Why is it so important that patients know about the mood spectrum?
JOHN MCMANAMY: Because getting the correct read on our illness with the correct treatment is not possible unless we know exactly where we are situated on the mood spectrum at any given time. Depressed patients, for example, who have what I describe as novel depressions, may experience better results on bipolar meds than on antidepressants. These novel depressions may explain why antidepressants don’t work for many people with depression.
So the spectrum is the whole story.
JOHN MCMANAMY: Actually, it’s only part of the story. If mood were only just about mood. Unfortunately, mood tends to come loaded with co-occurring illnesses such as anxiety and substance use. Also, people with mood disorders experience a lot of non-mood symptoms, some recognized by psychiatry, some not.
Tell us more about those symptoms.
JOHN MCMANAMY: Sleeping and eating thrown out of whack, inability to concentrate, loss of motivation, maybe too much motivation for some, anger, road rage, feeling like you’re crawling out of your skin, unexplained pain. Rather than think of depression and bipolar disorder as mood disorders, it’s perhaps more helpful to think of depression and bipolar disorder as a feeling of not being ourselves. This is critically important, for if we’re no longer showing mood symptoms then our doctors may think we’re doing well. But if we still can’t think and function and we’re still experiencing problems with relationships and work then we still have a long way to go.
You’re painting a pretty bleak picture.
JOHN MCMANAMY: Only if you think that remaining ignorant is going to get you better. Just the other day someone passed on a quote to me attributed to C Everett Koop. “No prescription is more valuable than knowledge.” My mission since day one when I started to write about my illness nearly seven years ago is “Knowledge is Necessity.” It applies with equal force to my book. By being smart, we are not helpless bystanders. We can manage our illness rather than our illness manage us. We may not be able live FREE from depression and bipolar disorder, but we can live WELL with depression and bipolar disorder. Living well is the goal.
