ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the experience of living with extreme mood states at both ends of the spectrum, depressed and elevated. Whilst many of the features experienced with lowered mood might seem similar to those already addressed in Chapter 4, there are distinct differences for people given the very sharp contrast between these polarised opposites. Having experienced, for example, periods of euphoria, high productivity and a sense of heightened awareness, there will be a keen awareness of what is subsequently different or lost when mood significantly lowers. The experiences covered in this chapter relate to what is diagnostically categorised as bipolar disorder, a condition formally called ‘manic depression’. The term ‘bipolar disorder’ is unpopular though with many service users who prefer the term ‘bipolar’ regarding their condition more as an illness as opposed to a disorder (RCP, 2012). Therefore, it is this shortened term which will mainly be used in this chapter.
