Unfortunately, the depression symptoms in bipolar don't respond to antidepressants as well as the mania symptoms respond to their meds.

"Happiness" is not the opposite of depression or the result of antidepressants. Not feeling depressed is the goal. That's just run-of-the-mill, day-to-day "normal". One is supposed to respond to other people and events as they happen, not have an all up or all down experience of life. There should be a "base" and one responds up and down, etc. from there. It's like zero on a number line with negative numbers that are very high or "stuck" being depression and positive numbers too high, mania. The "roller coaster" shouldn't be very extreme, very often. Yes if someone close dies you should be an extreme negative or if you win the lottery :-) an extreme high but it shouldn't "stick" or otherwise cause problems (plummeting instead of gradually deflating, for example).

But with bipolar, the degree of negatives and positives aren't necessarily the same; someone may only go to -5 but their mania may be +8 and, getting the +8 down is "worthy" even if it leaves the -5 because you're assuming the +8 with meds goes to the -5 instead of close to 0, the "goal" of treatment. If, for the sake of argument one has six months of -5 and six months of +8, treatment for mania would change that to six months of -5 and six months of +1 :-) which is "better" for one's chemical makeup. Yes, +8 might "feel" real good but burning up the circuits before their time is not a good idea? "Burning the candle at both ends" is a good description, to me, of bipolar and if you can snuff out one end, it's not ideal but at least "better" until the other end can be more researched and helped?