Home » Mind & Soul » Bipolar Disorder » BIPOLAR CYCLING

BIPOLAR CYCLING

© Colleen Sullivan

No, this is not the sort of cycling that requires a one-, two- or three-wheel apparatus, plenty of pedal power and fresh air. Neither is it about the cycles of the moon or of the planets around the sun. Or even the diurnal cycles of the 24-hour clock.

It is instead about the cycles of Bipolar Affective Disorder, an integral part of this illness and one that has been open to much conjecture over the years.

What Is a Bipolar Cycle?

One way of expressing Bipolar Cycles is by the length of time between episodes or cycles. In many cases the period of time between episodes of mania, hypomania and depression occur more frequently in the initial stages of the disorder. In time, with treatment and as a part of its natural course the condition may stabilize with the interval between mood swings becoming longer and less severe. Or it may in some cases settle into a pattern of chronicity.

Seasonal Cycles

Bipolar Illness, similar to unipolar depression, can follow a seasonal pattern, with individuals regularly sinking into depression at certain times of the year and then swinging into hypomania or mania a few months later.

This cycle is one that I personally relate to. My first severe depression began in the Fall some twenty years ago. I saw the entire world through very darkly tinted glasses. I have always liked to walk, and one of my favorite "haunts" is a conservation area not too far from home. I would go there...and what normally brought peace and contentment brought tears. All around me were signs of death and destruction - the leaves on the ground, the poor trees bereft of their decoration, and all my "little" friends, the chipmunks, squirrels and rabbits gone. The thought of rebirth in Spring brought no comfort. I was in hospital until February of the following year, then two months later the hypomania and mania began, only to be followed the following October by another severe depression. Logic told me that if I recognized these cycles I would be more able to cope. The illness never allowed me the luxury to do so.

Rapid Cycling

Rapid cycling is defined as "four or more manic or major depressive episodes in one year, each lasting at least twenty-four hours, and ending with a switch to the opposite mood, that is, from depression to mania, or the reverse, or with a period of stability."

Most people with Bipolar Disorder have at least some periods of normal moods. Five to fifteen percent of individuals seen in mood clinics (women more often than men) experience rapid cycling.

The copyright of the article BIPOLAR CYCLING in Bipolar Disorder is owned by . Permission to republish BIPOLAR CYCLING in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.