My question is, do you think having bipolar might cause you to experience life events more strongly than many people? Might life events trigger an episode on either end of the pole for you?

I ask because I got in a serious car accident on Sunday. Someone ran a red light and hit my car, totaling it. Thankfully me and my husband and son walked away with only minor injuries - my husband has a concussion, I have a banged up knee, and my son is completely fine (thank god).

I spent the first two days in shock and yesterday started feeling really depressed over the whole thing. Today I just wanted to crawl back in bed and I cannot wait for the work day to be over. I am only comforted by the fact that I have an extra day off on Monday and I only have to deal with these monsters (as I lovingly call my students) for three more days.

I would not call this a bipolar depressed episode because it was clearly brought on by life events and I believe many non-bipolar people would have the same reaction. I lost my car and very nearly lost my family. I am so angry at the other driver for disregarding the rules of the rules of the road so blatantly and then jumping out of his car to blame me, not see if we were ok. And I am now terrified to drive through intersections and let my husband to anywhere without me because a car accident was one of my anxious ruminations and now it has come true.

I feel today like I can barely function. I know that many non-bipolar people would feel the same but I have to wonder if they would feel the intensity of this all too familiar depression like I do. This feels no different than any other depression to me except it has a clear cause.

So what do you think?