I really relate to this, blue. I am not sure whether my mania causes my psychosis or my psychosis causes my mania. Or what. But I definitely get psychotic completely independent of my "mood" episodes. No question about it. In fact, I don't really even like calling whatever I have a mood disorder, because it is so much more than a mood issue. Way more. I just don't think full-blown bipolar disorder with psychosis is primarily an illness of mood. It is something much more all-encompassing than that, in my humble opinion.