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[ENFP] BiPolar?

Lozzy

New member
Joined
Dec 22, 2008
Messages
32
MBTI Type
ENFJ
You probably aren't bipolar. I'm 19 and have a formal diagnosis, but often think I just went through a really 'rough patch'. Having said that, I do still take meds, mainly as a long term preventative measure.

Trust me, you'll know if you're having proper manic episodes because they'll go on for weeks and you'll start thinking you're Jesus and crap. :) Plus, no one really wants to get landed with a label (I appreciate the irony of saying this on a personality typing forum :doh:).
 

Jack Flak

Permabanned
Joined
Jul 17, 2008
Messages
9,098
MBTI Type
type
I'm about as bipolar as it gets. When someone punches me in the face, I frown, and when they write me a check for $10,000, I smile.
 

milti girl

New member
Joined
Sep 5, 2008
Messages
77
MBTI Type
INFP
My brother is diagnosed with bipolar disorder and he's been on medication for it for the past 7 years. Bipolar can't be just casually diagnosed - as in, it's quite a serious disorder and only really obvious cyclical changes of mood over a period of more than six months, due to imabalance of brain chemicals, can be considered bipolar disorder.

Everyone feels down sometimes, and happy other times, but in bipolar, everything is excess. My brother really hates any reference to his disorder, but I think an example of his behaviour would help:

In the manic (feel-good) part of his cycle, there's a surge of dopamine and serotonin. Not only does this make him very happy and very vocal, he makes grandiose plans such as, "In five years, I'll make enough money to build a house!" or something like that. He sleeps less (he's up all night making plans), he has angry outbursts if someone points out the impracticality of his plans, he talks a lot about a lot of things to a lot of people, he starts huge projects like art or music classes that he thinks he has the energy to get through, and he picks quarrels very easily and becomes quite rude with random people. During this phase he can be quite frighteningly enthusiastic and loud-mouthed and wants nothing and no one standing in his way to greatness. He also starts believing in God and wants to visit temples. Normally, he is an agnostic, but now he starts thinking he sees signs of God or hears voices, etc. He's also apt to do impulsive things like call a random author up and tell them he wants to write a book in collaboration with them or something. He finds me lacking in ambition and tells me how beautiful and talented I am and I must do something about it, and gets angry if I don't nod along and take him seriously. His blood pressure is a lot higher than it should be.

In his depressed phase, he suddenly wakes up one day to see the futility of life. More often than not, this phase needs no trigger. It can be brought on by something as simple as a headline saying that someone murdered someone else, or that the market is crashing. Then he starts reviewing all the grand lists he made in his other phase and getting unhappy that he can never reach those goals. He compares himself to other people constantly, he cries all the time, and he makes up with people he was rude to before, often clinging to them as if they are his only friends. He tells everyone in the family he loves them and how great they are. He looks at pictures of our childhood and wants us to be little again. Often, he will burst into tears while he revisits our childhood, and says he wishes I was still 2 and he 7. Moreover, because we lived in Britain for three years of our childhood, he misses it a lot and wants to go back there. This is the point where he does something bad (but not suicidal) to himself if he is unsupervised, like drink himself into a stupor or try to starve himself, so he needs to be monitored and is usually put in hospital anyway because of fluctuations in blood pressure and heart rhythm.

When he is stable again, he seems not to remember anything about his manic phase and listens with wonder to stories of whatever he did. He knows what he is doing when he is depressed, but often he fails to reliase HOW far into depression he really went. He hates that I am "cold" and "analytical" about his condition, but honestly, I have seen him over the years and have a very doctor-like view of it, but only because I guess I'm trying to tell myself it's not really that big a deal.

Actually, because he is bipolar, I can't make out whether he is INFP, ENFP, INTP or ENTP. It's impossible to tell, because for the past few years he has swung between these types so often. When he was a child, he was very clearly INTP, but he's always been prone to violent moods and unfortunately it's impossible to make out anything about his type now.

I guess I wrote all this because I've been wanting to for a long time (it's my way of saying that I validate his disorder) but also to say that bipolar can manifest itself in such violent symptoms as to dirupt lives, too. There are milder versions of this (cyclothymia), and there are versions of only mania (I think it's called hypomania? Sorry, I do have a major in psychology but it's been a few years now and I forget easily) and only depression. I think if you have even a glimmer of this kind of behaviour, then you should be worried.
 

