Madness May Enrich Your Life: A Self-Study of Unipolar Mood Elevation

I am a professor of clinical psychology with a bicultural background in Hong Kong and North America. Inexplicably, I have had 17 episodes of mood elevation and none of depression. Taking advantage of my specialty, I have conducted a self-study. To this day, I treasure the extraordinary experiences I have had during my episodes of madness, such as depth of feelings, explosions of creativity, and enhanced ability in memory recall. I was able to monitor my behavior and to exercise adequate impulse control. All these support my contention that on balance madness has enriched, rather than damaged, my life. I discuss the atypical nature, cultural context, and clinical implications of my case. My self-study casts doubt on the deficit model according to which mental disorders are viewed solely or primarily in pathological terms. I argue that it is possible to retain a measure of madness in dignified living and of dignity even in a state of madness.