What are the symptoms of bipolar disorder?
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Dr. Michael Roizen answered:Symptoms of bipolar disorder include major mood swings. One moment you might be on Cloud 9, giddy, or in a state of euphoria. And then all of the sudden, without anything triggering it, you can feel incredibly sad, hopeless, or even suicidal. The shifts can happen a few times a year or even a few times a day. You may experience intense feelings that last almost all day for two or three weeks or even longer. You feel like you can do the work of three people, and sometimes even do. You can also be agitated or irritable. You may even talk a mile a minute or try to do a lot of things at once, including things you typically wouldn’t or shouldn’t do (like spending a lot of money, talking to random people on the street, or engaging in risky sexual activity). Your “wired” feeling may make it hard for you to rest and sleep.
In contrast, during a depressive period, you experience intense sad and hopeless feelings that last almost all day for two or three weeks, or even longer. You may sleep or lie in bed for extended periods. These feelings can sap your energy, causing you to feel tired. You may become forgetful and lose interest in activities you once enjoyed. Being “down” (as in rock-bottom down, not just sad about a bad grade or a breakup) may also cause you to worry a lot and keep you from sleeping.
If you have experienced any of these symptoms and are concerned, talk to your doctor ASAP.
Symptoms of bipolar disorder include major mood swings. One moment you might be on Cloud 9, giddy, or in a state of euphoria. And then all of the sudden, without anything triggering it, you can feel incredibly sad, hopeless, or even... More -
The symptoms of bipolar disorder can be divided into two categories: the highs of mania, and the lows of depression.
Symptoms of mania include elation, euphoria, high self-regard, very fast speech, more physical activity than usual, less need for sleep, great optimism, risk-taking, and poor judgment. Less severe than mania, hypomania involves a productive and positive state where people still may make risky decisions. Symptoms of mild to moderate depression include feeling hopeless and sad, fatigue, nervousness, irritability, loss of interest in day-to-day matters. Severe depression can include thoughts or actions of suicide.
People with bipolar disorder may sometimes experience psychosis, or a lack of connection to reality. Severe depression or mania can lead one to have hallucinations - hearing voices that don't really exist - or delusions - strongly believing in things that aren't true.
The symptoms of bipolar disorder can be divided into two categories: the highs of mania, and the lows of depression. Symptoms of mania include elation, euphoria, high self-regard, very fast speech, more physical activity than usual, less need for... More -
Keith Star of Tarzana Treatment Centers answered:A person with manic-depression may experience moods that shift from high to low and back again in varying degrees of severity. The two poles of bipolar disorder are mania and depression.Helpful? 1 person found this helpfulA person with manic-depression may experience moods that shift from high to low and back again in varying degrees of severity. The two poles of bipolar disorder are mania and depression. More -
Donna Hill Howes answered:People who have bipolar disorder occasionally experience dramatic and extreme mood swings. At the high end, known as mania, a person with bipolar disorder may have an elevated or excited mood and become talkative, restless, have little interest in sleep, make unrealistic plans, have grandiose ideas about one's self, and engage in reckless or dangerous behavior, such as going on wild spending sprees, taking part in risky activities, or abusing drugs. Mania can alternate with periods of depression, during which the person will become sad and hopeless. During the depressed phase, a person with bipolar disorder may talk about or attempt suicide. People with bipolar disorder experience periods of remission, during which they feel neither manic nor depressed. Some people experience a condition called mixed bipolar disorder. This may cause a person to feel symptoms of mania and depression at the same time or in rapid sequence. For instance, a person experiencing mixed bipolar disorder may feel deeply depressed, but have racing thoughts.People who have bipolar disorder occasionally experience dramatic and extreme mood swings. At the high end, known as mania, a person with bipolar disorder may have an elevated or excited mood and become talkative, restless, have little interest in... More -
International Bipolar Foundation answered:Below, you'll find a list of typical behaviors exhibited by those with bipolar disorder. If you have been exceptionally excited or active for a week at a time and check three of the symptoms below, talk with your healthcare provider about bipolar disorder.
- Exaggerated optimism and self-confidence
- An inflated perspective about your abilities and qualities
- Racing thoughts
- Brisk speech
- Impulsive behavior
- Bad decision-making
- Reckless behavior (shopping sprees, irresponsible driving choices, rash business decisions, sexual promiscuity)
- Experiencing delusions (holding untrue beliefs) and hallucinations (seeing and/or hearing things that aren't there)
Below, you'll find a list of typical behaviors exhibited by those with bipolar disorder. If you have been exceptionally excited or active for a week at a time and check three of the symptoms below, talk with your healthcare provider about... More -
Dr. John Preston answered:There are a number of symptoms that often accompany bipolar I and II. Technically, these are not mood swings per se, but they are dominant features seen in many cases of bipolar disorder and are important to understand.
