1. Physical Signs of Bipolar Disorder
Formerly known as manic-depressive disorder, bipolar disorder is often characterized by mood swings. These mood swings can shift between agitated action and extreme depression, sometimes within a short period of time. Some of the risks of bipolar disorder include suicide attempts or even physical aggression.
Physical signs of bipolar disorder may be one of the first ways that individuals and family members recognize it. Individuals with bipolar disorder may talk rapidly, shift from one thought pattern to another with little transition, spend wildly without regard to income or the family budget and make excessive claims or engage in grandiose behavior. In addition, the same symptoms of major depression can be present in bipolar disorder. These symptoms include excessive sleeping or inability to sleep, overeating or sluggish, tired activity.
2. Emotional Signs of Bipolar Disorder
Diagnosing bipolar disorder is not possible based on physical symptoms alone. There are a variety of emotional symptoms of bipolar disorder that make it even more difficult to comprehend. A person who is bipolar may be excited one moment, talking non-stop about new plans. The next moment, however, they are angry, bitter, even weepy and emotionally uncontrolled. Lack of motivation and extreme sadness are other common symptoms during the depression phase of bipolar disorder.
It is even possible for someone with bipolar disorder to function at one level the majority of the time, with only short episodes at the opposite end of the spectrum. Some persons with bipolar disorder, for example, spend most of their time in depression or in a naturally depressed state, with perhaps only a few days of rapid excitement or seemingly normal activity each month. The same may be true of the person who spends most of the time in the mania stage instead of depression.
3. Genetic Factors in Bipolar Disorder
In order to fully understand bipolar disorder, it is important to look at family factors as well. Doctors still aren't certain what may cause bipolar disorder, but they do know that it tends to run in families. For example, the person who has a mother or father with bipolar disorder stands a higher chance of developing the disorder than does the person who has a distant relative or no history of it. There is no specific genetic test for bipolar disorder, but a good psycho-social family history should be able to determine if a person is at risk for developing it.
