My manic episodes are generally more severe than my depressions, but are treated somewhat easily with an increase in my AP. However my depressions just don't respond to treatment. Mood stabilizers don't do anything and antidepressants turn it into a mixed state (occasionally mania).
I'm in a depression right now and am hesitant to seek treatment for it or even tell my doctor. I know eventually it'll go away on its own but I'm not sure if that'll be before or after my safety becomes compromised.

[1978dd]

For me, depression is much more difficult to come out of and painful than hypomania (I don't get mania). With depression, I don't want to do anything but with hypomania I want to be on the go!

[UpDownAround]

Originally Posted by 1978dd

For me, depression is much more difficult to come out of and painful than hypomania (I don't get mania). With depression, I don't want to do anything but with hypomania I want to be on the go!

Same here with the added bonus that nearly all my hypomanic episodes are euphoric.

[pirilin]

Depression.

[99fairies]

Definitely depression. I can't take AD's so I just have to suffer through it. With mania I just pop AP's for a few days and I'm fine.

[WildcatVet]

I'm very rarely manic anymore thanks to my meds...even the hypos are less severe...wish I could say the same for the interminable depressions...

[wildflowerchild25]

Depression. I thought emsam was my miracle drug and it was for two years but now I’m back in the hole. I can still go up on it so we will see. I hate having yo get ECT.

[fishin fool]

My hypo mania is easier to treat than my depression.
Both are less severe because of meds but my depression has always been terrible.
Even on meds I can sometimes fall into a deep depression but I notice it doesn't
last nearly as long as it did before meds. I also still cycle rapidly but again not as
severe.

Um, are people answering backwards?

Mania-hypomania is easier to treat. Olanzapine quickly shoots me out of the sky.

I can’t have antidepressants, and depression/anxiety is so painful

It used to be the case that my mania was hard to treat, but mostly when it was mania with mixed features. Nowadays a good antipsychotic seems to help rather quickly.

My severe and even moderate depressions are not that difficult to ease nowadays (with Seroquel XR and the rest of my mix), but what is difficult is getting me one step better from subthreshold mild depression (low motivation, lethergy).

[Nammu]

What's easier to treat, the mania. Depression response is much slower.

[Guiness187055]

Mania is easier to treat for me

[scatterbrained04]

My hypomania is a lot easier to treat than my depression.

[GoldenSnitch]

My depression is definitely worse. I haven’t had a bad manic episode since I found my current med combo but I’ve still had awful depressions.

[~Christina]

I would say Mania ... but right now Im just in hell . I honestly would like some depression right about now.

[Pookyl]

The big highs and lows are easier to treat. What I'm finding really hard to manage are the mixed moods - I become suicidal and risk taking all at once.

[BipolaRNurse]

Mania is much easier to treat---just give me a boost in my Zyprexa and I'm down off the moon in 36-48 hours. Depression is a pain in the tush and it takes longer to go away than the mania/hypomania (I haven't had a full-blown case of mania in several years thanks to multiple APs and mood stabilizers). I can't take a higher dose of AD because it will throw me right into mania. So I basically have to put up with the depression and use my light box every day during the winter months, which is when I tend to get depressed in the first place.

[CaminoDeOro]

I have had very little time in my life when I've NOT been depressed. Maybe like 3 years if you add it up? It's absolutely laid waste to my life. There have been few rays of hope med-wise, now we are looking very carefully but of course that takes months to years. I am trying DBT. If my life is stable and relationships strong, that's when I'm least depressed. I can bounce back pretty well in that very rare situation.