As I begin writing this, it is fifteen minutes before 10 PM, Central Time. I have been awake since 8 AM Tuesday morning - 61 hours and 45 minutes. I've been a busy boy this week. While this is nowhere near a record for me, I don't have anything that is do-or-die urgent to work on for tomorrow, so I'm calling off this hypomanic episode just as soon as I can come down again. I figure I'll be out by midnight.
Since Tuesday I have created 87 new entries in my quals exam research database. I have critiqued and given corrections on approximately 200 pages worth of term paper rough drafts. I have spent 8 hours (out of town) conducting research for my faculty advisor. I have given five hours of psychotherapy. I have sat through three hours of clinical supervision and taught 1-1/2 hours of class. I have played one game of soccer, one game of flag football, and written over 3,000 words worth of blog posts and comments. I'm pretty sure this isn't good for my health, but it sure is hard to argue with the results.
Alright then, you all have a good night. I'm off to clock in an hour or two of Halo: Reach before my central nervous system does a hard reboot.
"I'm off to clock in an hour or two of Halo: Reach"
ReplyDeleteThis would be the proper time to have your feelings of affinity for psychopaths around the world.
Your time awake is way beyond my personal record. I suspect the levels of caffeine and sugar in your system are also way beyond my records.
"I'm calling off this hypomanic episode just as soon as I can come down again...
ReplyDeleteI have spent 8 hours (out of town) conducting research for my faculty advisor."
Whoa, dude. Was someone else driving, and keeping an eye on you? I just looked up the wiki definition of hypomania:
*SYMPTOMATIC RECOGNITION
Involvement in pleasurable activities that may have a high potential for negative psycho-social or physical consequences (e.g., the person engages in unrestrained buying sprees, sexual indiscretions, reckless driving, or foolish business investments)*
Hmmm..... the definition you have for hypomania is incorrect. Those are the kinds of things people tend to do during full manic episodes. Hypomanic episodes are more known for increased creativity and energy. Hypomanic episodes would be completely positive, if it weren't for the the fact that people who naturally have them tend to cycle downward into Major Depression (Bipolar II) or cycle upward into manic episodes (Bipolar I).
ReplyDeleteGet some sleep, bro. I think you're awesome for the dedication and hard work you put in for your family - I hope it doesn't kill you.
ReplyDeleteI plan on getting a 360 before Christmas so I can play with you, Michael, Justin, and Quinton (who is getting Reach tomorrow). For me, it's all about family.
Well, it is Wiki so I make no claims to its accuracy. But it's supposedly a verbatim copy of a section of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth EditionPlus, published by the American Psychiatric Association. That particular section I posted isn't supposed to be a definition, but one of the possible symptoms.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I played Halo Reach for about 6 hours last night with a couple of other guys. We played mostly Firefight, but I also got my cherry popped in competitive multiplayer (yes, it was good for me). We certainly could have used a psychopathic hypomanaic on our team, but I didn't see you on. I figured your nervous system must have short-circuited after you posted, as you said it may, or maybe you had abruptly cycled downward into Major Depression.
Yeah, the way the DSM distinguishes between hypomanic and manic episodes is simply a matter of duration. The criteria are pretty much identical otherwise. It's total crap though. That's not the way treating psychologists and psychiatrists differentiate the two. The real distinction is severity, not how long it lasts.
ReplyDeleteThere are seven different possible symptom sets (criteria) that are identical for both hypomanic and manic episodes. If you exhibit any three of those, you can be diagnosed. If it lasts less than a week, it's a hypomanic episode, more than a week and it's a manic episode (again, that's a ridiculous way to distinguish the two). In actual practice, if a person came in exhibiting the symptoms you mentioned then it would universally result in diagnosis of a manic episode - not hypomanic.
A person who merely had these criteria: 1. decreased need for sleep, 2. flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing, and 3. increase in goal-directed activity or psychomotor agitation, would never be diagnosed as experiencing a manic episode. He or she would universally be diagnosed as having a hypomanic episode, even though the DSM says it's a manic episode after one week of symptoms.
There's a fairly major disconnect between how the DSM classifies some disorders and how treating professionals classify them. This is one of those cases. That's why many clinicians don't even bother to read new editions of the DSM as they come out.
I'm not that anti-DSM, but there are major issues. In fact, my dissertation will address how the next DSM (5th edition, due in 2013) and its new suicidal assessment criteria are way off the mark.
And Jason,
ReplyDeleteThanks! I genuinely appreciate the recognition that I'm not doing this for me. I would much rather be a mountain guide who writes novels in his free time than a peon grad student who doesn't have time to write novels. But this career path provides stability and nearly guaranteed income.
All of my (hardcore) climbing aspirations died the second Sarah got pregnant for the first time. Kids need a daddy who is both alive and income producing, and those criteria frequently preclude me having the kind of life I would have had without kids. I KNOW you understand. I also KNOW you agree with me that it's worth the sacrifice too.