Calvin Klein Euphoria

I’m blessed with many sisters in my family. And overtime we’ve become superb friends. Thus, relaxing in our bedrooms on Saturday nights is common. On one such Saturday night, my sister’s friend, let’s call her Sarah, dropped by. I cherish her company so I joined the two of them. And as the relaxing and unwinding began, Sarah showed us a perfume sample she recently picked up from The Bay. My sister indulged in the sweet scent and felt elevated by the aroma. I turned to Sarah and asked, “What’s the perfume called?” She replied, “Calvin Klein Euphoria.” Upon hearing the label, piercing shrills thundered in my mind as I fixated on the perfume’s name.

For many of us, this name might bring up images of the sleek new perfume by Calvin Klein and its sensational aroma. However, when I hear CK Euphoria, my mind topples into frightful screams. The name euphoria doesn’t summon the scent of exhilarating perfumes. Instead, my mind drowns in the stench of icy ambulance rides, weeks of missed classes and broken friendships and pieces of furniture. But why does my mind conjure up these images even though euphoria means elation, joy and rapture? My brain does that because euphoria has affected me deeply. For me, it isn’t simply a heightened state of joy but a gloomy and uncontrollable state I personally experienced and one which only Allah and my supporters saved me from.

For people with Bipolar, euphoria occurs during the mania or the “up” stage of Bipolar, while depression comes during the “down” side. Mania begins as a nice train ride. The luggage is neat and ready and we’re so excited in reaching our destination. But soon, the train begins accelerating and becomes a terrifying endless ride with no stops. When we want to get off, it’s too late. That is where we crash, burn and find ourselves in a psychiatric ward, sleeping 12 to 18 hours a day.

Thus when a person experiences a severe mania episode, the extra energy and elated mood can cause tremendous mental, physical, financial and social damage. The more severe the mania episode, the faster the train ride, the longer it takes to recover. During the “mania storm” and even the recovery phase, we can hardly expect ourselves to learn what this high energy means. Therefore, it’s crucial we gain awareness of mania during a period of wellness and understand its symptoms. Defining mania will not only help us recover from Bipolar but will in sha Allah also prevent future mania episodes or at least decrease their severity. The following video is the first piece in our Bipolar EXhibit series. This video focuses on the basic symptoms of mania so cuddle up, enjoy the breeze of recovery as you watch the spectacular Mania EXposed video below. Enjoy

Looking for more on Mania: Click here to get the scoop on mania’s most controversial symptom.

Or read Sshhh, Don’t Mention the “H” Word