Bipolar disorder

What is bipolar disorder?

Bipolar disorder is a mental illness characterised by extreme mood swings. Sufferers can experience episodes of energetic mania followed by bouts of crippling depression. These symptoms can last for several weeks, or much longer.

What are the symptoms of bipolar disorder?

Bipolar disorder can sometimes be difficult to spot, due to the fact that many people experience mood swings – not to mention, it’s difficult to monitor changes in your own behaviour if you do have bipolar disorder. The two main symptoms are mania and depressive episodes.

What is mania?

Mania is best defined as a period of time when a person begins to make irrational decisions that they wouldn’t usually make. These decisions might feel good, but people experiencing bipolar mania may:

• Stop feeling the need to sleep.
• Talk really quickly.
• Be convinced they’re the best person in the world.
• Take on loads of jobs or projects.
• Take more risks – especially sexual or financial ones.

These feelings can become delusional; sufferers may imagine things that aren’t there or experience a different reality to everyone else, which can begin to severely impact their life at school, in work or with friends.

The difference between manic and hypomanic symptoms

Hypomania is a milder version of mania characterised by periods of overactive and high energy behaviour that can still have a significant impact on your day-to-day life.

What’s a depressive episode?

When a depressive episode kicks in, sufferers can feel empty, worthless and guilty. They tend to sleep too much or not enough and lose concentration and interest in daily life. This can lead to suicidal feelings. It’s different to depression in the sense that these feelings come in waves, and are often interchangeable with mania.

Types of bipolar disorder

Whilst bipolar disorder is largely characterised by extreme mood swings, people suffering with it might experience the symptoms slightly differently and with varying severity. Because of this, you might be diagnosed with one of several types of bipolar disorder:

Bipolar 1

You might be diagnosed with Bipolar 1 if you’ve experienced at least one episode of mania. A person with Bipolar 1 might also go through depressive episodes but this doesn’t always happen.

Bipolar 2

If your doctor suggests that you might have Bipolar 2 disorder, you’ve likely experienced mania and at least one bout of severe depression.

Cyclothymia and mild bipolar

A common question about bipolar disorder is, can you have mild bipolar disorder? The idea of mild bipolar comes from a condition called Cyclothymia. The symptoms of Cyclothymia are slightly different to Bipolar 1 and 2 in the sense that they might not be quite as severe (although it is still important to seek a diagnosis and treatment). However, if you’ve experienced both mania and depression over a two year period, then your doctor might still diagnose Cyclothymia. Whilst some people might refer to this as mild bipolar, it’s still a serious condition and not something to ignore.

Treatment for Cyclothymia might be similar to the treatment received by people with Bipolar Disorder and could include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and medication.

Do I have bipolar disorder?

Everyone experiences mood swings from time to time – but bipolar disorder can really start to have an impact on your life if it remains undiagnosed. If your moods are extreme and you’re worried that it might be bipolar, it’s always best to go and speak to your GP.

“If you’re diagnosed with bipolar it’s not the end of the world,” says Georgia, 23, who has the condition. “You can get it under control and live a happy life. It’s not a life sentence, even though it sometimes feels that way.”

I’ve been diagnosed with bipolar, how can I help myself?

If you’ve been to a doctor or mental health specialist and have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, it can feel very scary – you might also feel that your condition is out of your control and that you’ll have to manage your symptoms most days in your life. There are some things you can do yourself to help feel more in control of your moods.

How to cope with bipolar disorder

1. Sleep: Set yourself a sleep routine and stick to it – yes, even when you feel you don’t need any, or you can’t bear the thought of getting out of bed.
2. Talk: Don’t cut yourself off – share how you feel with friends and family members. Consider joining a local support group so you can chat to other people with bipolar.
3. Exercise and eat well: Both can have a surprisingly positive effect on mental health.
4. Keep track of your moods: Use a mood diary and mood scale to do this, like this one from BipolarUK
5. Plan: Tell your friends and family how you’d like them to help you during manic and depressive episodes.

The first step to coping with bipolar is getting professional treatment. Talk to your doctor and psychiatrist about what treatment may be best for you. This could involve counselling and/or medication such as mood stabilisers. They’ll be able to talk you through the options and help you decide what will work best for you.

I’m Lucy and I’m 24 years old. I live in Manchester and work at a creative agency. I love weird themed club nights, Wes Anderson films and talking to anybody who will listen about how great my cats are. After years of being misdiagnosed with depression, and taking antidepressants on a daily basis, I was diagnosed with type two bipolar in February last year.

I’d struggled with severe depression for years

I was used to stints where I was crying constantly or couldn’t see the point in anything. I’ve always been shy and naturally quite melancholic. This was dismissed by counsellors as me being unable to deal with the trauma of my dad’s death when I was younger. In 2015, I went through a few phases which made me question if something else was going on. I was filled with so much energy that I stopped sleeping and went on walks for hours in the middle of the night. I couldn’t keep up with my bizarre and racing thoughts, and filled a whole notebook with them in a matter of days. Everyone around me was so frustrating because they weren’t on my level at all. It was when I came out of this, agitated and exhausted, and wondering why people had been worried about me, that I decided to go back to the doctors who referred me straight to a psychiatrist.

I have to be mindful of how I’m feeling

Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between the start of an episode and my normal human emotions! My first warning sign is that I start waking up at 4am every day and totally lose my appetite. I’m naturally quite geared towards being a bit depressive – sometimes if something small goes wrong it’ll send me into spiral thinking ‘that’s it, everything is terrible and my life is falling apart.’ Once I’m in that mindset it’s harder to concentrate and be productive, but my workplace make allowances for that.

When I’m feeling bad I just want people to listen

I’ve always had a tendency to keep things to myself, which ultimately makes everything a million times worse. I have a supportive family but I still hated feeling like a burden. I now know it’s important to open up to people more. My best friend suffers from depression, so she always totally understands what I’m going through and vice versa. I went to an anxiety group for a few months which was really helpful as I could say the most horrible things I’d been thinking and no one would even react!

Relapses are awful. You feel like a failure

Last year my depression completely took over. I kept telling myself I was fine, even though I clearly wasn’t. My manager even called my mum to tell her that he was worried about me. Although I had a good job, a nice flat and great people around me, I just hated being alive and then hated myself for being so ungrateful. There was just an overwhelming sense that I’m just not equipped to handle life. I’ve since recovered from that relapse and am in a much better place, but just knowing that it could happen again at any point is pretty scary.

I want to be able to help people – and I love writing

The future is uncertain as you never know what’s going to happen. I didn’t think I’d make it to this age at times, so that feels like an achievement in itself! I’d love to volunteer with people that are going through similar issues. I’ve got a few half-finished screenplays that I need to finally finish and do something with…maybe try and win the Oscar for Best Short Film – it can’t be that hard can it?

You and your mental health matter

Talk to people. It can be scary and you might worry that people will judge you, or thing you’re crazy. That doesn’t matter. There’s so much that can be done to help you, and it will get so much better.