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1. The Causes of Manic Depressive Disorder
Igor as the major character in the novel The Winner Stands Alone is told that he has many experiences and histories in his life that then some of them can
be the causes he suffers manic depressive disorder. There are some causes presented as following:
a Psychosocial Causal
Factor
Obviously, one reason Igor suffers this disorder is because the psychosocial factor. He has struggled hard to get his obsession of becoming a
successful person, then he is afraid of losing what he has achieved, and at that time his lovely wife also leaves him for another man. That situation has made him
have to face the hard time he does not want to. Therefore, the stressful live event is the fit one to be the cause of his experience of becoming a manic depressive
sufferer. There are some signs shown that he still loves his wife and wants her to come back to his side. He dares to take any risk in getting her back.
The first proof is Igor is really eager to go to the Cannes Film Festival where he can meet with his ex-wife and he hopes his sacrifice will grant him
worthy result that she will come back to his side. He says to Olivia “Of course, I could say that life has treated me unfairly and taken from me the most important
thing there is: love…. “ p. 21. His remark reveals that he cannot bear to lose the only important love he has in his life. He cannot accept it and blame it as the
injustice of life. Then, the second proof is that he cannot accept his wife leaving him and so
he has planned to destroy or kill people as the message conveyed to his ex-wife.
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59 He is not afraid of running any risk, although the consequences are highly
dangerous. He plans his strategies carefully, and thus he hopes that the ways he used will be successfully done to convey his message. He openly confesses his
plan to Olivia. “….. Perhaps because I need to prove to myself just what I’m capable of.
Perhaps because I lied, and there is only one woman for me. I have a plan” “What plan?”
“I told you before. I’m going to keep destroying worlds until she realizes how important she is to me and that’s I’m prepared to run any risk in order
to get her back. p. 21
From the descriptions revealed above, they show that Igor has lost his important love in his life and he struggles so hard to get it back by using any risky
ways. It is related to the cause of stressful life event he has to experience and by then it also makes him be a sufferer of manic depressive disorder.
b Sociocultural Factors
Sociocultural factors can be the cause of manic depressive disorder experienced by Igor since there are two categories included in this factor. Those
categories, which are a belief in self-sufficiency and demographic differences in societies as stated by
Carothers
are the appropriate factors to reveal the Igor’s condition of becoming manic depressive sufferer as cited in
Carson, Butcher, and Mineka, 2000, p. 249
. 1
A Belief in Self-Sufficiency It is stated before that people who live in urban societies tend to have
depressive disorder.
Carson, Butcher, and Mineka 2000 explain
it can happen because the urban societies have highly problem and responsibility for self-
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60 sufficiency p. 249. It is obviously prominent that the problem of self-sufficiency,
choice, and responsibility cannot be avoided for those who live in urban area. Commonly, they have to compete with others to get and show the best they have.
The competition itself that finally then make them so depressed. They will feel upset and distressed if they cannot achieve their sufficiency and show to others
that they are capable of getting more than others. That case is experienced by Igor who lives in Russia and he also has a lot
of money. He is the owner of a successful telephone company. He has got more than enough, but he does not want to stop of getting more and more wealth. He is
afraid of losing what he has got. He never wants to stop competing with others. He even does not have no idea what he will do if he has no activities related to his
business. Furthermore, he indirectly has preferred his career to his wife. And that was when he understood. It wasn’t true that he would give up
work next month or next year or even next decade. They would never have the house in the country and the children they dreamed of. He asked
himself that night why this was impossible and he had only one answer. On the road to power, there’s no turning back. He would be an eternal
slave to the road he’d chosen, and if he did ever realize his dream of abandoning everything, he would plunge immediately into a deep
depression. p. 158
Igor finally realizes that he is unable to leave all of those things he has rebuilt from the beginning when he has nothing. Although he has more
sufficiency, he does want to stop getting more and more since he does not want to leave all of his wealth and to be an ordinary man. He is also a workaholic person
whose the purpose in the beginning is different with the one when he has been a rich person. He becomes an obsessive person whose job is a compulsion within
his life. He works all time and day without taking much break. It is stated that a
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61 workaholic can be a depressed if he does not have any challenge and problem in
running his business p. 160. Therefore, it is very important to him to be a workaholic to fulfill more and more sufficiency of his living. That Igor’s motive
to get more and more belongs to self-actualization need as Maslow said that this need demands a person to develop and grow more to become he or she is capable
of becoming as cited in Petri, 1981, pp. 302-305. 2
Demographic Differences in Societies Many studies show that the bipolar sufferers commonly are from higher
socioeconomic classes. Carson, Butcher, and Mineka state that the sufferers come from families with higher status and tend to have more education. Perhaps, it can
happen because the people who have higher status need more to increase achievement and accomplishment p. 250. Generally, they will feel as great
people if they can fully achieve more and more than others get. Igor who suffers manic depressive disorder also shows this symptom. He
needs more achievement to show that he is great and capable of getting more than others have. It is not only the wealth he wants to achieve more, but also more
knowledge and information in which he attains to improve more his ability. Although Igor is only an ordinary man in the beginning, but his condition
has changed him to become a very rich person. He successfully can build a telephone company. He has one of the most enviable jobs in the world. He is also
able to earn very much money in a day where he can spend it in a year p. 9. That proves that he is a person who has high socioeconomic status. Hence, he
always wants to achieve more for than he has by working so hard. It shows that he
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62 needs esteem need from others where he expects his high status and reputation as
successful and rich person will be admitted by others. He is not only obsessed of getting more wealth, but also of accomplishing
his mission in winning his love back. He is challenged for doing that since the plans used are not easy and also apply sophisticated techniques. Thus, he thinks
he must totally complete and achieve his mission. after he kills a girl named Olivia and he wants to get another victim, his adrenaline fills hi blood, his heart
beats faster, and he is excited and happy p. 43. That means he is ready to get his next plan. It indicates that he needs to prove his capability to bring about what he
desires can be carried out successfully. Igor’s need to show that he is capable of completing his mission successfully belongs to the esteem need of self-esteem, in
which it involves achievement in getting what he wants.
2. The Type of Manic Depressive Disorder
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