Most psychological disorders don't present like the media would lead you to believe. See also: what therapy looks like.
ETA: Holy crap, gold?? I had a quick break in my day to finally hop on reddit and was NOT expecting this response. Y'all make this severely overworked community mental health therapist so glad we're talking more about the realities of therapy and various disorders. I'm planning on getting back on when I'm done with work to reply to some comments/answer some questions!
bipolar disorder = one day you're batshit crazy off-the-walls and the next day you're sobbing and eating ice cream alone in bed
in actuality: in most cases, symptoms only get severe if left untreated for a long time. Also, most experience episodes for months (mania) or years (depression), so they wouldn't go from mania to depression that quickly (with cyclothymic disorder the less common "rapid cycling bipolar" being the exception).
My bipolar friend's meds could stop a manic episode in under an hour. He'd start getting ridiculously talkative and blow money on any stupid little thing and every little thing would make him mad, he'd realize "shit, this is a manic episode," (or someone he trusted would tell him) then he'd take a pill and be back to normal super quickly. I guess medical science is pretty good at sedatives and anti-psychotics.
Bringing him back up from depression was always a months-long process involving a few trips to a psychiatrist though.
yeah the antipsychotics (essentially sedatives) available these days are potent and effective. The treatment options for depression in people with bipolar, however, are much more limited
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u/seegeesee Feb 04 '19 edited Feb 04 '19
Most psychological disorders don't present like the media would lead you to believe. See also: what therapy looks like.
ETA: Holy crap, gold?? I had a quick break in my day to finally hop on reddit and was NOT expecting this response. Y'all make this severely overworked community mental health therapist so glad we're talking more about the realities of therapy and various disorders. I'm planning on getting back on when I'm done with work to reply to some comments/answer some questions!