Thinking that a person with this condition is always in these two phases is wrong, for what reason? Two experts explain it to you.
There is a state called neutral or euthymia, which are moments of stability in a person who lives with this disorder, so they will not always be in crisis, whether it is mania or depression.
Let’s start from the principle that We all fluctuate, a person never goes to sleep with the same mood with which they woke upit may even be similar to the “normality” of the population average and that throughout the day the fluctuations are minimal.
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So it may be normal to say: “I got a little anxious today because I had this Live and I wanted to answer the questions in an assertive and appropriate way”, but if now I receive a call with some specific circumstance that may bother me, it is normal, i.e. this obeys Not only to environmental circumstances, to what happens to us on a daily basis, there are also many physical, organic, hormonal and metabolic factors that cause our mood to fluctuate.
However, the person with bipolar disorder will fluctuate much more towards mania, depression or hypomania, outside a range of “normality” and this will determine a little what this disorder is precisely.
Now, the idea is that thanks to treatment and specific psychological support, you will have asymptomatic periods and can be in a neutral state of mind without this meaning that you do not have a bipolar disease and that you always have to be fluctuating.
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That is also what we specialists seek, through adequate therapeutic and pharmacological treatment, to guarantee that the person spends as much time as possible in that neutral moment in which they will have emotions and fluctuations, but within much higher ranges. functional, that is, they allow you to carry out daily activities, connect properly with the people around you, respond well to the different demands that everyday life brings and space out those moments in which you can have a crisis. , whether manic or depressive.
Let’s remember that when we talk about depression it is not just being sad, in order to be able to say that a person has bipolar disorder it is important to define what their fluctuations are like because being sad is not depression. Depression is a medical situation in which we have a set of signs and symptoms that are made up of:
- Sleep problems, mostly insomnia or in very rare cases hypersomnia, sleeping too much.
- Alterations in appetite, which are mostly hyporexia or having a low appetite and in a few cases hyperphagia, that is, overeating.
- Mood that is predominantly negative or low.
- Easy crying.
- Many cognitions.
- Many ideas of hopelessness.
- Handicap, feeling like you are not worth it.
- Not seeing a future or a way out.
- Feeling of condemnation and guilt.
All these signs make up a symptomatic picture that can last two weeks, unlike sadness that lasts only two hours.
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It is also important to keep in mind that saying that an elated or very happy person is not manic for the simple fact of being happy or having an upward change in mood. A person with a manic or hypomanic episode may also:
- Having sleep disturbances, but not in that you cannot fall asleep, but rather that you do not need to sleep, you have a lot of energy, like a motor.
- Do and plan things.
- Having feelings that you are the best, that you are a great person and that you can achieve anything, a very opposite thought to when you are in depression.
- Feeling that everything is going to be fine, that you can do various projects and many things.
- Feeling that everything is going to happen.
- Talk and think very quickly.
At this point, when we understand that it is not being happy or sad, we can think that, precisely, the person with bipolar disorder requires support, a specific treatment to know themselves and understand what is happening to them, what is trigger an episode and, in this way, be free of symptoms for a long time. I know of cases that have lasted 5, 6, 7 or 8 years completely asymptomatic because they do the treatment that the psychiatrist gives them, they go to their therapy for psychology and when they finish they remain under surveillance, they know what things they can do, if they can stay up late, if they can drink or if they can use psychoactive substances, for example.
The person must learn to manage this disorder and live a functional life. He is not a mentally disabled or crazy person.
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