Hey, I now help run the
EPRC, which is dedicated to getting better data to answer such questions, and clearly insight cycles, in their more extreme variants, look a lot like bipolar disorder, and perhaps are in some ways the same thing functionally. However, there are some shades of grey in terms of differences, such as bipolar disorder patients not reporting the depression suddenly breaking to equanimity in that very particular open, spacious way, at least that I know of, and things like the phenomena of kundalini not gracing the typical manic episode, for example. However, this is all still very much a work in progress, and, yes, if you want to chat about this, let me know, but realize I am pretty busy over Thanksgiving and then some fundraising into mid December. And, yes, a good therapist, particularly a seasoned transpersonal therapist, might be helpful sometimes.
