Posted by BarbaraCat on July 24, 2004, at 12:54:28
In reply to Re: Major Depression May Be Relative of Bipolar Disord, posted by SLS on July 23, 2004, at 18:00:06
> I bet there is a tendency for bipolar depression to be subtly, but consistently different from unipolar depression in its expression. Basically, I think bipolar depression resembles anergic atypical unipolar depression except that there is no mood reactivity.
**Not my experience of it, Scott. My depressions have gone all over the spectrum. I occasionally get the 'oh what's the use' anergic gray blob depression, but what I've come to recognize as the pure bipolar form is a bleak, very weird, agitated and psychotically nightmarish experience that can sometimes last for months at a time. The best way to describe it is Edgar Allen Poe on a bad acid trip. Mixed states, and extremely mood reactive. I have a particuarly severe form of bipolar depression and not all Bipolars get mixed states, thankfully. At it's worst, it is schizoaffective, so something is triggering different parts of my brain to produce quite variable states. My point is that no generalizations can be made. Bipolar goes so wildly over the map that it amazes me that all these symptoms can be lumped under one umbrella.
>
> Some people with bipolar disorder might never express mania. However, their depression might not respond sufficiently to years of antidepressant treatment until someone gets the bright idea of adding a mood stabilizer.**I didn't consider myself bipolar until I started going way back and reframing all those wild and crazy times, all the unfinished projects, the mystical experiences of the Divine, the irritability and insomnia, and thought hmmmmm, well maybe. But the proof in the pudding is how worse I was getting on solo antidepressants and how dramatically lithium changed my life. I don't know, maybe what it comes down to is that if you're depressed and taking an antidepressant, chances are that antidepressant will eventually poop out without a mood stabilizer. Maybe a mood stabilizer should be given, de rigeur, along with an AD.
Here's a very good site with great info on bipolar. You can spend days following the links.
http://www.psycheducation.org/
- BarbaraCat
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:368550
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040724/msgs/369971.html