Bipolar - bi-lateral? (Kipling said it...

Although I rejected psychiatric diagnostic labels some years ago, I did once unearth a study claiming a statistical association that may just point the way to something. (Alas I didn’t record the reference at the time, or I’d give it to you now). The claim was that if you have received a diagnosis of Bipolar Affective Disorder, you are three times more likely to be left-handed than the general population! There’s a poem of Kipling’s which has been a favourite of mine for thirty years.

The Two-Sided Man

Much I owe to the hands that grew -
More to the Lives that fed -
But most to Allah Who gave me two
Separate sides to my head

Much I reflect on the Good and the True
In the Faiths beneath the sun,
But most upon Allah Who gave me two
Sides to my head, not one.

Wesley’s following, Calvin’s flock,
White or yellow or bronze,
Shaman, Ju-ju or Angekok,
Minister, Mukamuk, Bonze -

Here is a health, my brothers, to you,
However your prayers are said,
And praised be Allah Who gave me two
Separate sides to my head!

I would go without shirt or shoe,
Friend, tobacco or bread,
Sooner than lose for a minute the two
Separate sides of my head!

Kipling, R (1993) Selected Poems (Penguin: London)

For all things asymmetrical go to http://www.righthandlefthand.com/ and McManus, C (2003) Right Hand, Left Hand: The of Asymmetry in Brains, Bodies, Atoms and Cultures Phoenix: London