ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the complexity of the relationship between enhancement of mood and cognition on the one hand and the improvement of people's well-being on the other. It presents two psychiatric conditions: Asperger's syndrome and bipolar disorder (manic depression). Asperger’s syndrome is one of the so-called “autism spectrum disorders.” The list of people associated with Asperger’s syndrome post-factually is growing. It includes people that seem to have been socially awkward to a certain degree and many of them are famed for their “touch of genius” in different areas and disciplines. There is a dual nature to bipolar disorders. People with a bipolar disorder express the tendency to go through periods of high exaltation and through periods of deep depression. Similar to milder forms of autism, bipolar disorders are not merely associated with dysfunction.
