I first want you to know that when properly treated, people who live with bipolar disorder can live a wonderful and fulfilling life. So often, people only want to talk about those who aren’t managing their symptoms. Or publicly struggling, and mention them as if they represent everyone with bipolar disorder, but they don’t. I also want to note that anyone with a mental illness is still personally responsible for themselves and what they do. What I’m getting at, is that they may need some professional support to get them into a place where they can make positive choices. Showing compassion and understanding is the most helpful thing someone can do, when a person with mental illness is trying to better their lives.
I am going to explain how bipolar 1 and bipolar 2 are diagnosed. The DSM-5 (Diagnostics and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) is not the end all be all, but it helps give them symptoms to notice, or even think of, or how it could be diagnosed. I am not a medical professional, and this is not intended for you to diagnose yourself, but if you feel like you might fall under this criteria, then I would suggest speaking to a medical professional right away.
BIPOLAR 1
Bipolar 1, is what I live with, and I also have some modifiers attached to it, that I will get into with a later post. In order to be diagnosed with BP1 disorder, they must meet the criteria for a manic episode. This could have happened by either following a hypomanic episode or not, and it could be followed by a depressive episode or not. However, one must have a manic episode in order to be diagnosed with BP1 Disorder. How long does a manic episode last, you might ask? At least 1 week. According to the DSM-5, we must have “a distinct period of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood. We can also have an increase in goal-oriented behavior, like starting countless projects”, that can range from cleaning the whole house (but not really finishing a task related to cleaning. Start something, but never finshing it) or starting a business overnight. Just for a couple of examples. “And during this week or longer, we must have three or more of the following symptoms:
- Inflated self esteem or grandiosity
- Decreased need for sleep. (this one gets me everytime and I know when I’m manic, cause I can get like 3 hours of sleep and be perfectly rested).
- More talkative than usual or more pressure to keep talking. (this one also gets me, cause I will stutter more often, and stumble over my words).
- Flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing.
- Distractibility
- Increase in goal-oriented activity.
- Psychomotor agitation (this one also gets me, because I can’t sit still, or my legs are shaking uncontrollably, Like we have so much energy coursing through our bodies or we can feel really irritable).
- Activities with high, painful consequences (something I also fall under, like buying sprees, bad “investments”, stuff like that)
It has to be known that manic episodes can not be caused by substances or another medical condition. Although substance abuse and Bipolar can go hand in hand, and can make it harder to diagnose. It just happens on its own as a result of our “bipolar disorder“.
Mania feels ok to many people while it’s happening, and we chase after this natural high. We feel like we’re almost super human, with all these thoughts and ideas running through our minds, and we don’t need sleep and we feel incredibly good about ourselves. Feeling productive and unstoppable. However, its very short lived. When it’s over, you may feel embarrassed, sad, maybe hating the way you acted out, the way that you did. When we’re manic, we can make really bad choices. Like the buying sprees I mentioned earlier, or we feel more promiscuous than we usually are. Often in reckless or dangerous ways. We can also feel like every idea we’re having is our best idea yet. To where we are calling our business partner, or family and friends, at 3am about this new venture.
By now, you may have an understanding about how this can be hard to come down from, and the realization that we acted in ways that we normally wouldn’t can be difficult to cope with. Not to mention, that if we got on social media to share all of our racing thoughts or hosted a live stream while we did something embarrassing. When we’re manic or hypomanic, we are not ourselves. We can’t think clearly, and we really just need some professional guidance and honestly sleep, for a few days.
BIPOLAR 2
Bipolar 2, can often be ignored or rolled into BP1. I think a lot of people assume that there is just Bipolar disorder. That they don’t know there are these two different components. Just know that BP1 and BP2 can look and feel very different. There are other “sub-forms” of Bipolar disorder, like cyclothymia, that I will get into on a later post.
In order to be diagnosed with BP2 disorder, We must meet the criteria for a hypomanic episode and have had a current or past major depressive episode. Hypomania is what those with BP1 hit on their way to mania. It is just as uncomfortable and embarrassing and it has the same list of symptoms. However, it’s usually not as “severe“. Lasting at least 4 consecutive days. Instead of an entire week. All in all, hypomania is just as uncomfortable and upsetting as mania, it just doesn’t last as long. The more issues we see in BP2 people are their major depressive episodes. If you’re wondering what that is, that is where we have a depressed mood and loss of enjoyment in things. As well as 5 or more of the following:
- Changes in appetite or sleep patterns
- Feeling fatigued
- Inability to concentrate
- Suicidal thoughts
- Easily agitated.
- Thoughts and actions are kinda slowed
These symptoms must occur for most days during the same 2 week period. Most people with bipolar 2 disorder spend most of their time in a major depressive episode. And most often when we go see a psychiatrist, they prescribe us with an antidepressant. Which would help, IF we only had depression. But if we do in fact have bipolar disorder, those antidepressants can push us out of depression into a hypomanic or manic episode. That is how I found out, I don’t live with depression, when I went into my second full blown mania, because I wasn’t aware of the first one I went through, because I thought it was normal behavior, being in my late teens.
Mood stabilizers and atypical antipsychotics can help. That’s why it’s extremely important we see a psychiatrist, and get properly assessed and find a medication regimen that works for us.
Don’t just accept any medication that they recommend, because it might not work for you, and it does take time to find the right “cocktail” that does work for you. Feel free to ask them questions about the new/current medication. What are the side effects? How long do I have to be on this? See if there are other options out there that help you feel like the best version of yourself. Seeing a therapist is really important too. They have helped me understand my own experiences with bipolar disorder, because like I mentioned, everyone is different with it. What our early signs of hypomania or mania are. They can give us tools to deal with depressive symptoms that usually follow after a manic episode.
Like our physical health, we have to look after ourselves. Those with bipolar disorder, are no different. We need a supportive and understanding mental health team and possibly have some things in place to help prevent us from taking any destructive action. Like putting a limit on our debit/credit cards, having our loved ones or roommates change our passwords for our social media accounts when we feel a manic episode coming on. Like not getting the same amount of sleep like we use too.
I hope this post helps you understand what Bipolar disorder is, and that it doesn’t mean we’re crazy or out of control. There are other types of bipolar as well, that I will get into with a later post, and features that are attached to Bipolar disorders, that I will also get into. Bipolar disorder just means, we need active support, and we can live a wonderful and fulfilling life.
