It's what we long for, those of us who struggle with mood swings. Some call it "emotional stability." The mental health experts refer to it as "euthymia." Here's the Wiki definition:
"In psychiatry and psychology, euthymia is a normal, tranquil mental state or mood. In those with bipolar disorder, euthymia is a stable mental state or mood that is neither manic nor depressive, yet distinguishable from the state of healthy people." It goes on to say that the word euthymia is derived from the Greek words "eu" or good and "thymo" or soul.
That's enough with the technical terms. You can think of euthymia as the baseline, above which is mania (or hypomania) and below which is depression. I hope you are keeping a journal, and logging your moods from day-to-day. Here's my system. It may help you. Since I am a teacher by proclivity and career, I use a grading scale, with 10 as my baseline. Anything above this is manic (hypomanic for me), and anything below this is depression. I tend to cycle from 10.5 (11 at my absolute highest) down to 6.5 (but very seldom at this level). Think of this as a grading scale, where 8 is a low-B, and 6.5 is a D. A 7 or 7.5 signals that I need to reach out to my therapist for help. At 6.5, I need to check with my psychiatrist and talk therapist about checking myself into the hospital. Yes, I have been this low. (I really don't want to revisit this. Not having to go there is a great motivation to "do the work" of recovery.)
Here's what I have experienced since being diagnosed with bipolar II perhaps a decade ago. Early on I tended to cycle over 6 or 8 weeks from the peaks to the troughs and back again. My highs were significant and my lows were deep. But I have made good progress. I've noticed that the "amplitude" (how large the wave is, from top to bottom) has shrunk, and the "wavelength" (the time from top to bottom and back again, but especially time at the top) has grown. And guess what? In between peaks and valleys, I experience periods of "normalcy." I find myself on the baseline, or at 10, for goodly periods of time. At long last, euthymia. Yay!
So about euthymia, I would say the following:
1) Be patient. There is no way to hurry this along.
2) Chart your progress, and talk it over with you professional support team.
3) Be thankful for periods of euthymia. Celebrate them, and you for having gotten there. Remember Paul's admonition in Phil 4:6, not to be anxious, but to "with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God..." The word for thanksgiving is eucharistia. There it is again, that "eu" prefix.
So, here's an ode to euthymia. May your/our experience of it grow more and more! And may we be thankful for it.
Blessings!
The Christian Bipole
Comments