Questioning your mood state when youâre bipolar
If youâre bipolar, you know the feeling. You may cry over something, and think youâre in a depressive episode. You may feel joy, and think youâre slipping into mania. You may have a paranoid or anxious thought, and think youâre slipping into psychosis.
When you have bipolar disorder, every emotion is brought into question and has to be monitored to see if youâre slipping into an episode. It can be difficult for us to tell if weâre in an episode, or simply experiencing an emotion.
Because we are so worried about getting âillâ again, every single thing we experience is something we can worry and obsess over. You may even have family and friends that do this to you. âHave you taken your meds today?â âYou seem a bit excited, are you manic?â And the like.
Even when weâre bipolar, we can experience joy. We can experience sadness. We can be anxious. It doesnât always mean weâre in an episode, it just means we are human beings too who also experience every day emotions.