How long do highs last for you?

So today is day one where I feel fantastically exuberant and hopeful and excited about life again. But in the back of my mind I'm dreading the inevitable? crash... at least, it feels inevitable because I feel like that's the cycle of this disorder -- extreme lows, then extreme highs.

And so I'm wondering, on average, how long do your highs last? I'm worried this is a one-day thing. And I'm also a little worried how the majority of my good-feeling was dependent on meeting someone new and hitting it off really well. Can this happiness occur without being around people?

Yeah. Short term intensity is kind of a trade mark of BPD. Up and down through out the day usually. If you mean how long the high lasts when it comes from within me then it usually lasts 20-30 minutes. Occasionally a couple hours and rarely the whole day. Usually I feel that way when I do something that I can be proud of.

If there is an external factor it varies. Friends are good for the whole day usually. Maybe two if it was a really awesome night. Family not so much. Maybe 5 minutes? Love interest/flirting kind of thing can keep me happy for months. Granted it comes with a certain level of anxiousness and self doubt, but it is more or less ecstatic. Personally, my BPD is infinitely more manageable when I'm in a relationship. It's my ultimate validation, in therapist lingo. Affection, touching, being treated like I'm worth more than others simply by being me. She picked me therefore I'm better than everyone else kind of thing. Coupled with actual validation; I like having someone to listen to my problems or let me listen to hers to distract me from my own.

There is a small portion of my thoughts that is concerned with "Well clearly this feeling isn't going to last. I didn't feel like this this whole week." but I sort of push it out of my head. Relationships sort of happen when they happen, so I try and focus on things that better my life. Going to school, getting a new car, learning a new language. I'm trying hard not to let others be my sole source of validation, but it's difficult.

Anyway, that's my feel.

Couple of hours, but they are STRONG. My hands tremble, I feel perfect. I'd imagine taking cocaine would feel like that.

And I yearn to stay in this moment...

My highs tend to last until something triggers me into a rage or into a depression. I can never tell how long it will last, unfortunately. If nothing triggers me into another state, it lasts about an hour or so I think in most cases. I'm suddenly reminded of all the worries and the rejection and the abandonment and that kind of ruins it.

Wow, this describes how I feel perfectly. Many times I'll feel positive and like I can change and like life is amazing and that I'm amazing, and that usually happens when I create things or I just hung out with friends or a girl that I really like etc. Unfortunately this monumental zeal usually lasts at most a day, and that's very rarely, before the crushing emptiness and hopelessness or the extreme anxiety or the inappropriate anger return. It sucks because whenever I'm at that high point it always gives me hope that I'm getting better and that all the depression and whatnot is gone only for it to happen all over again. My therapist even thought I was getting better because my appointments were on days where I was in a really good mood.

No more than an hour usually.

Right up until I either run out of energy or something 'bursts my bubble'.

And the fall is so much worse the longer the high went. This is the primary reason I dislike highs.

I was wondering this exact same thing yesterday. I was on one of my highs and it lasted a couple of hours because my boyfriend was paying me extra attention but it was gone this morning...

Chainedlynx-I could have wrote your post word for word up until that last part.

I had a question too... Does anyone else have almost an invincible feeling when They get like this and do you get the urge to do something stupid and impulsive and don't care much about consequences?

Roughdiamond wrote:Chainedlynx-I could have wrote your post word for word up until that last part.

I had a question too... Does anyone else have almost an invincible feeling when They get like this and do you get the urge to do something stupid and impulsive and don't care much about consequences?

I can feel to this. This is usually when I find a girl that I think I'm into. I just get so happy that I don't care about the rest of the world. I feel like things are so good right now that it's proof that nothing could go wrong. I once spent about a grand or so on a 2-3 week party with a few of my friends just because I was so happy that I didn't want it to end. Almost always drinking and sleeping around and flirting. Good times, except I wish I still had all that money. It was a student loan too. It was fun but it was a bad decision. >.>


Successful flirting with girls usually gives me that feeling at least for a little bit. I just get so much confidence. Like I can't do anything wrong. That she's going to laugh at all of my jokes and I couldn't possibly make a mistake. I'm not even thinking about mistakes. Which is a far cry from my usual withdrawn attitude when it comes to flirting. I just let them come to me and if they don't like that then screw 'em. =\

Anything from 5 minutes to about a day.