Glad to hear that you are making progress, Eric. Keep it up!
“Couldn’t the manic-depressive states also be described as the semi-randomized experiencing of extremes of high- and low-mindedness? Or is this a misinterpretation of uddacca and kukkucca?”
It certainly could. This is why it is important to keep the mind calm as much as possible AND to learn Dhamma. Exposing oneself to distracting environment, whether it is unclean physical surroundings or loud music, violent video games, even too much television, can make the mind agitated.
– Then to top it off, the annantara samanantara paccaya will attract “bad previous kamma vipaka” too.
– So, it is important to gradually reduce such exposure. It may be hard to do in the beginning but stick with it.
– This is why they keep drug addicts in isolation forcibly sometimes (not for too long initially, but they keep increasing the isolation time).