Bipolar disorder refers to a group of disorders categorized as Bipolar and Related Disorders in the DSM. Bipolar disorder is commonly misdiagnosed as depression because it has many similar symptoms. The most common forms are bipolar I and bipolar II. In this blog, you’ll learn the symptoms of bipolar disorder and how to find treatment.
Symptoms for both kinds of bipolar disorder are very similar, but the biggest difference is that bipolar 1 requires manic episodes whereas bipolar 2 only requires the depressive episodes.
Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar I
In order to be diagnosed with bipolar I, you must meet all of the criteria for manic and depressive episodes as listed below:
Manic Episodes
- Individuals have periods of persistent and abnormally elevated mood with increased energy almost every day for one week minimum.
- When the manic episode happens, you must have three of the following symptoms:
- Inflated sense of self esteem.
- A decreased need for sleep, usually only three hours
- Talking more than normal
- Racing thoughts
- Being easily distracted by irrelevant stimuli
- Psychomotor agitation with increased activity at work or school
- Excessive activities that might even be painful
With manic episodes, the symptoms can’t be better explained by other things, and they must cause significant impairment in your daily function. In some cases, they are severe enough to need hospitalization.
Hypomanic Episodes
- Individuals have periods of persistent and abnormally elevated mood with increased energy four days in a row.
- During this episode, you must have three of the following symptoms:
- Inflated sense of self esteem.
- A decreased need for sleep, usually only three hours
- Talking more than normal
- Racing thoughts
- Being easily distracted by irrelevant stimuli
- Psychomotor agitation with increased activity at work or school
- Excessive activities that might even be painful
With hypomanic episodes, all of these symptoms are things that are uncharacteristic but unlike a manic episode, they are not significant enough to impair your daily function or need any type of hospitalization.
Depressive Episodes
Depressive episodes must have five or more of the symptoms for at least 2 weeks, and one of the symptoms has to be the first or second:
- Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day for two weeks
- A complete loss of interest in activities you once did during the day
- Significant weight changes either gains or losses representing 5% of your body weight
- Sleeping too much or too little
- Problems with cognition and feeling restless or fatigued
- Reduced energy every day
- Feelings of excessive guilt or worthlessness every day
- Indecisiveness and a diminished ability to focus
- Recurring thoughts of suicide or suicidal ideations
With depressive episodes the symptoms have to be severe enough to cause distress throughout your daily function.
Bipolar II
In order to be diagnosed with bipolar II, you must meet the same criteria above for hypomanic and depressive episodes, but not manic.
Getting Treatment for Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder
If you are struggling with symptoms of bipolar disorder, it’s important to understand that this condition is something you can learn to live with. This means it’s important to go to a Bipolar Disorder treatment center where you can find specialized programs that give you the coping mechanisms and lifestyle skills you might need for proper care.
Medication
Treatment for bipolar disorder is a combination of medication and therapy. When you come to our treatment center we will help you determine which medications are the right fit for your circumstances.
If you have bipolar I and you are trying to manage your symptoms of manic episodes, mood stabilizers might be the recommended course of action but if you are struggling with managing your depressive episodes, antidepressants might be the recommended medication instead.
In rarer cases antipsychotics might be prescribed to handle the hallucinations or delusions.
The purpose behind medications for symptoms of bipolar disorder or to help you manage symptoms so that they don’t interfere with your daily function. They are not meant to cure your symptoms or help you recognize when symptoms are about to get worse. This is where therapy comes into play.
Therapy
Therapy is one of the most important aspects of treatment for symptoms of bipolar disorder. Our facility will help you determine personal triggers, things that might cause different mood swings so that you can learn the things you need to avoid, or prepare yourself to cope with things that are outside of your control.
We will focus on teaching you coping mechanisms that you can use on a daily basis. Coping mechanisms are taught in individual and group therapy and designed to help you with the episodes that you struggle with personally. This might include using social skills so that you can better control your manic episodes or developing better communication skills so that you can reach out for help when you are depressed.
Holistic Care
Our team will work with you to review different holistic treatments that you can incorporate into your routine. By changing your lifestyle in certain ways you might be able to reduce the number of episodes you have or control how severe they are.
This can include things like:
- Building a support system
- Learning about nutrition and developing a healthy diet
- Keeping a mood Journal
- Reducing stress
- Utilizing meditation and mindfulness
- Spending time outside and practicing yoga
- Creating good sleep hygiene
Overall the symptoms of bipolar disorder center on episodes of mania or depression. This is a condition that is often misdiagnosed especially for those who are experiencing depressive episodes but with the right diagnosis and treatment from a qualified facility, you can get the help you need to manage your symptoms without turning to things like drugs and alcohol.
Contact our team today to learn more about our bipolar treatment.
