Question:
How do you tell the difference between a persons personality vs their
Bipolar condition? As an example, suppose I get into an argument with someone I am being
irritable, high energy and impulsive. Would you say I am on the way to
mania? Because there are symptoms of mania, I is my car parked in the
mania slot? What about the other person? They participated just as
much in the argument? Would you say they are on the way to mania. Suppose these are just parts of my personality? I think sometimes,
because we have the Bipolar Conditon ,all of our behaviors are
scrutinized as maybe being part of the Bipolar Condition. I don't believe most people fit into the DSM-IV criteria. I think you
might need to have fewer or more symptoms to qualify you for mania. And doesn't everyone experience mania in a different way, that is
unique as they are as a person? How do you tell one's personality from their Bipolar Conditon?
Answer:
Never really found a true answer to it. I have asked my psych and in
the hospital the same question, cause I am short tempered in the first
place. I was told that a) BP react three times more with their
emotional issues than noneBP and b) BP would go on long after the
argument that none BP.maybe not either / or.but then we all have traits,some bipolars have a
condition diagnosed as a personality disorder.To know you really have
to pay attention."Things fall apart"-A really interesting question because often I feel inadequate around
others after an argument because I feel they are thinking "she is
having an episode" or "she is bipolar, I should excuse her behaviour". Perhaps there are some people who use the other person's illness to
their advantage. For example, I was telling my father off for something
he did and he rebutted by saying "you are not well are you". I was so
so insulted that he would use the illness to better his position in an
argument. My partner once said to me after I raised this question with him, that
everybody gets irritable, angry and goes overboard sometimes so it's
not necessarily the illness. I understand what you are saying. Tonight we went to a family wedding. I
finally felt decent for a change after being on a new BP med(GEODON). I'm
having a great time. Conversing on one topic with a cousin and his wife and
mom...then on another topic. I felt really good mentally and physically.
All at once my wife says so everyone at the table can here "Can you tell he
is having a MANIC episode....he is talking up a storm and going from one
topic to another!!!" The table got quiet...i said..."I sure didn't think I
was going "Off the wall"? " No body there thought I was being
strange....except my wife. I was just having a great time? Is my wife just
being overly sesitive to my behavior? Sometimes I feel she just wants me
to sit in a corner and drool and show no emotion to anything!!!!
Opinions? I think people control us and too often any little behavior that hints
of BP. we are considered having an episode. A psych doctor, which I fired, when I saw him the last time, I started
to question his treatment plan. He told me you need to up your Lithium,
because it looks like you are having a manic episode. And I held back with him. I didn't say all I wanted to say. Then, he
threatned me and told me if I was this way again, it would be the end
of my treatment. If he thought I was having a manic episode, he should
have help me to take care of it and not threaten me.