Major bipolar disorder symptom patterns include:
- Depression
- Mania
- Hypomania
- Psychotic symptoms
- Paranoid symptoms
- Intense anger and irritability
- Anxiety
- Feeling overstimulated/overwhelmed
- Problems with maintaining focus, attention, and concentration
- Suicidal thoughts and impulses
- Self-destructive behaviors
- Hypochondria
Find out more about this book: Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder: Understanding and Helping Your Partne...
There are a number of symptoms that often accompany bipolar I and II. Technically, these are not mood swings per se, but they are dominant features seen in many cases of bipolar disorder and are important to understand. Major bipolar disorder... More -
Dr. Robert Hedaya answered:Bipolar disorder symptoms vary depending on which phase of the disorder you are experiencing, the manic phase (or its milder version, hypomania), the depressed phase, or the mixed state, which combines symptoms of both the high energy manic phase and the low or irritable mood of the depressed phase. Thus, to know whether you have a bipolar disorder, you must look at symptoms over as long a period of time as possible. You might have depression right now, but perhaps you had hypomanic symptoms a year ago, and have forgotten about them. People who know you reasonably well can help you to make that determination with the help of a psychiatrist.
Symptoms of the depressed phase are the same as those for depression itself (also called Unipolar depression, since the person has never experienced the manic pole). These include a depressed, sad, blue mood, as well as changes in sleep (oversleeping, or difficulty falling and staying asleep), appetite (overeating, or loss of appetite), energy (loss of energy manifesting as sluggishness, or a seeming excess of energy leading to agitation), diminished or lost ability to experience pleasure (anhedonia), reduced sexual drive, reduced concentration and or memory (short term memory), a sense of helplessness, hopelessness or being trapped, frequent thoughts about death, and often a change in the depression with the time of the day (either worse in the morning, or worse in the evening), and social withdrawal.
Symptoms of the manic phase include a loss of contact with reality that is so severe that it often results in hospitalization, or causes devastating effects in the life of the person and those around him or her. Criteria include elevated and expansive mood, such as euphoria (feeling of extreme happiness), decreased need for sleep (less than 6 hours or so, usually either no need for sleep, or 2-3 hours at most) for at least several days with out feeling tired the next day, increased rate of speech, rapid thoughts, increased creativity, increased goal-oriented activities, excessive involvement in pleasurable activities, impairment of judgment, and unusual and inappropriate social activity. Symptoms of hypomania, the milder form of mania, involve the same systems (cognitive, vegetative, psychomotor, social), but to a milder degree.
There is some evidence that the depression experienced by a person with bipolar disorder is different than the depression experienced by a person with unipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder symptoms vary depending on which phase of the disorder you are experiencing, the manic phase (or its milder version, hypomania), the depressed phase, or the mixed state, which combines symptoms of both the high energy manic phase... More -
Julie A. Fast answered:Bipolar disorder is an illness that affects a person’s ability to regulate their moods. Bipolar disorder is easy to understand as the symptoms stay the same for everyone. But it’s a very difficult illness to treat because the symptoms differ in amount and intensity for each person.
There are four main symptoms of bipolar disorder:
- Mania: A chemically created "up" swing that can be either euphoric (Woo hoo! This is wonderful! Life is wonderful! I am the most beautiful person in the room!) or the nasty dysphoric mania where the person has a down mood and is very agitated. People in dysphoric mania are often irritated, can’t sleep, feel miserable and get angry a lot.
- Depression: A chemically created down swing. Most people are familiar with depression. The hopelessness, sadness, belief that things will never get better, irritation, negativity, crying, lethargy, sleeping too much, getting to sleep but waking up too early, unable to work due to slowness, apathy, slumped body language, isolation and an overall feeling that the world is an unhappy, lonely, uncaring and often unkind place. When this goes too far, suicidal feelings can take over a person’s life. Why is bipolar depression so difficult to treat? Bipolar depression is very complicated when compared to basic depression (called unipolar depression). Unipolar responds very well to medications and therapy. Bipolar depression has such a mix of other bipolar symptoms it’s like cloudy water where you just can’t separate what is causing what. Also, anti-depressants can’t be used alone to treat bipolar depression as they cause mania.
