Bipolar Symptoms

Bipolar disorder, once called manic-depressive disorder, affects over 2 million Americans. People with this illness suffer from radical mood swings and other types of symptoms. There are three types of mood swings that someone with bipolar disorder has to deal with, manic episodes, depressive episodes or mixed episodes.

The symptoms of a manic episode, also called bipolar 1, are feeling very happy, extremely irritable or anxious, talking very, very fast and constantly talking, not sleeping much and an increase in energy. Another symptom is acting impulsively and doing something that they will later be sorry for, like spending too much money. People with bipolar disorder can also have delusions and might think they have a relationship with someone they don’t even know, like a celebrity. They can also be extremely afraid and in severe cases might even hear voices or hallucinate. A person with bipolar 1 may be in a manic state for a short period of time or a couple of months. They then can either go straight into a depressive episode or feel normal for a while.

Depressive episode symptoms, also called bipolar 2, include feeling exceptionally sad, a complete loss of energy, and constant thoughts of dying or committing suicide, loss of appetite and not eating much, not being able to concentrate and complete loss of interest in things they would normally care about. People with bipolar 2 have manic episodes, but not as much as in bipolar 1.

A mixed episode, also called rapid-cycling bipolar disorder, is a combination of both manic and depressive episodes. The individual can go from being extremely happy one minute and the next have a complete lack of interest or feeling like they want to die.