Grey's Anatomy Season 5: What's the Deal with Izzie Stevens?

I have been a fan of Grey's Anatomy since day 1. And I have stuck with the show through the bad times, like the departure of regulars Isaiah Washington and Kate Walsh, and the 2007-08 Writer's Strike which cut the fourth season to a mere 17 episodes.

Now season five, which began in September 2008, has been chocked full of very strange storylines. First there was Dr. Callie Torres's abrupt transition into a lesbian. Then there was the bizarre discovery that the surgical interns had been operating an undercover ring of self-mutilation; after complaining they did not get enough opportunities to observe in the OR, characters like Lexie and Sadie secretly cut each other open in the hospital basement in order to practice stitching each other up. Not to mention that early on in the season, Cristina got punctured in the chest with an icicle.

While those storylines are all a bit weird, the weirdest of all has to do with Dr. Izzie Stevens, played by Katherine Heigl. For several episodes she has been seeing visions of her dead fianc�, Denny Duquette, who died of heart failure in Season 2. At first Izzie was scared of seeing him, and even went through a Native American ritual of burning a sweater of Denny's in hopes of letting go of her memories of him. However, in the past few weeks her visions of Denny have intensified, so much that she is now talking to him and even making love to him! In every scene in which we see Izzie, Denny is with her. She is skipping her job to have sex with him (the other doctors think she is just sleeping and excessively masturbating).

What is Izzie's problem? There are two main theories out there: either Izzie has a brain tumor or she is having a nervous breakdown.

According to the American Brain Tumor Association (www.abta.org), one of the more common symptoms of a brain tumor are mental or personality changes. This could explain Izzie's hallucinations. We could see Izzie operated on by her fellow surgeons. It would be interesting to see how the residents react to treating "one of their own", although it is not the first time this has happened. Derek treated Burke after he was shot and George helped deliver Bailey's baby.

A fatal brain tumor would also be a way to write Katherine Heigl off of the show. There were rumors circulating earlier in the year that she wants out. There you have it; Izzie dies and Katherine is free to do other things. However the two most common symptoms of brain tumors, headaches and/or seizures, are not present in Izzie.

Hallucinations are also a very common symptom of several mental illnesses, including manic depression, schizophrenia, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We do not know much about Izzie's family; perhaps mental illness runs in her family. PTSD makes sense, too. Having been stressed with the pressures of being a doctor could have caused her to block out painful memories of Denny's death. This may be her delayed grief response. But a mental illness would not write Katherine Heigl off the show, if that's what she wants. Unless the mental illness would cause her to commit suicide. Maybe she will kill herself to be able to be with Denny. Suicide is a very controversial topic that has yet to be touched by Grey's Anatomy (with the exception of Meredith's near-drowning, which Derek questioned as intentional). Suicide is very real; I think we all knew at least one person who has committed it or at least attempted it, so why not touch on it on television? The actors of Grey's Anatomy could even lead a suicide-prevention campaign.

I honestly believe that Izzie is having a nervous breakdown and that she is not suffering from a brain tumor. Her symptoms just fit mental illness much more. The hallucinations remind me very much of Andie McPhee on the 1990's WB drama �Dawson's Creek. Andie saw visions of her dead brother and then locked herself in a bathroom, threatening to kill herself. She was then admitted to a mental institution. I see a similar route for Izzie.

Whether it is a brain tumor, mental illness, or another disorder that the writers have dreamed up, we viewers will not find out for at least a month. The next new �episode will not air until January 8, 2009! Hope it gets here soon!