How to Tell If You Have Bipolar Disorder

This may come as a surprise but the word 'depression' has many types. It ranges from mild sadness to anxiety to various sorts of clinical depression. This is highly alarming and you are not about to read about all of them. What you are just about to find out is what bipolar disorder is and what the telltale symptoms are. You will be astonished to find out that you might already have it.

Having bipolar disorder is like having moods from opposite sides of the pole, hence, the name bipolar. This means that you can be overly happy at one time and then in just a few days, or even just a few moments, you are suddenly melancholic. There are also varying moods or emotions in between these highs and lows in your mood. You could feel hopeless and pessimistic or you could suddenly have unexplainable excitement.

The so-called episodes of different moods may be classified into manic episodes and the depressive episodes. Having a manic episode is having three or more of the symptoms for long periods of time. A depressive episode comprises more than 5 symptoms at longer periods of time. Now, here are the most common symptoms of bipolar disorder:

1. Under the Manic episode-moods could range from being restless or highly energetic to being euphoric. Symptoms also include talking fast but out of coherence, lack of concentration, extreme irritability, sleeplessness, overspending (don't all women have that!), and lack of judgment, severely provocative. It would be observed that a person who is suddenly having a different type of behavior from his usual is most probably down with this illness. Sometimes, the patient could also have an extreme appetite for sex. When you ask this person if something is wrong with him, he would most probably deny that there is something is wrong with him. A person having a manic episode could also have extreme self-confidence (bordering unrealistic). Substance abuse is also a symptom of having a manic episode.