gaz,
glad to see that you are still around. hope that you are getting stronger every day.
in ancienty isreal every seventh year was a "jubilee year." in a jubilee year all debts were forgiven and all slaves were freed. however, not all slaves wanted the responsibility of freedom. if they were free they would have to wrooy about where their next meal was coming from. every night they would have to worry about where they would sleep. freedom is not free: it has to be won and earned every day.
the rabbis decided that the slaves who refused freedom could remain slaves but theywould have to bear a mark showing that they had heard about freedom and had rejected it. so each if these slaves would present himself or herself before the slave owner and place their head on a step. the slavwe owner would then step upon a spike, driving it through the earlobe of the recalcitrant slave, showing the world that this slave had heard about freedom and had rejected it.
perhaps the people with bi-polar are like these recalcitrant slaves. bid is their comfort zone and the are afraid to accept the responsibility of freedom from the disorder.
warren