Quote:
Originally Posted by Secretum
By the DSM's standards, a hypomanic "episode" must last for a minimum of 4 days, a manic "episode" for at least a week, and a depressive "episode" for at least 2. These time requirements are completely arbitrary. A lot of research, actually, has discovered that the mean duration for hypomanic experiences is only 1-2 days.
My mood states vary considerably in duration, from minutes to months, so I have just decided to not use the word episode with regards to my own experience. I think that it is an ugly-sounding word anyway.  Edit: I just realized that I do call my depressions that last for months "episodes" sometimes. Perhaps it is because they are lengthier, and I can easily tell which symptoms have changed from depression to depression, whereas if I tried to analyze my faster shifts so thoroughly I would just get confused.
Cycling (a much, much prettier word, IMO  ), to me, refers to dramatic mood shifts, regardless of the speed at which the moods change. This, of course, leaves us with the problem of defining "dramatic"...I believe that if the mood changes are obvious enough that the person experiencing them notices them and finds them distressing, then they are "dramatic". My normal mood changes are noticeable to me, but I can let go of them, or distract myself from them. Moods from my bipolar cycling consume me. |
Hm, interesting on the departure between what the DSM states and what people seem to experience. But it's not the duration alone that defines whether an "episode" is hypomanic or manic - severity of symptoms also fits in there somewhere too, right?
Hypomania usually lasts 3 - 7 days for me, depending on how much I'm doing to manage symptoms, nearly always with a couple days of rebound depression before returning to "normal" or whatever else the predominate mood may be. Other than rebounding from hypomania, depression lasts from a couple days to a couple months, though. With occasional "blips," especially if I'm traveling (but those are week long blips!)