According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 5.7 million American adults are affected by bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder can be troubling to the patient as well as his family, so a timely diagnosis is important to obtaining adequate treatment. Although bipolar disorder affects patients differently, the American Psychiatric Association has identified patterns of symptoms that a person might exhibit if affected by bipolar disorder.
Mood Symptoms
One of the primary components of bipolar disorder is an occurrence of an abnormally elevated, expansive or irritable mood for at least one week. Think about your mood in previous days or weeks. If you have felt agitated or riled up, you may have experienced a manic episode. Start to pay closer attention to the changes in your moods, how long they last and the potential cause, especially if mood changes seem unprovoked or the cause is difficult to identify.
Behavioral Symptoms
Another component of bipolar disorder is an occurrence of three or more manic symptoms during the period of time when you noticed a change in your behavior or mood. It is often helpful to make a list of your behaviors during that time. Examples of manic symptoms include inflated sense of self, feelings or grandiosity, decreased need for sleep, such as sleeping two to three hours each night, yet still feeling rested, excessive talking, experiencing racing thoughts, an inability to capture thoughts or to communicate a full thought or becoming easily distracted. A person in the manic phase also may experience a sharp increase in goal-directed activity, such as taking on more work than is reasonable to get accomplished with available time and resources, or engage in an excessive amount of pleasurable activities in an irresponsible manner (e.g., going to bars, shopping or spending unnecessary money). Be honest in assessing your behavior, because it will be helpful to your doctor or therapist in managing your treatment.
Manic vs. Depressive Symptoms
Think about the behaviors you listed or recalled. If any of the behaviors are indicative of a sad or depressed mood, you should point them out to your therapist or doctor. This is important for him to confirm that you are still experiencing strictly bipolar symptoms or bipolar symptoms in conjunction with a mixed episode, an episode containing both manic and depressive behaviors.
Assessment of Functioning
To substantiate a treatment plan and help you to find support for your illness, it is important for your therapist to understand how your symptoms are negatively impacting various aspects of your daily life (e.g., home, work, school or family life). Describe what things are like when you are functioning well as well as what things are like when you are experiencing bipolar symptoms.
Ruling Out External Factors as Causes
Discuss any alcohol or substance abuse, any additional illnesses you have or any medications you are taking for an illness. Usage of alcohol or substances, symptoms of illnesses or other medications can cause you to exhibit similar behaviors as those associated with bipolar disorder. Your therapist needs to know this information to confirm your diagnosis and to ensure that any medications you are taking for bipolar disorder will not have a negative reaction with other substances or illnesses.
References
- National Institute of Mental Health: Mental Health Statistics
- "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed."; American Psychiatric Association; 2000
