High and happy? Exploring the experience of positive states of mind in people who have been given a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

OBJECTIVES

To approach the experience of 'happiness' and 'mania' for people who have been given a diagnosis of 'bipolar disorder' and to explore how they might differentiate or associate between these experiences.

DESIGN

A qualitative design was used in which four participants who had been given a diagnosis of 'bipolar disorder' were interviewed individually regarding their experiences and ideas about 'mania' and 'happiness'.

METHODS

Transcriptions from the interviews were analysed using the iterative process of interpretative phenomenological analysis.

RESULTS

Four superordinate themes were identified. Two highlighted the conceptual fluidity and similarities between their ideas about and experiences of 'happiness' and 'mania'. Two emphasized the differences between these notions for the participants, which reflected the destruction, disruption, and chaos of 'mania' in contrast to the importance of self-acceptance, peacefulness, and social connection for 'happiness'.

CONCLUSION

There may be benefit in maintaining an active dialogue or 'poly-vocality' about the meanings of 'happiness' in clinical work with people who experience 'positive states' of mind, which are personally problematic. This can be supported by drawing on ideas and narratives about 'happiness' from the field of positive psychology.