Wild horses

New member
Joined
Oct 25, 2008
Messages
1,916
MBTI Type
ENFP
Do u really think that just a glimmer of such behaviour is something to be worried about?? I see alot of myself in your description but I would never consider mysef as manic also I have some of it under control at the moment without meds so doesn't that mean that it isn't that bad?
 

Qre:us

New member
Joined
Nov 21, 2008
Messages
4,890
Imagine being a bi-polar bear? :huh:

...you wouldn't know whether to h-y-bernate or hyperventilate.
 

prplchknz

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
34,397
MBTI Type
yupp
Imagine being a bi-polar bear? :huh:

...you wouldn't know whether to h-y-bernate or hyperventilate.

or steal pic-a-nic baskets
Yogi-Bear-show-02.jpg
 

prplchknz

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
34,397
MBTI Type
yupp
Now that's as silly as a purple being a chicken. :thinking:

are you saying I don't exist :huh: I always suspected and was some insane persons hallucination :cry: the pain.... it hurts...it hurts:cry:
 

Qre:us

New member
Joined
Nov 21, 2008
Messages
4,890
are you saying I don't exist

Yeshhhh! I think, therefore, you are.....NOT!

the pain.... it hurts...it hurts:cry:

I could try to inflict physical pain to supress the emotional one? :angry:

no..no...no need to thank me, well..okay... just name your first born penis after me (when it finally arrives).


(I must stop this...derailing a very serious thread, cuz I'm bored at work and no one wants to play!!!)
 

prplchknz

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
34,397
MBTI Type
yupp
Yeshhhh! I think, therefore, you are.....NOT!



I could try to inflict physical pain to supress the emotional one? :angry:

no..no...no need to thank me, well..okay... just name your first born penis after me (when it finally arrives).


(I must stop this...derailing a very serious thread, cuz I'm bored at work and no one wants to play!!!)
(ok one more, then i'll quit honest.)
So when I give birth to a penis, not a whole child a penis I'm to name it after you?
 

Qre:us

New member
Joined
Nov 21, 2008
Messages
4,890
(ok one more, then i'll quit honest.)
So when I give birth to a penis, not a whole child a penis I'm to name it after you?

YESH!! Imagine the lines:

Qre:usity really killed that pussy cat....
 

Shaula

Te > Fi > Ni
Joined
Nov 27, 2008
Messages
608
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
4w5
My brother is diagnosed with bipolar disorder and he's been on medication for it for the past 7 years. Bipolar can't be just casually diagnosed - as in, it's quite a serious disorder and only really obvious cyclical changes of mood over a period of more than six months, due to imabalance of brain chemicals, can be considered bipolar disorder.

Everyone feels down sometimes, and happy other times, but in bipolar, everything is excess. My brother really hates any reference to his disorder, but I think an example of his behaviour would help:

In the manic (feel-good) part of his cycle, there's a surge of dopamine and serotonin. Not only does this make him very happy and very vocal, he makes grandiose plans such as, "In five years, I'll make enough money to build a house!" or something like that. He sleeps less (he's up all night making plans), he has angry outbursts if someone points out the impracticality of his plans, he talks a lot about a lot of things to a lot of people, he starts huge projects like art or music classes that he thinks he has the energy to get through, and he picks quarrels very easily and becomes quite rude with random people. During this phase he can be quite frighteningly enthusiastic and loud-mouthed and wants nothing and no one standing in his way to greatness. He also starts believing in God and wants to visit temples. Normally, he is an agnostic, but now he starts thinking he sees signs of God or hears voices, etc. He's also apt to do impulsive things like call a random author up and tell them he wants to write a book in collaboration with them or something. He finds me lacking in ambition and tells me how beautiful and talented I am and I must do something about it, and gets angry if I don't nod along and take him seriously. His blood pressure is a lot higher than it should be.

In his depressed phase, he suddenly wakes up one day to see the futility of life. More often than not, this phase needs no trigger. It can be brought on by something as simple as a headline saying that someone murdered someone else, or that the market is crashing. Then he starts reviewing all the grand lists he made in his other phase and getting unhappy that he can never reach those goals. He compares himself to other people constantly, he cries all the time, and he makes up with people he was rude to before, often clinging to them as if they are his only friends. He tells everyone in the family he loves them and how great they are. He looks at pictures of our childhood and wants us to be little again. Often, he will burst into tears while he revisits our childhood, and says he wishes I was still 2 and he 7. Moreover, because we lived in Britain for three years of our childhood, he misses it a lot and wants to go back there. This is the point where he does something bad (but not suicidal) to himself if he is unsupervised, like drink himself into a stupor or try to starve himself, so he needs to be monitored and is usually put in hospital anyway because of fluctuations in blood pressure and heart rhythm.