- Anxiety: 90% of people with depression have anxiety and all people with bipolar disorder have depression - so it’s easy to see that anxiety is a main symptom of bipolar and must be recognized and treated carefully.
- Psychosis: This is the most difficult of all of the bipolar symptoms to understand. In fact, most people have no idea that psychosis can be a large part of the illness, especially in full-blown mania. Psychosis has two components: hallucinations where a person has a sensory experience that is not real such as seeing things and hearing voices and delusions where a person has a false belief about something such as feeling a direct communication with a deity or believing that the TV is send out special messages from the government.
These are the symptoms in a nutshell. Did you know there were so many?
Bipolar disorder is an illness that affects a person’s ability to regulate their moods. Bipolar disorder is easy to understand as the symptoms stay the same for everyone. But it’s a very difficult illness to treat because the symptoms... More -
Intermountain Healthcare answered:Most of the time, people with bipolar disorder have depression, with the same symptoms as unipolar (major) depression. Bipolar depression often begins before age 25 -- sometimes in the teen years -- with symptoms such as too much sleep or too large an appetite. The other side of bipolar disorder is a period with symptoms of mania, often called a "manic episode." Manic episodes are often portrayed in the media as wonderful highs, where people feel great and even godlike. In reality, most manic "highs" make a person irritable and are mixed with depressive symptoms. Bipolar disorder is diagnosed when a person has had at least one manic episode.
The frequency of episodes -- often called "cycling" -- is different for each person. People with bipolar disorder have periods of normal moods in between times of having depressive symptoms, manic symptoms, or the combination.
Over the course of a person's life, "episodes" of mood symptoms can occur every few years or as frequently as mood shifts that cycle throughout the day. A depressive episode and a manic episode can also occur at the same time. This is called a "mixed episode." These are particularly uncomfortable and severe.
For a few weeks before an episode, you might notice small changes in your mood or behavior. If you find ways to manage these, you can help prevent the episode. Warning signs include subtle shifts in your mood, sleep patterns, or the way you deal with people. Family or friends might notice these symptoms earlier than you do. Enlist their help in spotting them -- so you can work to avoid a relapse.Most of the time, people with bipolar disorder have depression, with the same symptoms as unipolar (major) depression. Bipolar depression often begins before age 25 -- sometimes in the teen years -- with symptoms such as too much sleep or... More -
Healthwise answered:Bipolar disorder causes extreme mood swings, from feeling overly energetic (mania) to feeling very sad or having low energy (depression). 2
Mania may make you:
- Feel extremely happy or very irritable.
- Not need as much sleep as usual. (You may feel rested after 3 hours of sleep.)
- Talk more than usual.
- Be more active than usual.
- Have trouble concentrating because of having too many thoughts at the same time (racing thoughts).
- Act impulsively or do reckless things, such as go on shopping sprees, drive recklessly or get into foolish business ventures. Or you may have frequent, indiscriminate or unsafe sex.
Depression may make you:
- Feel sad or anxious for a significant period of time.
- Have slowed thoughts and speech because of low energy.
- Have trouble concentrating, remembering and making decisions.
- Have changes in eating and sleeping habits. You may eat or sleep too much or too little.
- Have less interest in your usual activities, including sex.
- Have suicidal thoughts.
- Bipolar I. This is the classic form of the illness. It causes episodes of mania and depression that keep coming back. The depression may last for a short time or for months. You may then go back to feeling normal for a time, or you may go right into a manic high.
- Bipolar II. With this form, you will have depression just as in bipolar I. But the manic highs are less severe ( hypomania ). People with bipolar II have more depressive lows than hypomanic highs.
Some people may have bipolar disorder with mixed symptoms. Their highs and lows of mania and depression occur together. This makes the disorder challenging to treat and very frustrating for you and for those around you. It can also lead to hospitalization if your daily functioning becomes impaired.
If you have rapid-cycling bipolar disorder, you may have at least four episodes of depression, mania or both within a 12-month period. You may go directly from a low to a high. Or you may have a short time lapse between the two extreme moods.
In addition to changes in mood, some people with bipolar disorder also have symptoms of anxiety, panic attacks, or symptoms of psychosis.
Bipolar disorder causes extreme mood swings, from feeling overly energetic (mania) to feeling very sad or having low energy (depression). 2 Mania may make you: Feel extremely happy or very irritable. Not need as much sleep as usual. (You may feel... More
