As the saying going, every dog has its day. It’s not just dogs that have days. Apparently every disease has its day also. Something possessed me this morning to see if bipolar disorder had a day. It turns out that I just missed it. National Bipolar Disorder Day is October 11. It corresponds with National Depression Screening Day. There is significance to that correspondence. It is not a matter of so many diseases, so few days.
I checked to see whether there was a bipolar day, because I thought I might want to write a post on it. I was hoping for something in a couple of months, so I could do a lot of research, Now I am forced to do without the research. I’m just going to tell you what I know and I am doing it, because bipolar disorder is a sneaky disease. It is often misdiagnosed as depression.
Depression can be pretty bad. Ordinary tasks can seem insurmountable and there is a desire to just not get out of bed. Everything can seem meaningless and pointless. Here is a really tempting way to deal with depression
Beer can work well in the short run, but it can create more problems than it solves. I found that rereading the Lord of The Rings Trilogy was a really good self administered treatment. There can be no better metaphor for depression than Frodo walking through ashen heaps carrying a heavy burden on an apparently hopeless quest. Reading the story and knowing that he would come out of it was almost as good as having Sam at my side encouraging me
I learned nearly 20 years ago that I was actually suffering from bipolar disorder. Suffering maybe is not the right word. The insidiousness of the disease is the result of mania and hypo-mania feeling so great and helping me be so productive. There is some thought that many mental disorders are actually adaptations to environmental conditions that are no longer very common. There are situations where hypomania might be just the thing called for
I think how much trouble hypo-mania can make for you depends on circumstances. It did not make me stupid. I cannot think of any idea that I came up with during a manic phase that I don’t still think has something in the nature of a good idea about it. It is just that I realize that I have not been commissioned by the guardians of the universe to yell it out from the rooftops and try to confront everyone in power to convince them of their errors. Basically for the most part I just aggravated people.
There is really good treatment for bipolar disorder. The important thing for people to understand though is that some of the symptoms don’t really seem like symptoms. That is why the condition gets misdiagnosed or goes untreated so often.
The Downside of Mood Disorder
The most ironic thing about bipolar disorder is that when you feel really good, you might need to call your doctor. I have developed enough self-awareness to be able to distinguish between a good mood and an oncoming hypomania attack. Last week we resolved a difficult problem with help from another office. I sent an email to the fellow who helped us out copying his boss. I had this overwhelming feeling of how great it was to be in this environment where by making a few phone calls I could find a a subject matter expert who would seamlessly integrate with my team. It is all true and it is a very good thing. And it is not the stuff of epic poetry. My positive reaction was disproportionate. As it turns out I was demonstrating acute bipolar awareness on bipolar disorder day.
The Upside of Mood Disorder
Learning to not trust my moods has helped me become more aware. I don’t disregard and stuff my emotions, but I also don’t accept them as providing me accurate information about anybody but me. I can also let other people have their emotions. The emotional state of people I am interacting with might constitute actionable intelligence, but it is really not anything I can control.
It happens that I have another day this month, but I will spare you. If you have a taste for TMI, you can click on this.
You can follow me on twitter @peterreillycpa.
Originally published on Forbes.com Oct 13th, 2012