I think that attributing passions to a disorder is just...sad. Maybe you've been blessed with above-average intelligence and sensitivity to beauty? Perhaps you won't write the next symphony, but if there weren't audiences to appreciate and support the arts, there would be no orchestra.

Hasn't everything we value been driven by passion? Who's to say how much is pathological? Life is challenging enough to navigate without denying or medicating inspiration. Not only is excitement about something fulfilling, it's infectious.

I was reading a psychiatrists' message board recently, and more than one agreed that it would be a revelation to observe a true case of mania because it's "exceedingly rare." They agreed that it existed (who could deny it?), but that, as professionals, they were way too quick to pathologize emotional intensity. Nobody can prove that the writers of these comments are who they say they are (although supposedly they have to present their credentials to the website owner prior to posting), or that they're qualified to make this observation, but this is...disturbing to me.