You could call it a kindling effect, though it's often used for things that (probably) work slightly differently, but yes.

It's probably both a memory and a biochemical kindling of sorts and brain damage. It hopelessly interacts, of course. Delusions probably mostly memory and hallucinations mostly brain damage. But again, both feed into one another, of course. Also because your entire brain is pretty much a storage of memory. Maybe not just yours. Darwin might've been (somewhat) wrong.

I believe if you have delusions as well, BP is likely. If it's hallucinations not really fuelled by delusions, it might be more "isolated". Delusions take time to come to fruition, the earlier you have them, the bigger the impact. Hallucinations become more intertwined with hallucinations. Interacting more. If hallucinations aren't your problem, I'd say it's likely it's more developmental, so BP is likely. BP-II more so than BP-I, just based on that.

The earlier the memories, the bigger their impact, but their inherent impact or contrastive impact, their salience, matters most. Emotions are the aspect of memories that matters most, but association combines sensory and emotional aspects, not co-occurrence per se.

It's a theory. But most parts of it anyone may verify by their own experiences.

Any feeling of losing control is delusional. As you just have delusions, it's probably mostly a vulnerability and fear of mood changes that you associate with bad memories, loss of control, creating fear, anxiety, changing your mood.

That meds don't work (well) might mean anxiety is a big part of the problem. Maybe not. But that doesn't mean there's no problem with mood changes and perceptual changes, (mildly) delusional states.

It might mean you need stronger meds to desensitise, so that anxiety becomes less severe, the vicious circle gets broken. You may then lower the dosages or you may need no meds at all (since based on the extra information you gave, it probably BP-II). Psychotherapy might also work. But I wouldn't know.

That's at least what I think may be best. Maybe psychostimulants may help you after a mes increase. They may make things worse if you aren't stable enough.