11/9/2023 0 Comments Bipolar depressive episode![]() ![]() You might feel like you’re worthless, she says. When a depressive episode begins, you may feel like you want to cancel all your plans and need 16 hours of sleep. But whatever the specific symptoms, depressive episodes tend to have one thing in common: They can be overwhelming.īecause the depression may come after a manic or hypomanic episode, it can feel like a big crash, Sylvia says, which may feel especially devastating.įor instance, during a manic or hypomanic episode, you might not need much sleep and perceive yourself as more productive, Sylvia says. Of course, everyone is different and will experience different symptoms during their depressive episodes. ![]() “Self-worth rattles like glassware in an earthquake, swaying with the shifting earth that is my mood state,” King explains. They may shatter a person’s self-identity. “I feel as though I’m moving against all the forces of nature, fighting as hard as I can, to keep functioning,” King says.ĭepressive episodes may go beyond feelings of sadness to guilt, shame, anxiety and fear. Sometimes she can’t remember the words for common objects, and multistep tasks take days to complete.ĭepressive episodes are physically exhausting for her. Sometimes King says the opposite of what she’s thinking. It’s hard to create cohesive sentences during conversations, she admits. It takes King a lot of cognitive energy to pay attention to and understand what others are saying or what she’s reading or writing. ![]() “There is minimal visibility, and it’s challenging to move around,” she says. King feels as though she’s walking through a river of waist-high molasses while fog surrounds her. “For me, depression feels like I have been robbed of my cognitive, emotional, and physical abilities,” says King, who also lives with bipolar disorder. They fear they’ll never feel “normal” again. Her clients say they cry all the time and feel frustrated and helpless. They say they don’t have the motivation or passion for anything except sleep. “You might lash out and not want to interact with anyone,” Sylvia says in her book, “ The Wellness Workbook for Bipolar Disorder: Your Guide to Getting Healthy and Improving Your Mood.”ĭuring a depressive episode, King’s clients tell her that they feel broken or don’t care about anything anymore. You might be especially curt with others and feel like no one understands your experience, says Louisa Sylvia, PhD, associate director of psychology at the Bipolar Clinic and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. They also often experience “ psychomotor agitation, insomnia, anxiety, and restlessness.” Sometimes they experience irritability or anger. King says her clients experience their dysphoric mania as an “excruciatingly difficult mood state that simultaneously combines symptoms of mania and depression, though the typical euphoric feelings are absent.” People with bipolar disorder can experience mixed states or dysphoric mania, she says. “The unpredictable nature of cycling through mood states, being unsure of what symptoms may envelop you next, typically creates underlying anxiety,” says Colleen King, LMFT, a psychotherapist who specializes in treating people with bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety. ![]()
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