Formerly recognized as manic depression or manic-depressive illness, bipolar disorder is a lifelong mental health condition and mood disorder that causes an abrupt shift of moods. This condition may last up to hours, weeks, days, or even months. A person who has bipolar disorder may experience a disruption in their daily tasks. Bipolar disorder is one of the main causes of extreme mood swings that leads to emotional highs and lows.
Most people may be diagnosed with bipolar disorder during their adolescence stage. However, symptoms can appear even at an early stage of childhood. While some people may experience emotional symptoms in-between episodes, some may not experience any.
At least 2.8% of U.S. adults, or roughly 5 million people, were diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Adults with this health condition are different from children and teenagers. Adults diagnosed with bipolar disorder may experience a clear episode of mania or depression that may last for a week or even longer. While in children and teenagers, it is vague and changes from one episode to the other.
Below are some of the symptoms of Bipolar Disorder:
Mania Episodes
The extreme mood swings in a Bipolar disorder do not occur in a specific pattern. Before shifting to the opposite mood, a person may experience the same mood state (depressed or manic) multiple times. These episodes can last for several weeks, months, or even years.
The degree to which it worsens varies from person to person and can vary over time; it could be lessened or worsened. Mania, commonly referred to as the highs, can cause a person to feel elated, full of optimism, and always enthusiastic. They also tend to switch tasks to the next, though the previous task is not yet finished.
Manic individuals may speak quickly, frequently incoherently, and without appropriate pauses. They don’t converse naturally and back and forth. Instead, they interrupt you, switch topics abruptly, and generally don’t make any sense.
When an individual is having a manic episode, it may be difficult for them to fall asleep for days or can only sleep for a few hours every night for days or even weeks. They might feel great and have lots of energy, yet despite this, they will never complain about being exhausted.
