[charley]

Originally Posted by Gemme

While I agree with what you wrote about the effect of her mother's suicide on Frances and the general sentiments, I have to respond to the underlined snipped part as it's not accurate. S.A.D. is a type of depression. It can be confusing because there is a bipolar depression but that is the balance to the manic episodes. The two going back and forth are what make it "bi"polar versus unipolar, which is the more typical depression you may hear about.

This is the best explanation that I've found thus far.

Doctors have long distinguished between seasonal depression and seasonal bipolar disorder. Seasonal depression — commonly referred to as SAD, for seasonal affective disorder — is a mood disorder brought on by the biological effects of a lack of sunlight. Typically experienced in the late fall and winter, it is particularly prevalent in northern regions, according to the American Psychological Association (APA). What distinguishes seasonal bipolar disorder from SAD is the presence of a manic episode within a given period of time.

People must have a history of manic or hypomanic episodes (the extreme highs) to be diagnosed with a bipolar mood disorder, explains Ken Duckworth, MD, medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and an assistant professor at the Harvard University Medical School. If that’s not part of their medical history, he says, then their seasonal winter response is a depressive disorder and not bipolar.

I understand that you have accepted as "truth" what the APA has tried to explain (which like most analyses change over time).

Personally, I don't accept that as truth - especially from the very people who do the analysis as they themselves tend to suffer from duality by nature, hence always analyzing... and do remember I said "supposedly" mild bipolar...

Everyone I have ever had the opportunity of exchanging with where I live (who has admitted to suffering from the "blues" during the rainy season) has exhibited - bar none - traits of pettiness, meanness of spirit, and selfishness, not to mention the overriding all-too-present characteristic of lying (especially to themselves), among many other toxic behaviours.

I have observed also that a mind that is conditioned to accept what others say is the truth will always have trouble looking at facts, and seeing for themselves whether what they see is true or false. Hence, such a mind is caught in a web of having opinions. The deeper the conditioning, the more that such a mind has a tendency to accept theory as truth - and doing so without question. The facts are that tomorrow someone will come along with a different newer theory, and the old so-called truth will be scrapped. This happens all the time. All exact sciences understand this. Psychology, from what I understand, has never been regarded as an exact science - the DSM is constantly being revised. So, what I am saying is that a conditioned opinionated mind cannot look at a fact except through its idea about such a fact - in other words, its opinion about such a fact. Therefore, the moment that anyone states and offers an opinion, such as, "This is right, or correct", and "This is wrong, or incorrect, or inaccurate", such a mind is condemning; and, in that process, demonstrating a lack self-awareness.