What is Bipolar disorder?
Bipolar disorder, formerly called manic depression, is a mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings. These include emotional highs, also known as mania or hypomania, and lows, also known as depression. Hypomania is less extreme than mania.
When you become depressed, you may feel sad or hopeless and lose interest or pleasure in most activities. When your mood shifts to mania or hypomania, you may feel very excited and happy (euphoric), full of energy or unusually irritable. These mood swings can affect sleep, energy, activity, judgment, behavior and the ability to think clearly.
Episodes of mood swings from depression to mania may occur rarely or multiple times a year. Each bout usually lasts several days. Between episodes, some people have long periods of emotional stability. Others may frequently have mood swings from depression to mania or both depression and mania at the same time.
Although bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition, you can manage your mood swings and other symptoms by following a treatment plan. In most cases, healthcare professionals use medicines and talk therapy, also known as psychotherapy, to treat bipolar disorder.
Symptoms
There are several types of bipolar and related disorders:
- Bipolar I disorder. You’ve had at least one manic episode that may come before or after hypomanic or major depressive episodes. In some cases, mania may cause a break from reality. This is called psychosis.
- Bipolar II disorder. You’ve had at least one major depressive episode and at least one hypomanic episode. But you’ve never had a manic episode.
- Cyclothymia. You’ve had at least two years — or one year in children and teenagers — of many periods of hypomania symptoms and periods of depressive symptoms. These symptoms are less severe than major depression.
- Other types. These types include bipolar and related disorders caused by certain drugs or alcohol, or due to a medical condition, such as Cushing’s disease, multiple sclerosis or stroke.
These types may include mania, or hypomania, which is less extreme than mania, and depression. Symptoms can cause changes in mood and behavior that can’t be predicted. This can lead to a lot of distress and cause you to have a hard time in life.
Bipolar II disorder is not a milder form of bipolar I disorder. It’s a separate diagnosis. While the manic episodes of bipolar I disorder can be severe and dangerous, people with bipolar II disorder can be depressed for longer periods of time.
Bipolar disorder can start at any age, but usually it’s diagnosed in the teenage years or early 20s. Symptoms can differ from person to person, and symptoms may vary over time.
Major depressive episode
A major depressive episode includes symptoms that are severe enough to cause you to have a hard time doing day-to-day activities. These activities include going to work or school, as well as taking part in social activities and getting along with others.
An episode includes five or more of these symptoms:
- Having a depressed mood. You may feel sad, empty, hopeless or tearful. Children and teens who are depressed can seem irritable, angry or hostile.
- Having a marked loss of interest or feeling no pleasure in all or most activities.
- Losing a lot of weight when not dieting or overeating and gaining weight. When children don’t gain weight as expected, this can be a sign of depression.
- Sleeping too little or too much.
- Feeling restless or acting slower than usual.
- Being very tired or losing energy.
- Feeling worthless, feeling too guilty or feeling guilty when it’s not necessary.
- Having a hard time thinking or concentrating, or not being able to make decisions.
- Thinking about, planning or attempting suicide.
Other features of bipolar disorder
Symptoms of bipolar disorders, including depressive episodes, may include other features, such as:
- Anxious distress, when you’re feeling symptoms of anxiety and fear that you’re losing control.
- Melancholy, when you feel very sad and have a deep loss of pleasure.
- Psychosis, when your thoughts or emotions disconnect from reality.
The timing of symptoms may be described as:
- Mixed, when you have symptoms of depression and mania or hypomania at the same time.
- Rapid cycling, when you have four mood episodes in the past year where you switch between mania and hypomania and major depression.
Also, bipolar symptoms may happen when you’re pregnant. Or symptoms can change with the seasons.
Symptoms in children and teens
Symptoms of bipolar disorder can be hard to identify in children and teens. It’s often hard to tell whether these symptoms are the usual ups and downs or due to stress or trauma, or if they’re signs of a mental health problem other than bipolar disorder.
Children and teens may have distinct major depressive or manic or hypomanic episodes. But the pattern can vary from adults with bipolar disorder. Moods can shift fast during episodes. Some children may have periods without mood symptoms between episodes.
The most noticeable signs of bipolar disorder in children and teenagers may be severe mood swings that aren’t like their usual mood swings.
When to see a doctor
Despite their mood extremes, people with bipolar disorder often don’t know how much being emotionally unstable disrupts their lives and the lives of their loved ones. As a result, they don’t get the treatment they need.
If you’re like some people with bipolar disorder, you may enjoy the feelings of euphoria and cycles of being more productive. But an emotional crash always follows this euphoria. This crash can leave you depressed and worn out. It could cause you to have problems getting along with others. It also could leave you in financial or legal trouble.
If you have any symptoms of depression or mania, see your healthcare or mental health professional. Bipolar disorder doesn’t get better on its own. A mental health professional with experience in bipolar disorder can help you get your symptoms under control.
