It's common to feel embarrassed, humiliated, ashamed, even worthless. There's often regret, sharpened by fear that you've alienated people in your life. Realizing that you've caused hurt and hardship—a major wellspring of guilt—only compounds the pain.
A person with bipolar disorder may lie, or appear to lie, about their condition. Doing so may be to avoid the stigma attached to mental illness, or someone may really believe there is nothing wrong with them. This denial can make treatment a challenge.
The known maladaptive types of coping mechanisms, or negative coping skills, evident in BD patients are “… rumination, catastrophism, self-blame, substance use, risk-taking, behavioral disengagement, problem-direct coping, venting of emotions, or mental disengagement” (Apaydin & Atagun, 2018).
Bipolar disorder (BD) patients often demonstrate poor socialization that may stem from a lower capacity for empathy.
A person with bipolar disorder may be unaware they're in the manic phase. After the episode is over, they may be shocked at their behaviour. But at the time, they may believe other people are being negative or unhelpful.
Looking back at what happened during a mood episode can stir powerful emotions. It's common to feel embarrassed, humiliated, ashamed, even worthless. There's often regret, sharpened by fear that you've alienated people in your life.
Manipulation isn't a formal symptom of bipolar disorder, although some people with the condition may exhibit this behavior. In some cases, manipulative behavior is a result of living with another mental health condition, such as personality disorders, substance use disorders, or trauma.
Does Bipolar Disorder Cause Anger? Irritation and anger can be normal and even healthy responses to certain provocations. As with many emotions, however, people with bipolar disorder appear to be more vulnerable to extreme reactions.
Living with bipolar disorder does not mean that a person will experience difficulty making and maintaining friendships. However, without suitable treatment and a support network, symptoms of the condition may put a strain on relationships.
For people who deal with bipolar disorder, emotions can be far more intense than they might otherwise be, or else you might even feel a complete lack of emotion, at all, in instances when you would usually feel resonance.
Answer questions honestly. But don't argue or debate with a person during a manic episode. Avoid intense conversation. Don't take comments or behavior personally.
One of the hallmark signs of mania is impaired judgment. This causes you to participate in extremely risky or dangerous behaviors. You do things without even considering the consequences of your actions. Gambling and hypersexuality are some of the risky behaviors linked to manic episodes.
Bipolar disorder can cause your mood to swing from an extreme high to an extreme low. Manic symptoms can include increased energy, excitement, impulsive behaviour, and agitation. Depressive symptoms can include lack of energy, feeling worthless, low self-esteem and suicidal thoughts.
It's common for someone with bipolar disorder to hurt and offend their partner. When someone is first diagnosed, there are often relationship issues that need to be addressed. Couples counseling can help you: Understand that there's an illness involved in the hurtful behavior.
People with bipolar might get caught up in blaming others because they have not developed healthy coping skills to deal with their painful feelings. They are fearful of losing what their life used to be, and they may be in a stage of complex or prolonged grief.
Those with bipolar disorder experience grand shifts in mood ranging from depression to mania, with their thoughts sometimes reflecting very negative or overtly euphoric emotional states.
A bipolar person may avoid relationships because they don't feel good enough for other people. Sometimes these feelings come on quickly and cause those with mental health conditions to push away others in existing relationships. This can lead to social isolation.
The phrase “bipolar meltdown” could refer to a bipolar person having a manic episode or being in a depressed state. These conditions could cause them to lose control of their emotions and have trouble managing them.
They might be worried about hurting your feelings. Extreme mood fluctuations could make them feel distrustful of others. It's hard for people with bipolar to trust that they're fully supported. They might worry that they'll confide in you, only for you to respond with judgmental comments or frustration.
Narcissism is not a symptom of bipolar disorder, and most people with bipolar disorder do not have narcissistic personality disorder.
People who experience delusions of grandeur, as well as those around them, do not always recognize it as being anything more than pompousness, arrogance, or boastfulness. If delusions occur during manic episodes, this is a clue that bipolar disorder is involved.
You may experience symptoms of depression, plus mania or hypomania at the same time. For example, you may feel very energised and impulsive, while feeling upset or tearful. Or you may feel very agitated or irritable. You may also experience highs and lows very quickly after the other, within the same day or hour.
Both bipolar manic and depressed groups used the defense mechanism of denial, borderline level defenses and immature defenses significantly more than the unipolar depression group. The manic group showed greater dependence on narcissistic level defenses as compared to the other two groups.
Overreacting is a symptom of bipolar disorder,1 but phrases like this minimize the person's experience of this symptom. When supporting a loved one living with a mental health condition like bipolar disorder, it's important that your words demonstrate empathy rather than exasperation.