My Support Forums - View Single Post - Is bipolar really the cause of your mood swings?

Resident Bipolar · Mar 07, 2015, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Supanova

You can have emotions with-in mood states - like you can experience happiness while in a depressive episode, just as you can experience saddness in a manic episode but these are emotions and not mood states. I think that is where people get confused. You can experience the whole range of emotions and during hypo/mania they may be enhanced and during depression they may be dulled, but you still experience them.

I can be depressed and function almost normally, but I still can have my full range of emotions, albeit sometimes dulled.

Those that feel emptyness and lack of emotion during mood states are more likely to have a personality disorder. But this is not the diagnosing factor.

The definition of mixed on this site seems to be very different to that of what my pdocs tell me and that of which I am studying. My mixed is BOTH at the SAME time, not switching between the two and it is certainly not called rapid cycling according to my care team. I really should look up some definitions but there is so much WRONG information on the internet about bipolar. I am picking up one of my study books today which may have some correct information in it that I can share.

I mostly agree with you. Just one point I disagree with is the feeling of emptiness. A symptom of Depression itself is feeling empty and/or numb (source: Depression: Recognizing the Emotional Symptoms). I feel empty when I am deeply depressed. Feeling empty or numb constantly is a different matter though, so feeling constantly empty or numb regardless of state is more a sign of a Personality Disorder than feeling empty or numb during a depressive episode is. Also remember that some medications can cause a feeling of numbness, so that may be as an effect of the meds rather than the disorder itself.

Your definition of a mixed episode is the correct one. It's a mix between symptoms of mania and depression which exist concurrently. Hence its as straightforward as it sounds; it's exactly what it says on the tin - a mixture of manic and depressive symptoms. This doesn't mean cycling between two different states.

As for rapid cycling, it is not a diagnosis in itself. You cannot be diagnosed with "Rapid Cycling Bipolar Disorder". Rapid Cycling is an episode descriptor, or more accurately a "course specifier" and isn't a permanent thing, in the vast majority of cases. It isn't a mixed episode, or even similar to one. Only around 10-20% of Bipolar patients are thought to experience a rapid cycling state at some point in their lives.

I do think you're right about having emotions during episodes, like anybody else would during eurthymia. We all have good days and bad days, or good hours and bad hours in fact, so I don't see why that would be different during a depressive and/or manic episode.