When he is stable again, he seems not to remember anything about his manic phase and listens with wonder to stories of whatever he did. He knows what he is doing when he is depressed, but often he fails to reliase HOW far into depression he really went. He hates that I am "cold" and "analytical" about his condition, but honestly, I have seen him over the years and have a very doctor-like view of it, but only because I guess I'm trying to tell myself it's not really that big a deal.

Actually, because he is bipolar, I can't make out whether he is INFP, ENFP, INTP or ENTP. It's impossible to tell, because for the past few years he has swung between these types so often. When he was a child, he was very clearly INTP, but he's always been prone to violent moods and unfortunately it's impossible to make out anything about his type now.

I guess I wrote all this because I've been wanting to for a long time (it's my way of saying that I validate his disorder) but also to say that bipolar can manifest itself in such violent symptoms as to dirupt lives, too. There are milder versions of this (cyclothymia), and there are versions of only mania (I think it's called hypomania? Sorry, I do have a major in psychology but it's been a few years now and I forget easily) and only depression. I think if you have even a glimmer of this kind of behaviour, then you should be worried.

Thank you for sharing your story about your brother. I always find that it's difficult for people to get a grasp of these Axis-I disorders (bipolar, schizophrenia, OCD, PTSD, etc.,) without hearing the experiences of others. In my opinion, the DSM-IV can be very misleading with it's criteria. Especially so when drug companies are pushing to sell their overcharged products for profit. (Ever wonder why cat Prozac, although exactly the same as human Prozac, costs significantly less?)

To me a manic episode is like tweaking out on cocaine and/or being excessively drunk without substance abuse. When I was very young my mother was diagnosed with 'hypomania' but it progressed to Manic-Depression (now called Bipolar) and finally she ended with a diagnosis of Paranoid Schizophrenia. I've seen her hospitalised, arrested, and living off the streets many times in my life (I lived with my father). 20 years later and she still can't hold down a job or live to her responsibilities as a parent. My dad only wishes that she would take her medicine. He stayed with her for a long time (as he is an ISTJ) but eventually gave up hope on being able to help her. I haven't seen her since I was 16 but I hear about her every so often. I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that my mother was an INFP.

As for her behaviour she was paranoid about 'the bad people' who were after her which happened to be voices. She would avoid any place of authority that may 'take her away' and sometimes thought our pets were demonic so we had to get rid of them. About every few weeks she would trash the house and get into violent fights with my dad. It didn't make it any better that my dad was an abusive alcoholic at the time. My dad remembers when I was a baby he would come home to my mother screaming at me because I 'wasn't eating fast enough'. When I was two she 'abducted me', stole my dad's good car to apparently 'abandon me' (I think in an attept to save me from something she thought was after her) but her endeavor ended because she caused an accident on the freeway. No doubt it must have been caused because she was driving AGAINST TRAFFIC on the WRONG SIDE. (Haha, my early childhood was a woot!)
 

Shaula

Te > Fi > Ni
Joined
Nov 27, 2008
Messages
608
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
4w5
Bah! Let us not turn this into a pity party. :) Worse things could've happened. If anything all these events have molded my morbid sense of humour. :p
 

tibby

New member
Joined
Nov 22, 2008
Messages
682
MBTI Type
fool
There's also a "milder" version of bipolar disorder, called cyclothymic mood disorder.

I wouldn't be worried cause what you described doesn't sound neither. I believe it balances out when as you grow older.
 

milti girl

New member
Joined
Sep 5, 2008
Messages
77
MBTI Type
INFP
Bah! Let us not turn this into a pity party. :)

*stepping away*

*highly offended*

*Highly.*

Hmph. I was GOING to hug you. But I forgot. I don't hug NTs. They're too cold to the touch.

Cheers! :cheese:
 

Nonsensical

New member
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,006
MBTI Type
ENFP
Enneagram
7
How about..since we're all here together, we all have one big group hug?
 

prplchknz

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
34,397
MBTI Type
yupp
:wubbie::hug: :spam_laser: but i can't help it I'm an NF :hug::spam_laser::wubbie:


I was looking for freeze ray or a smiley turning into ice their were none.
 
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