Information about Bipolar Disorder | Aragon Mental Health, Spokane, WA

Bipolar Disorder’s Signs and Symptoms

Everyone gets moody from time to time. Sometimes the blues come in and settle for a week or two, then we bounce back. Ups and downs are a common part of life, but there’s no easy “bouncing back” with bipolar disorder. It’s a serious emotional disorder that wrecks a person’s ability to life a satisfying life. If you’re concerned that you or a loved one might have bipolar disorder, have a look at the two following conditions, mania and depression.

Bipolar disorder means a person has both manic (overly euphoric mood) and depressed moods. These moods have to be severe enough that they prevent a person from carrying out the usual activities of life. In other words, bipolar disorder prevents a person from doing well at work, school, or in personal relationships. It causes serious harm to a person’s life. Lost jobs and ruined homelives are common with bipolar disorder.

Mania

Mania describes a wildly good mood state with unusually high amounts of energy. Irritability and crankiness may or may not accompany the vastly elevated mood. Mania isn’t just a good mood; it’s a state of euphoria that isn’t caused by something awesome happening. Mania may be almost or totally detached from reality.

For a person to be manic, they must have at least three of the following symptoms at the same time, for more days than not:

Increased talkativeness with rapid, rushed speech.
Abrupt and unrealistic sense of importance or unrealistic ideas about one’s abilities.
Decreased need for sleep—the person may sleep only an hour or two a night, and may stop sleeping altogether.
Dramatically increased energy levels—so much energy the person cannot calm down.
Racing thoughts, thoughts darting from topic to topic.
Poor attention span, inability to pay attention.
Increased risk-taking and out-of-control behaviors, like overspending, promiscuity, excessive drinking or drug use.
Flash temper and sudden high irritability is common in teens with bipolar disorder.
Little to no thought given to the consequences of one’s behaviors.

Depression

Depression is a low, sad mood that leads to an overall slowdown of thoughts, emotional numbness, feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or hopelessness. A person who experiences five or more of the following symptoms may be experiencing a depressive episode. extremely sad mood

Feelings of guilt or worthlessness.
Difficulty concentrating.
Thoughts of suicide.
Changes in sleep (poor sleep, interrupted sleep, insomnia or sleeping too much).
Changes in eating.
Fatigue.
Anhedonia (loss of pleasure in formerly enjoyable activities and the inability to feel happiness).
Restlessness or slowing down.
Unusual irritability, feelings of anger for no reason.

Life is made of ups and downs, after all. It’s normal for anyone to have a few of the symptoms of mania or depression from time to time. Remember, bipolar disorder is a chronic condition that affects a person most days or every day and is severe enough to interfere with living life.

If you think you or a loved one may be experiencing signs of bipolar disorder, seek help from an experienced psychiatric nurse practitioner who can help you understand what you’re feeling, why you’re feeling it and provide you options to move forward.

Damaris Aragon, ARNP, BC provides a full spectrum mental health care to people in Spokane, Washington and surrounding areas. She focuses on providing personalized care that adheres to current evidence-based standards. Reach out to Damaris through her contact page or calling 509-342-6592.

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