I am kind of like Skeezyks, that infamous old troll. I used to experience it occasionally when I was younger but haven't really had to deal with it the last few years. I just turned 68. Personally, I think it has something to do with the decrease of my libido as I grow older.
I was never dx Bipolar but maybe schizophrenic. I had a half doz. episodes when I was in my 20's. Usually, I would end up in a hospital and get stabilize on some AP med. After a few months I would feel better and stop taking the meds and go back to work. It might be a year or two until something else would trigger another episode. When I turned 30 the episodes stopped for 20 years. I had another mild episode about a month after the 9/11 thing happened. Because I was familiar with what was happening I was able to make it through that episode after about 3 weeks without having to take any meds. I did seem to notice that I experienced several sleep paralysis dream type experiences during that time. It used to really freak me out too until I learn what it was and started reading books about it. Someone once said that knowledge is the antidote for fear.
Late 2002 I decided that I needed to do this combo treatment for Hep C. This gastro doctor started to interview me to see if I would be a candidate for the treatment. He wanted to know if I had any history of mental illness and I told him no because that would exclude me from trying the treatment. I needed try the treatment or I would probably be dead in a few years as my liver was really going down hill. I was one of the lucky ones and the treatment cured me.
A lot of the people that went through the treatment suffered from depression and experience some pretty strange dreams. A couple of months after I completed the treatment I really went through some strange dream type experiences ( lucid dreams, false awakenings and even an OBE ) It was a real trip. I met a couple of entities but never no aliens though. The good news is I have been doing pretty good for the last 17/18 years.