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.
Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder
Other signs include a low energy level, fatigue, poor concentration, and a change in eating or sleeping habits. During a manic episode, a person may seem unusually happy or excited. He or she may also talk too much and too fast or appear distracted or overly confident and ambitious.
Nine common symptoms of bipolar disorder include euphoria, less need for sleep, lack of judgment, psychosis (seeing or hearing things that are not real, or believing things are happening that are not real) followed by irritability, feelings of hopelessness, difficulty concentrating, mixed mania, and impulsiveness.
No, a person cannot self-diagnose bipolar disorder or depression relating to bipolar disorder. A doctor or healthcare professional can diagnose a mental health condition by: conducting a physical exam. performing medical tests to rule out other causes of symptoms.
Bipolar disorder can occur at any age, although it often develops between the ages of 15 and 19 and rarely develops after 40. Men and women from all backgrounds are equally likely to develop bipolar disorder. The pattern of mood swings in bipolar disorder varies widely between people.
The most common misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder is major depressive disorder (MDD). The symptoms of major depression last for at least two weeks and can include: persistent feelings of sadness or low mood.
Rapid cycling, in which moods change quickly in a short period, also seems to be more common among females. In one study, almost 30% of females with bipolar disorder experienced rapid cycling, compared with just over 16% of males.
Bipolar disorder, formerly known as manic-depressive illness, is a serious medical condition. Someone with bipolar disorder has extreme episodes of mania, or being very "up" or energetic and active, and episodes of depression, or being very "down" and sad.
It usually starts in your teens or 20s. Often women first have a depressive episode (or multiple) as an adult — before they have a manic (or hypomanic) episode.
What is Bipolar? Bipolar Disorder is a serious life long mental health condition which features pronounced mood swings. The condition was formerly known as manic depression. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that the condition affects 2.9% of Australians aged 16 and over, or 568,000 people.
A stressful circumstance or situation often triggers the symptoms of bipolar disorder. Examples of stressful triggers include: the breakdown of a relationship. physical, sexual or emotional abuse.
Arguments with your spouse, chilly weather, grief — a number of scenarios may provoke bipolar mania or depression. Certain medications, seasonal changes, and alcohol could trigger bipolar mood episodes, experts say. Here's why. Bipolar disorder is characterized by unusual shifts in mood and energy.
Cyclothymia (cyclothymic disorder) is a milder form of bipolar disorder. It involves frequent mood swings of hypomanic and depressive episodes. Bipolar disorder is a lifelong mood disorder and mental health condition that causes intense shifts in mood, energy levels, thinking patterns and behavior.
Cyclothymic disorder is a mental disorder. It is a mild form of bipolar disorder (manic depressive illness), in which a person has mood swings over a period of years that go from mild depression to emotional highs.
A manic episode can cause a person with bipolar disorder to experience hypersexuality. They may feel as if their sex drive is always very high, which can create difficulties. People experiencing hypersexuality may never feel satisfied with sex.
No two people with bipolar disorder share the same thoughts or experiences, but there are some common thought patterns among most folks who have it. This includes cyclical thinking, manic and/or depressive episodes, suicidal ideation, and psychosis.
“In love, a person thinks about the other person—their welfare and well-being are paramount,” he explains. “In mania, I'm thinking about you, but I might also think about how you're a means to an end for my own self-aggrandizement.”
So no, not everyone who has bipolar disorder knows they have it. There are lots of reasons why someone with bipolar disorder might not realize it—or why they might deny having it even if they do.
A shift in mood that lasts no more than a few hours or even a day is normal. In contrast, mood episodes that last days, weeks, or even months are a defining feature of bipolar disorder, according to the American Psychiatric Association (APA).
Don't take comments or behavior personally. During periods of high energy, a person often says and does things that he or she would not usually say or do. This can include focusing on negative aspects of others. If needed, stay away from the person and avoid arguments.
Many of the symptoms of a manic bipolar episode and ADHD may be similar, such as distractibility, restlessness, or impulsivity. So ADHD may go undiagnosed in a person with bipolar disorder, if a doctor mistakes ADHD symptoms for a manic episode.
Bipolar disorder is primarily a mood disorder. ADHD affects attention and behavior; it causes symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. While ADHD is chronic or ongoing, bipolar disorder is usually episodic, with periods of normal mood interspersed with depression, mania, or hypomania.