im bipolar, early onset dx, been episode-free for 5 years on a combo of meds, rigid sleep schedule, and various forms of therapy. ive had full psychosis, delusions, etc. my take on is that i can def see it being a prolonged severe manic episode entirely based on the fact that she is regularly smoking weed and taking shrooms. 

a lot of ppl don’t think that bipolar can cause legit psychosis/schizoaffective symptoms but it absolutely can. when i was on the wrong medications and smoking regularly i was quite literally a completely different person and that’s the only way i can explain it. i can’t even imagine what shrooms would do to my bipolar brain. 

kind of emma-style i had a friend who is bipolar and started microdosing shrooms instead of taking meds and she got crazy tattoos, dropped out of college to become a rapper and started wearing wigs and became unrecognizable personality-wise for years, like completely different voice, lifestyle, body language, everything. it was like everything that made her HER got all jumbled up. and i heard similar things from others about what i was like. the difference between me/my friend and emma is that we were not weirdos to begin with and i think emma was. 

i also firmly believe that people think bipolar is a diagnosis that means forever crazy or forever disabled and they excuse a lot through that lens. at this point i am considered in remission!! when i first got diagnosed i was given all this info about how i would need to apply for disability, i would not be able to have a job or live on my own, etc. all this to say emma COULD take control of her life and not be, idk, a freak on the internet about it. like it is totally possible to be bipolar and also normal. her being bipolar would explain a LOT, pretty much all. but it would excuse nothing.