While bipolar disorder and narcissistic personality disorder are two distinct mental health diagnoses, researchers have long noted a link between the two, including symptoms of setting excessively high goals and impulsivity. Other shared traits may include a lack of empathy, sleep deficiencies, and mood changes.
To Satisfy Needs for Attention. The person with bipolar might be using emotional manipulation to get attention from those who are close to them. It is not uncommon for a person with bipolar to lash out at the person who provides the most care or practical support.
Individuals with bipolar disorder may have a heightened sense of self-confidence and a reduced filter in their speech during manic episodes. This can cause them to speak harshly and say things they may not mean or fully consider the implications of.
Bipolar disorder can cause a lack of empathy, but symptoms may also make it more challenging to focus on the feelings of others. While there is no medication to improve empathy, treating bipolar disorder can help. Introspection, guided emotional learning, and observing emotions in others may also help build empathy.
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.
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.
As with many emotions, however, people with bipolar disorder appear to be more vulnerable to extreme reactions. “Everyone can become frustrated or angry, but loss of control can be part and parcel of bipolar disorder rage,” says Jeffrey Borenstein, MD, president and CEO of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation.
Patients with rapid changes between the two states are known to have manic depressive states or episodes. Without the appropriate treatment, bipolar behavior can destroy relationships, deteriorate the individual's health, and/or endanger their job.
Signs of A Bipolar Meltdown
The extreme mood swings that occur in bipolar disorder are accompanied by changes in sleep patterns, eating habits, emotions, and behaviors. People with bipolar disorder can experience periods of mania and depression, and the timing of these episodes can be difficult to predict.
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.
The Actions Of Someone With Bipolar Disorder
They may think fast, act impulsively, and have a sense of grandiosity or large ego. As a result, they may lie or say things that are untrue about themselves to impress others. If they engage in substance use, their judgment may be impaired.
Grandiosity is a common sign of bipolar disorder, characterized by an inflated sense of self-importance, superiority, and grandeur.
Symptoms That Overlap: Grandiosity and Lack of Empathy
Considering the aforementioned symptoms, it is clear where overlap occurs. Those experiencing manic or hypomanic bipolar episodes may present with narcissistic traits such as: Grandiosity. Lack of empathy.
Bipolar disorder is characterised by extreme mood swings. These can range from extreme highs (mania) to extreme lows (depression). Episodes of mania and depression often last for several days or longer.
Narcissistic personality (NPD) and histrionic personality (HPD) are both cluster B personality disorders. These personality disorders are characterized by the following: Patterns of thinking and behavior that seem erratic or unpredictable. Actions or thoughts that others consider dramatic.
Here are some reasons why people with bipolar push others away: They don't want to burden people with their problems. The inside of a bipolar mind can be a dark place sometimes. It's common for people with bipolar to worry that their problems are going to bring people down.
Those with bipolar disorder may also engage in risky behaviors such as unprotected sex or extramarital affairs while manic. During episodes of depression, your partner may avoid sexual contact altogether.
Individuals with bipolar disorder are prone to risk-taking behavior that is subsequently regretted.
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.
With bipolar rage there does not necessarily need to be a trigger, it can show up without warning and is always absent of reason. It chooses chaos, it's not the individual choosing to lose control. If anything, control is something we're desperate to have and that desperation only makes our anger more chaotic.
Understanding bipolar disorder
People experiencing mania may exhibit risky actions, outlandish demands, violent rants, and irresponsible behavior during a manic episode. It is common for family members and loved ones to feel like they are left to face repercussions once a manic phase has passed.