My small disorder?

Hello fellow ATS'ers, this is the first time posting a thread on this beautiful message board. I've been dialoging with a friend, graduate in psychology, about what we think is wrong with me. The condition? Mania.
Mania is described as a condition that allows one have extreme states of arousal/happiness/irritable mood and then depressive/sad episodes, almost like depression itself. There is no in-between feelings or sensations, either I'm that good or that bad. The downside to this situation is that I tend to value a lot my personal relationships that avoid states of depressive behavior, and when they end the fall is even bigger. This is what has been happening with my life, but the strange bit comes afterwards: When I'm at work my customers are everything I care about, as well as my colleagues, and the day is much more than bearable.

Mania is frequently linked with bipolar disorder, and I came here to ask for some guidance. I'm willing to try to fight this on my own, like I've been for the past 5/6 years, even if it's getting a lot tougher. Either that or visit a real practicing psychologist, although I don't know if that will do any good. Thanks ATS for bearing with me with this rant. Here is some wiki article about mania: Mania - wikipedia

reply to post by JameSimon


Mania is not a small disorder. I know a woman who suffers from such things, and she is either flying like an eagle, or hiding in her house, not wishing to come out into the world because she is unable to filter out the negatives she sees.

The best I can say on this issue, is that you should do what you can to find out what exactly is going on with you, and why, because sometimes things like this can escalate in terms of there severity, or transmute into other states. So its best to get a handle on this stuff, and I would say some professional advice is in order if you are concerned about it.

Its important to know yourself well, if you want to have any kind of a life after all!

Originally posted by TrueBrit
reply to post by JameSimon

 

Mania is not a small disorder. I know a woman who suffers from such things, and she is either flying like an eagle, or hiding in her house, not wishing to come out into the world because she is unable to filter out the negatives she sees.

The best I can say on this issue, is that you should do what you can to find out what exactly is going on with you, and why, because sometimes things like this can escalate in terms of there severity, or transmute into other states. So its best to get a handle on this stuff, and I would say some professional advice is in order if you are concerned about it.

Its important to know yourself well, if you want to have any kind of a life after all!

Yes thing have been escalating slowly along my life's course, but I still don't know if i'll trust myself to a psychologist.

reply to post by JameSimon


Well to a certain extent you have a choice in the matter. Either you try and work on it yourself, allowing one of the symptoms of your particular mental state to prevent you from seeking aid, or you accept that despite your misgivings, getting professional help is an important part of claiming your life back, freeing yourself from the bonds your mind has placed about you.

It is worth re-stating that your lack of willingness to seek effective aid, is probably part of your symptomology, rather than being a genuine, wholesome and healthy opinion. If you injure yourself, or catch a horrible stomach bug, you go to a medical doctor for advice on how best to proceed with treatment. The mind and its ills are not to be treated any differently than the body in this regard.

Originally posted by TrueBrit
reply to post by JameSimon

 

Well to a certain extent you have a choice in the matter. Either you try and work on it yourself, allowing one of the symptoms of your particular mental state to prevent you from seeking aid, or you accept that despite your misgivings, getting professional help is an important part of claiming your life back, freeing yourself from the bonds your mind has placed about you.

It is worth re-stating that your lack of willingness to seek effective aid, is probably part of your symptomology, rather than being a genuine, wholesome and healthy opinion. If you injure yourself, or catch a horrible stomach bug, you go to a medical doctor for advice on how best to proceed with treatment. The mind and its ills are not to be treated any differently than the body in this regard.

The strange thing is that I've actually saw that being unwilling to take care of myself with this is part of the symptomology but I keep having that feeling that my brains throws me reasons that of why I shouldn't: Monetary, time, strength, distrust, etc... It's strange, I'm actually very rational with the situation and still somewhat unwilling.

reply to post by JameSimon


Sounds to me like the rational part of your mind, and the part of your mind which is being acted upon by whatever is causing your dysfunction, are at war with one another. This is very disturbing, since clear seperations between elements of ones psyche, vying for control in such an overt fashion is often symptomatic of schizoid involvement. If you allow this to continue unchecked, you may be sabotaging yourself.

Originally posted by TrueBrit
reply to post by JameSimon

 

Sounds to me like the rational part of your mind, and the part of your mind which is being acted upon by whatever is causing your dysfunction, are at war with one another. This is very disturbing, since clear seperations between elements of ones psyche, vying for control in such an overt fashion is often symptomatic of schizoid involvement. If you allow this to continue unchecked, you may be sabotaging yourself.

Yes, I know. I have no memory loss of event or such, actually I have a very good memory, but it's strange felling happy as hell one minute and living hell 5 minutes later. It's strange. My friend told me that this must be the beginning of bipolar disorder and that I should really go to a professional, and I'm actually inclined in doing so even if my "psyche" tells me not to. It's strange to explain in words this feeling.

reply to post by JameSimon


Bi polar disorder is no fun what so ever. One of my work collegues suffers from it, and although hes a nice enough chap, he can be impossible to work with, or even be around sometimes because of his massive swings in mood. The man swaps from optimism to pessimism, joy to angst, at the mere drop of a hat. This is very difficult to deal with when we are out working at a customers premises, or even worse, when he deals personally with a customer, because it will lead him to do and say things which, although they may not constitute a failiure of good practice, fall outside the bounds of the normal customer/operative relationship. We end up covering for him alot. It also causes him to make poor business choices, like over ordering some stock items, while under ordering vital components and raw materials.

To put it bluntly, although he can be fastidiously organised, he can also be totally chaotic and random, and that makes an utter mess of everything in business terms, and in his personal life as well. He is in his sixties now, and only just trying to deal with these things. The only reason we are able to deal with him in the working environment, is because we have known for longer than he has been willing to admit, that he has a problem, and because we (my family) have had our own share of mental dysfunctions over the years. The difference is that we contain ours within ourselves, have rebalanced ourselves over time. He has not yet done so, and obviously, his condition, like all conditions, manifests differently in him.

I would urge you to get yourself into some sort of treatment or therapy at the earliest oppertunity. Looking back at a life constrained by a fault ignored is more troubling than you can imagine, and it would be a deep shame if you were to have to do that. Trust me, I have seen this on more occassions, with more people, than I care to count. If you have any respect for yourself, the people around you, your family, your friends, then do not delay any further.

reply to post by TrueBrit


Yes, I understand. I actually work with customer service and even if I've been "like this" for about 5 or 6 years I don't ever break talking to a customer. It's strange, actually, I repress everything and then I let go my frustrations. How do I do it? I write poetry and I'm a musician, so maybe that's my own therapy. But still I think you're right and I'll much likely seek proper care regarding this, I'm sick and tired of having a girlfriend breaking up with me or a bad day at work and having a lot of troubles dealing with it, with major mood swings in the middle.

reply to post by JameSimon


Thats good to know JameSimon.

If you fancy talking anything out at any point, feel free to give me a shout.

reply to post by TrueBrit


Thanks a lot.