Dysregulation of the Anxiety System & Bipolar

As per usual, I'm trying to focus on work now, but get completely derailed with a thought I feel the need (compulsively) to blog about.

I saw that someone somewhere on a remote part of the globe was reading a post I wrote a while ago postulating that fear was the first emotion to appear on the evolutionary scene. I decided to revisit it. Here's the link: http://taradeliberto.blogspot.com/2011/03/first-emotion-fear.html

While rereading the post, I had the thought that bipolar disorder may result from a dysregulation of the anxiety system. Long story short, in depression, we see that prolonged anxiety can lead to chronic sadness (via chronic exposure to cortisol and what I conceptualize as over-use of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis). We can also see that exhilaration and anxiety are quite similar emotions. Combining these two thoughts, perhaps bipolar disorder could arise out of the dysregulation of a primary anxiety system - sometimes leading to chronic sadness and other times leading to chronic exhilaration.

Interestingly, bipolar is pretty hereditary, but like most psychiatric disorders, it is thought to be prompted by none other than stress, perhaps indicating that it stems directly from some a dysregulation of the anxiety system.

I realize that this is being done already, but the fact that stress / anxiety can trigger the onset of disorders might be a signal to look at how anxiety relates to the course of the illness (with the consideration that anxiety could be the ultimate primary emotion). In this case, while stress may trigger bipolar disorder, lack of ability to regulate anxiety may maintain the behavior. While research in which I am involved examines reward sensitivity in bipolar, I'm wondering if a layer beneath reward sensitivity is anxiety sensitivity, being that we're conceptualizing anxiety as the ultimate primary emotion in this post.

I also realize that to say anxiety dysregulation may prompt bipolar disorder because stress prompts the onset utilizes circular reasoning. But circular reasoning notwithstanding (lol), I still think this is interesting to consider anxiety sensitivity as it relates to two separate constructs of bipolar - both onset and course of the illness.

Ok, back to work.

But The Job Market is Tough

Without structure, money, or the feeling of efficacy that comes with working, unemployed people can understandably slip into a depression.

But what do you do when someone tells you that they just can't get a job because of the job market? One option is to ignore this and try to convince the person that it will all be fine, but my guess is that you might not win yourself a fan. When people validly point out that the job market stinks, it 100% must be acknowledged. We are in hard times here.

But here's the catch: clients sometimes say "but the job market is tough" almost as a reason not to submit applications. There is a "what's the point?" feel to it, which is definitely a signature sentiment of depression.

If the person leaves the session just feeling validated in thinking the job market is tough, they'll probably end up feeling temporary relief after having vented, do nothing to better their situation, and end up more depressed. Be careful not to let "but the job market is tough" become an excuse.

So what is a good alternative mindset?

If the job marketis tough, you need to put that much more effort into applying than you would otherwise, not less.

If you're old, changing fields, have been unemployed for a while, or whatever the case may be, you must try even harder. Accepting that it is going to be tough and moving forward despite rejection seems to be the most functional way to go.

It is a time to go all in.