I found an interesting statement on a website "bipolarcaregivers.com" and I can't quote it exactly but basically this is how I described my illness to my husband when he was questioning my illness:
People with bipolar can't control their moods. When I am "down" I can go to work and come home and he can ask me to list 5 good things that happened to me today and I will say nothing and want to just go to bed; BUT he could call my boss and ask her the same question and she could say "oh my, she had a great day; I gave her a raise and praised her for being such a great employee". On the flip side, when I am "up", I could lose my job and come home and it would be like "the sky is blue". That analogy made sense to him. This website stated that most people can do things to help their "bad days" or rejoice in their good days. We cannot.....ice cream does not cheer us up; drinks after work does not release a rough day at work and when we are up, we don't usually rejoice in anything except how fabulous we are!