What are the symptoms of bipolar disorder?
Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition that leads to severe mood swings. If you have an identified condition of depression, it cannot “develop into” or “lead to” bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition that leads to severe mood swings. This is usually visible in the form of extreme emotional highs and lows. Sometimes, people can misread the symptoms of bipolar disorder as schizophrenia symptoms. Although bipolar disorder and schizophrenia do have some common attributes, they are two different mental health disorders.
Both bipolar disorder and major depression are classified as mood disorders. Both conditions are challenging. but with proper care, they can be effectively managed.
Bipolar disorder is classified into different types and may include mania, hypomania, or both. The symptoms depend on the type of bipolar disorder but typically cause major changes in your mood and behavior.
This involves manic incidents that last for a minimum of seven days, along with any hypomanic or major depressive incident. In some bipolar I disorder cases, people may also have depression that lasts for at least two weeks, while in other cases, it may involve incidents of depression along with other manic symptoms.
A person with bipolar II disorder has had at least one hypomanic and one major depressive incident but has never had a manic incident.
Cyclothymic disorder
You’re diagnosed as having a cyclothymic bipolar disorder when you’ve had multiple incidents of hypomania symptoms along with periods of depression for at least two years, or in the case of children and teenagers, for one year.
Other symptoms
Some people with bipolar disorder may have episodes of depression that lead to feelings of sadness, worry, and hopelessness. These phases of depression may also include restlessness, having trouble with sleep, slow speech, forgetfulness, lack of concentration, loss of interest in activities, and suicidal thoughts.
You may have bipolar disorder even if your symptoms are less severe. For example, some individuals with bipolar II disorder may have hypomanic episodes but may feel that everything is normal, while friends and family notice the considerable changes in the mood and activity levels that suggest bipolar disorder. If people who have frequent hypomanic episodes are not given timely treatment, this may lead to manic episodes or even depression.