Posted by SLS on April 12, 2006, at 21:09:55
In reply to Re: HELP: How often how deeply do you get depress, posted by Don_Bristol on April 12, 2006, at 19:05:52
> Scott, can I ask you something about yourself? If you are deeply depressed all the time then how can you be bipolar?
There are a few things about my case that indicate bipolar disorder.
1. I have had severe manic episodes precipitated by taking antidepressants.
2. My symptom profile approximates that of atypical depression, but without the mood reactivity. This is common for bipolar disorder.
3. I was an ultra rapid cycler with an 11 day cycle.> The BI refers to two states and the other would be mania. Are you saying you are majorly depressed during your manic states?
In a way. Several of my manias were dysphoric or mixed-states. This is conceptualized as a state that produces symptoms of mania and depression at the same time.
> It sounds strange to me because I thought that, by definition, mania was the opposite of depression.
These mood disorders can be a bit too complicated to approach using an either/or model.
> I am trying to understand what MDD feels like. It a quest to understand the definitions. I am certain I have had it and I am certain I have dysthymia. The bit I don't know is at what point does the depression get so much worse that it can be called a MDD.
There are several rating scales that are used to assess severity.
1. Zung
2. Hamilton
3. Beck
4. Montgomery-Asberg
5. GoldbergEach has its own numeric scale that calculates or represents severity.
> I recently hit an unusually low depressive state.
> I had several days of this. And it is completely out of character for me. It is not my usual experience.
How long do these episodes last for?
> I cannot see how anyone can experience this for very long.
It is quite unpleasant.
> And so this is my question: HOW LONG and HOW OFTEN?
There really is no consistent global pattern or periodicity to affective disorders. Rapid cycling is defined as four or more mood episodes per year. Of course, this seems like an arbitrary number. Symptoms must be present for two or more weeks according to the DSM for a diagnosis of major depression. This, too, seems arbitrary. For me, my system has been stuck on the down side for 25 years.
> Maybe I am describing an acute period within a much larger and much longer period of what could be called MDD.
It still sounds like double depression to me.
> At what point on the journey from dysthymia to that state I describe above do I hit MDD?
There might not be such a smooth transition so as to label it a journey. The MDD is more of an episode that tends to distinguish itself from dysthymia by being very much worse and punctuated. It comes and goes.
> The DSM doesn't really convery the intensity of the criteria it describes.
It does seem incomplete in its descriptions. I hope the next revision will help gauge severity.
When was the last time you feel that you were euthymic or normal?
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:630873
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060412/msgs/632378.html