What do bipolar disorder and obsessive disorder have in common? These are two illnesses that three authors transmitted to their characters in order to develop a beautiful story. Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual changes in a person's mood, energy, and ability to function. Different from the normal ups and downs that everyone goes through, the symptoms of bipolar disorder are severe. They can lead to damaged relationships, poor work or school performance, and even suicide (Stoppler). Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) as an anxiety disorder. It is characterized by distressing intrusive thoughts and/or repetitive actions that interfere with the individual's daily functioning. The DSM-IV criteria for OCD are as follows: The individual expresses obsessions or compulsions. Obsessions are defined by the following four criteria: Recurring and persistent thoughts, impulses, or images are experienced at some point during the disturbance as intrusive and inappropriate and have caused marked anxiety and distress. Thoughts, impulses, or images are not simply worries about real problems. The person attempts to suppress or ignore these thoughts, impulses, or images or to neutralize them with another thought or action. The person recognizes that the obsessive thoughts, impulses, or images are a product of his or her own mind (and not imposed from the outside as in thought insertion). Compulsions are defined by the following two criteria: the person feels driven to perform repetitive behaviors (e.g. washing hands, ordering, checking) or mental acts (e.g. praying, counting, repeating words silently ) in response to an obsession or according to rules that must be rigidly applied. Behaviors or mental acts aim to prevent or reduce distress or prevent a feared event or situation; however, these behaviors or mental acts either are not realistically related to what they are intended to neutralize or prevent, or they are clearly excessive (PsychologyToday). Tennessee Williams' character Blanche DuBois in Streetcar Named Desire, Hamlet in William Shakespeare's Hamlet, and May in Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees all suffer from these two illnesses in their own ways, such as lying and believing their lies to escape reality. lie and act crazy to get revenge on another character, and get really upset about the world's problems, and then start singing. Bipolar disorder is a brain disorder that causes unusual changes in a person's mood, energy, and ability to function..