I Understand You.

The  penguin was a transfer student.
“Hello, guys! This is our new classmate!”
“Hi. I'm Penguin. My hobby's plying the piano. Nice to meet you!”

During recess, the penguin was called by the snail.

 “Hey, Penguin! My name's Snail. Nice to meet you! I'll show you around the school.” 

The two talked, going around the school. 

“You like the piano, don’t you? I play the piano too!” 

“Oh really? I like, 'Clair de lune.'"

“So do I!” 

The penguin and the snail were on the same wavelength and because of this they became good friends.

After school, the penguin was surrounded by his classmates and they began to ask questions. 

“Where did you live before?”
“It's cool that you can play the piano! Can you play it next time?” 

“Let’s go home together! I wanna chat with you more on the way!”

The penguin said to them,
“OK! Why don’t you ask Snail ?”　

And then, his classmates suddenly became silent.

Someone started saying,
“umm…,we are better off not inviting Snail.”
“Yeah. I am not good with him.”
“Sometimes, he is cheerful but at other time he also become unsociable. So, I am tired with him.”
“Last day, I hung out with him and we enjoyed, but the next day when I met him, he was reluctant to talk with me. I was so sad..”
The penguin was shocked.

The next morning, the penguin greeted the snail. 

"Good morning, Snail!"

"...Good morning."

The snail replied with a whisper. The penguin felt as if the wonderful time he had spent with the snail yesterday was an illusion after all.

Though the penguin was sad, he decided to talk with the snail after school. “Hi, Snail.” “…What?” “Why don’t you play the piano with me at/during the school festival?”

“…Oh! That's a great idea. Let's do it! All of a sudden, the snail's face became bright and the penguin was caught off guard. However, he was glad that the snail accepted his offer.

After that the two practiced hard for the school festival.

Their hard word payed off; the concert was spectacular.

While the penguin was playing the performance, he wished that their time on stage would last forever. The snail had the same feeling.

On top of that, the harmonized melody made the listeners feel the same.

After the performance, the two spent some time talking and relishing in their sense of achievement.

The next day, the Penguin spoke to the Snail. “Good morning, Snail! I'll never forget our performance yesterday. Thank you for playing with me!"

Yet the snail just said something quietly as if he was not the penguin's friend and their time together was only a fantasy/dream.

However the Penguin was not shocked.

It was because he knew that the Snail was suffering from Bipolar Disorder. The Snail told him about it yesterday. Bipolar Disorder is a disease in which the gap between the time of feeling joy and depression is huge.

Because of it the snail would jump out of a window when he was in a good mood. On the other hand, he skipped class when he was in a bad mood.

Remembering the performance yesterday, the penguin looked forward to playing the piano with the snail again.

Commentary:

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness which causes  extreme fluctuation in mood. This mental disorder is classified into 3 categories, which are Bipolar I ,Bipolar II and Cyclothymic disorder. Bipolar I is characterized by serious depression and intense mania. Patients do unexpected behaviors such as to move around without sleeping at night, keep talking or to get angry if  disrupted in their loud monologues. Bipolar II causes serious depression and not so intense mania as in Bipolar I. Cyclothymic disorder has less severe depression and mania. Cyclothymic disorder has less severe depression and mania. The causes of the illness are many, which include genetic problems, sleep deprivation, extreme stress and drugs and alcohol. Pregnancy has a high risk of causing the disease. The treatment is a combination of medicines and other psychological methods (psychotherapy). The treatment is the combination of medicines and other psychological methods (psychotherapy). If no results are seen, electroconvulsive therapy, which gives a shock to the brain, might be considered. Not only the patient's efforts, but also the understanding of people around the patient are crucial for overcoming this disease.Reference:

“What Is a Person with Bipolar Disorder Like?”

What Is a Person with Bipolar Disorder Like?