I just received the following comment from Janette. I often then of the difference between mania and religious/spiritual feelings. It can be so hard to tell the difference. This is also true with the Tarot, psychic readings and anything else that connects to the spiritual world.
No matter what you believe or don’t believe, the facts are that people with mania can have what feels like a magnificent religious experience when manic and then be very devastated when they realize it was mania. Prevention is he key here. If you know your mania starts with religious/spiritual/psychic fervor, you need to know the signs and get help before they go too far. This is one situation my books talk about very, very clearly. You have to know the signs of mania a lot earlier than the signs of depression and psychosis. Mania has such a small treatment window – and you may be in a hospital thinking you’re Jesus before you know it! Here is Janetta’s letter.
Dear Julie:
I converted to Islam about 23 years ago after running around various religions and even studying them at University.
The dilemma between what is a mystical state and what is mania is truly a fascinating question. I think I’ve had both…and i would now say that a good way to discern the difference is by the effect they have on your own life and that of others.
God is always loving, just, beautiful etc etc whereas mania and craziness isn’t and can be very destructive. Depression feels like hell but if we can reach out to a higher power in that state then we can always have hope and that in itself lets a little chink of light into the darkness…
I could go on and on.
Anyways, thanks so much. I know that God is with you and the good work you do. Janetta
It’s easy to think you’re psychic when you’re actually just manic- or manic and psychotic!
Mania can make you feel you’re having a religious experience all of the time. As Janetta pointed out. The experiences that don’t cause extreme let down, harm or hospitalization are often the real thing. Mania and or psychotic induced experiences are usually episodic- in other words, the religious/spiritual intensity of feelings may simply go away when the mood swings ends- which is another way to tell the difference between what is real and what’s an illness. Julie
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Thanks for the beautiful picture of the sea and sky….how calming!!!
THANK YOU for your writing on religiousity vs. mania. I have shied away from getting involved in religion since my last episode. I did not know what was mania or what was true experience. I think you’ve helped me see a little more than I did before.
I’m going slower this time.
thanks again
Hi Cliff,
Reading your comment made me feel really good- I’m so glad that the blog is helping people. It sure helps me to write it!
Thank you!
Julie
Dear Julie,
I was born on 25th dec 1965.
Until age 15 I was regular member of roman catholic church.
after that i became athiest.
In year 2003 I accepted jesus in my heart .
Till this time I had no history of any illeness.
In dec 2003 I got bipolar disorder and i started thinking myself jesus.
It took two years to cure my Bipolar disorder after taking lots of anto depression and lithium drugs.
In year 2005 I became again athiest beleiving no god.
In year 2005 I started meditation and I started getting messages such as my goak is master , master is everywhere, my master is greatest and master is jesus.
and again July 2005 I got Bipolar disorder but again I could control with lithium
from year 2005 to year 2009 I am perfectly ok but still I feel like going towards spirituality.
But I am worried if I start praying I get bipolar disorder.
Does this two element have relation or really I am getting message such as my father is greatest, my master is soul, evrything control by my master and my master is jesus.
Please advise
I’m gonna be 33 in a couple of months. Since age five (or so) I have cycled through a never ending series of mixed episodes. This has manifested itself primarily with long periods of dysphoria interupted by shorter periods of full blown mania and or the “p” word. Last summer I went through an almost 3 month manic phase which culminated in the belief that members of a NING social network thinking I’m the antichrist and they had a desire to use me as the catalyst for the apocolypse. I decided to prevent this with suicide. I consumed sufficiently fatal quantity of drugs, which “should” have killed me. The docs and paramedics were baffled by this and could not explain it. This forced me to reconsider spirituality, and gave me the feeling that there was a higher reason for my existance and I accepted god.
As the “p word” left me I was left with a VERY dark dysphoria which I am surviving because of my faith. I have been in med therapy for about 15 years and my illness overpowers the meds in most cases. I have never been a threat to anyone but myself because of strong moral grounding; and feel that this will never be an issue, that said I did for all intents and purposes commit suicide last fall (due to manic dysphoria not depression), and that really scares me (as well as the two or three people who care about me) a great deal. I’m just wondering if you could give me some signs that a spiritual awakening is out of control and becoming a danger to me, so that I might take more responsibility for my own survival. Thnx, and thanx for this site.
Julie, your book is helping me hold on. I use it as a reference. I think everyone with BP disorder should read it. When I had a severe manic episode, I thought I was Jesus, and I still look back on that experience as a time when I felt close to God. I still think God spoke to me at that time and answered any question I had. If it isn’t real why do so many people have similar experiences? I think mania can send you into a different dimension. Perhaps the brain is more a receptor than a creator. Could the temporal lobe function on a different level in the mentally ill? Could it be that our minds connect with God?