Important Bipolar symptoms

Bipolar symptoms include dramatic mood swings between two extremes overly "high" elation and/or irritable on the one end to sad and hopeless on the other. Often there are periods of normal mood in between. Severe changes in energy and behavior are associated with these changes in mood. The periods of highs and lows are called episodes of mania and depression and largely define what is bipolar.

Mania and depression are the two extremes but often depending on the type of bipolar disorder the mood swings lie somewhere in-between. Hypomania (mild to moderate mania) lies between mania and normal. In other direction towards depression there is short lived mild low moods ("the blues"), moderate depression and then severe depression.

Manic episodes are characterized by high activity, irritability and restlessness, euphoric feeling, racing thinking and speech hopping from topic to topic, impulsiveness, lack of concentration and poor judgment. In many cases the manic-depressive shows erratic or rash behavior e.g. in driving or sexual activity or spending sprees. In severe cases of mania, hallucinations (hearing voices that are not there) and delusions (strong irrational beliefs about reality) may also occur.

A mild to moderate level of mania is called Hypomania. Hypomania may feel good to the person who experiences it and may even be associated with good functioning and enhanced productivity. Thus even when family and friends learn to recognize the mood swings as possible bipolar disorder, the person may deny that anything is wrong. Without proper treatment, however, hypomania can become severe mania in some people or can switch into depression.

Depression includes gloomy mood with feelings of emptiness and often crying spells. Feelings of guilt and helplessness encircle the person. There is either too much sleep or loss of sleep with loss of interest in appetite and other drives like sex, that once were part of enjoyment. A key feature of depressive cases is feelings of fatigue or lifelessness in the absence of any physical reasons like exertion or so. Pessimism, indifference, indecisiveness, and (in extreme cases) recurring thoughts of death and suicide are other main indicators of depression.

Sometimes, severe episodes of mania or depression include symptoms of psychosis (hallucinations and delusions).

Bipolar symptoms of mania and depression may occur together in what is called a mixed bipolar state. Symptoms of a mixed state often include agitation, trouble sleeping, significant change in appetite, psychosis, and suicidal thinking. A person may have a very sad, hopeless mood while at the same time feeling extremely energized.