My dark times have got darker over the years and more frequent. I think life events can and do have a hand in this change, but I also think there is a progression of Bipolar to damage our thought process over time causing the dark side to be more prevalent. If there were only euphoria and happyness associated with my mania life would be okay (if I didn't get hurt or worse doing crazy things). But the dark side of mania has dismantled my life till I don't recognize it.