Am I Really Bipolar? How Can They Really Tell the Difference?

You may ask yourself the question how do I know if I’m bipolar? Many people do not really understand the difference or are they able to distinguish the difference between blues and happiness in comparison to severe depression and bipolar disorder. Many bipolar patients that have been diagnosed will think themselves other people have problems too. I can think of many friends and family members that have been sad, mad, happy, angry, upset and many more emotions all in the same day. What makes me any different than these individuals and everyone else in the rest of the world?

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So to begin understanding the difference between what we call normal people and other individuals that have been diagnosed with bipolar, must understand that everyone has shifts in moods that enable them to experience happiness, sadness and many other emotions. What really distinguishes the difference between people who are diagnosed with bipolar disorder, also known as being manic-depressive, is that these individuals have unusual and drastic shifts in moods, energy, behavior and thought patterns that are not seen inside a normal individual.

Many of these mood swings or shifts in thought and behavior comes very quickly and abruptly with bipolar disorder patients. The manic episodes that are associated with bipolar disorder can cause people to become extremely happy at different times especially when it is not related to any environmental cause. For example, an individual with bipolar disorder may be extremely happy all of a sudden when a dramatic or sad event has taken place for no apparent reason. At the same time, a normal individual will experience some form of sadness or sorrow for the event that has taken place.

It is not uncommon at all for bipolar patients to be extremely happy one minute and then extremely sad the next. These are called mixed episodes and happen in bipolar disorder patients. This enables them to go from one end of the spectrum to another all within a matter of minutes, hours and even days. There is no one calls for a bipolar patient to go from one end of the spectrum to the other. There are many different triggers and causes, such as daily stress, the food you eat and many other factors, but these shifts in moods are very chronic and recurring over time. The intensity of the symptoms and how often they have been in an individual is what distinguishes someone who has bipolar disorder and someone who just has what we call the normal mood shifts or mood swings.