[Happy Camper]

Most people can experience sad/blue/depressed moods, so by using the word depressed, does that mean that when they're extra cheery and energetic for a few days they could be described as manic (in a very low-level sense?)

Maybe it's just semantics, but people throw the word depression around a lot for non clinical/major/bipolar instances of depression, but no one seems to do this for the other end.

So if happy/energetic/cheery/active doesn't equal (hypo)mania, should typical blue/sad moods not warrant the use of the word depression?

Hopefully that made sense

[TheatreKid]

The term depression shouldn't be thrown around as much as it is, but I guess they use the term "clinical depression" for the full psychiatric diagnosis?

Depression has a different definition in economics, meteorology, astronomy, regular language. Mania, not so much. Maybe that's why depression is more widely used. I have heard people who are not bipolar call themselves manic. It's pretty obvious that they are not. The word "maniac" comes from the same root as "mania".

What are nons? Is that a term to describe someone without a mental illness? I've never heard that before. I wouldn't want to be called a non.

[Happy Camper]

Non in this context=normal/neurotypical

Usually on any given forum a non is a person that doesn't have the disorder or condition the forum is about.

Autistic people tend to say neurotypical in place of non, but the term applies to people that are pretty much completely normal/average from a mental health standpoint.

I said non instead of normal because I wasn't sure if I'd upset someone by suggesting they're not normal. I'm a non here now that my bipolar 1 was lifted to mood disorder nos.

Clinical depression makes sense, and I wasn't at all talking about the other meanings of depression.

How were the people claiming they were manic behaving? I know maniac is derived from mania, but I'm talking specifically about people claiming to be manic/in a mania.

[TheatreKid]

I've heard people say "I look manic in this photo" when they do not have a bipolar diagnosis.

[Happy Camper]

What does a stereotypical manic person even look like? How does one "look manic"?

All I can think of is big wide eyes and colorful clothes (or no clothes) with a splash of sleep deprivation.

http://www.wwwentworth.co.uk/scr/scr27207.jpg

That's the first thing that showed up under "manic face". About as obnoxious as I expected.

There's also Claire Danes, a master of crazy faces

Back on to the original question. So nothing in a normal person's life is ever comparable even to hypomania?

Originally Posted by Happy Camper

...Back on to the original question. So nothing in a normal person's life is ever comparable even to hypomania?

Because everything is part of a spectrum, I don't think it's even possible to answer this. There are the extremes… very manic, very depressed. Everything else would fall somewhere between these two. Think of a Bell Curve. The closer you get to the middle, the more common the experience would be. It would be seen as "normal". The further out you get in either direction is going to reflect fewer people's experience.

I'll grant that the cut-off points defining pathological are fairly arbitrary, but the further you go is naturally going to affect/impact people's lives in a negative way. Diagnoses are based on how negatively these experiences impact one's life. So, their experience would head in the direction of what would be defined as hypomania (ie. it would move from the center-- the pinnacle of "normalness", so to speak, of the Bell Curve).

But. It's unlikely to last as long or impact their life in a significantly negative way. Which is to say it wouldn't meet the criteria to bother to be called hypomania. So, essentially yes, but no.

That's my take on it anyway, fwiw. Hope it makes sense.

[Happy Camper]

I'm curious about hypomania as a personality trait/dimension. Some people seem to have very energetic and productive baselines. This is how I like to be and my mood suffers when the world has given me nothing to do (I'm not great at self-directing). My grandfather is the same way and he isn't bipolar either.

Unlike true bipolar (mostly random mood swings) it is things in my environment that cause the elation and goal oriented behavior. In highschool it allowed me to finish two semesters of art credits in 18 hours straight.

What you are describing sounds just like the normal ebb and flow of being a human. Not every mood fluctuation is one that qualifies for bipolar. "Nons" of course have good days and bad, that can be completely dependent on circumstance. Or they can have moods that are more random, thats just what happens to humans, chemicals are constantly changing in our body so moods are too.

Bipolar describes people whos moods are to the extreme. Everyone has mood swings. It is only bipolar when it is significantly impacting your life and happening randomly unrelated to life stressors. The people who have mild "bipolar" in reaction to lifes stressors are usually not bipolar at all. They just need to learn how to deal better with the events in their lives through therapy or support from peers. There are so many people who use bipolar as a buzz word and excuse for their silly behaviour.

You might see people commenting they are buzzing or high from caffeine too. Just look at how many "bipolar" people drink energy drinks and wonder why they are feeling "up" and having crashing lows after a few days of being energetic.

Bipolar is no longer just a serious mood disorder. Its now used to describe even normal mood fluctuations as an excuse for their behaviour.