Bipolar Disorder Comes to 90210

The big-media mainstreaming of mental illness continues, for better or worse, with the revelation that a character on 90210 suffers from bipolar disorder.

In a recent episode, the cool, quirky Erin Silver surprised everyone by ranting conspiracy theories and resorting to wild physical violence. Eventually, she was hospitalized. As recounted at the TV blog CliqueClack, "After last week's episode, a lot of you thought that Silver's reckless behavior was due to bipolar disorder. Well, it turns out you were right. After she punched out Mr. Matthews' window and threw a wine bottle at him, she ended her reign of terror by playing chicken with a train bound for Kansas. I don't have a lot of personal experience with bipolar disorder," muses the blogger, "but this doesn't seem to have been handled in a very subtle way," in t hat "this illness really seemed to come out of nowhere. Silver was perfectly even-keeled (in a sullen teenager kind of way), but as soon as Dixon says he loves her, she suddenly begins displaying manic depressive symptoms -- symptoms that no one in her life has ever seen before. I'm not positive, but I don't really think that's how the disease works." Granted, it's not a "disease," but the blogger doesn't know this. "In any case, that's how bipolar disorder works on 90210: You freak out, get a tattoo, make some porn, and try your best to catch a midnight train to Kansas."

Jessica Stroup, the actress who portrays Silver, "says she appreciates the challenge of playing someone with a mental disorder," according to Google News. "The 23-year-old actress ... says she's careful not to play Silver's mood swings too over the top. She says she did as much research on the disorder as she could because 'it's something that touches so many people but isn't really explored.' Stroup says some people 'have reached out to me to say they watched and it meant a lot.'"