“A Positive Mood Cannot be too Positive”: How to Utilize Positive and Negative Clinical Psychology in Bipolar Disorder

Abstract

Bipolar disorder is regarded as a severe mental illness, characterized by a history of extreme highs and extreme lows of clinical depression. This chapter uses the metaphor of Icarus to characterize different ways of thinking about bipolar disorder. A statement of the assumptions behind the mainstream account of bipolar disorder and the group, Think Effectively About Mood Swings (TEAMS), is presented and operationalized in a diagram. The chapter covers the wide range of evidence that there is a phenotype or set of hypomanic traits that are associated with bipolar disorder and could be considered to be an exaggerated form of processing positive mood states. It provides evidence of the normality and utility of hypomanic traits, and then evidence for the relatively greater importance of negative psychology in the problematic aspects of possessing these traits. The conclusion is used to clarify recommendations for psychological therapies.