"Like other features of the self, including sociability, literacy, and attention, mood exists along a continuum of competency that runs from major psychotic depression on one side of the spectrum to extreme psychotic mania on the other. In between these two poles exists a gradation of milder disorders, temperaments, and conditions that give a distinctive torque to the range of human emotions." [...] "Those with severe bipolar disorder mode idiosyncratically between the extreme poles". "Sometimes the cycles of depression and mania are brought on by external events (trauma, the winter season, pregnancy), while at other times they occur without obvious causes".
Although living with major or severe mood disorder can be extremely difficult, "there is the possibility that in some mood disorders, there may be a silver lining that represents a 'hidden strength' that can come to the aid of the personality and fortify it on its journey towards wholeness". This journey may show introspection, insight, learning, problem-solving, growth and reorientation.
Individuals with mood disorders benefit from a learning and working environments that tap into their creative abilities, as well as their emotional connections with others, with some direction and purpose that can contribute to their success and well-being.
Source: Armstrong, Thomas. Neurodiversity Discovering the Extraordinary Gifts of Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Other Brain Differences. First Da Capo Press edition. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Lifelong, 2010.
