Manic or not manic?

In the mental health field experts are often wrong and MH diagnosis is regarded by many experts as unreliable or worse. It is also possible for some experts to medicalise something that is just normal behaviour. You say that it is really hard to tell where the line is. There really is no "line". It is becoming recognised more and more that all mental health is a continuum.

I have never been diagnosed as manic and have never even really talked about it but I do have almost regular mood swings. When I am a high I just have to be a bit careful about what I say and try to do. Sometimes I make a bit of an idiot of myself - so what. When I am down I just try to rest a bit more and take it easy. I think these mood swings are just a normal part of human functioning for many people. They are certainly not an illness. From what you are saying your experiences seem to be fairly similar to mine.
If I was in your position I would try and work out for myself when something has become a significant problem that is seriously interfering with my life and that I might need help with rather than letting some so called expert tell me I have a problem and then trying to treat me for it. Imo the definition of "normal" these days is completely crazy.

Regards

Willy

@Willy my mood issues are not usually "normal mood swings" i often have intense mood issues that can really cause problems for me so i dont think this is exactly normal either it is just that i cant tell if it is going to get worse and cause me significant problems later. and the issue is the other times my mood has been a significant problem to the point i ended up in the hospital i was unaware at the time that is was an issue so just relying on myself to judge this is not always a reliable option if i want to avoid hospital.

Hi, just wondering ..you mentioned a psychologist and a support worker. Do you have a psychiatrist? I was just thinking that those two people you mentioned aren't actually qualified to diagnose your mood. If you do have a psychiatrist, that's who I would be asking . I'm sure the others can notice changes in your actions but there could lots of reasons why. Ask an expert, to be sure.

Be well

@JAN5 My psychologist is a clinical psychologist she is qualified to say that or not my support worker is different but I also don’t want to see my psychiatrist because they kind of are really weird and that would involve me talking to my case manager who I don’t get along with and who doesn’t do anything to help me anyway so I think I will just not go down that path right now.