand point of his own experience having  BPD. The writers showed a great respect for him by executing this storyline so well.

 

Maurice was outstanding , he made me as well as other fans feel a roller coaster of emotions during this time. The Bi polar storyline cropped up again in 2006 when Ric Lansing started a campaign to make Sonny believe he was seeing his dead wife Lily when he looked at  Emily Quartermaine.

 

He ripped a dress off her which scared the hell out of her enough to run out of the house crying and who could blame her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This started a fire storm where  Emily tried to make Jason and Carly see there was something very wrong with Sonny and they had no idea what they were dealing with.

 

For friends or family members of people who have bi polar disorder it has made us become more aware of the things that our loved ones have to deal with on a daily basis thanks to Maurice Benard discussing his own strugggles with Bi polar disorder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The story began with  Jean Slater who has bi polar disorder herself recognizing all the same signs in her daughter Stacey that she herself had where her bi polar disorder was concerned.

 

 

Jean was absolutely horrified when she saw Stacey's disturbing behaviour, throwing itens through a closed window breaking the window in the process, drinking, sleeping with different men and not having any thought of what people thought of her and even denying that she has a problem.

 

 

 

 

In my opinion Maurice Benard and  Lacey Turner  both knocked the BPD storyline out of the ball park.

 

Both Stacey and  Sonny got the help they needed to control their BPD and they are living their lives normally with the help of medication.

 

I think Its  very important for people to learn all they can about bi polar disorder, and if its in people's family and suspect another family member has it then they should definitely seek help for those they believe have it.

 

With watching both Maurice's portrayl on GH and Lacey Turner's interpreation of Bi Polar disorder, its made me more aware of and more understanding of my own relatives who have Bi Polar disorder.