Safety note: Warning Signs of Bipolar Disorder

This article is educational and does not replace a conversation with a qualified professional who can ask follow-up questions, assess risk, and understand your individual situation. Reading it does not create a doctor-patient, therapist-client, or counsellor-client relationship. See the full website disclaimer.

Symptoms and diagnosis need clinical context

Bipolar symptoms can overlap with depression, anxiety, substance use, sleep loss, medical conditions, and reactions to medication. A diagnosis needs a careful history of mood episodes, sleep and energy changes, risk, medical factors, and current symptoms.

Symptom lists and articles can help you notice patterns and prepare better questions, but they cannot diagnose you. Trusted clinical sources describe diagnosis as a process that may include history, current symptoms, mental-health assessment, physical health, medication and substance review, possible tests to rule out medical causes, and judgement about severity, duration, impairment, and safety.

Medication safety

Bipolar-disorder medication decisions can involve mood stabilisers, antipsychotics, antidepressants, pregnancy or physical-health issues, and relapse prevention. They should be reviewed with a psychiatrist, GP, pharmacist, or another qualified prescriber.

Do not start, stop, increase, reduce, combine, or switch medication because of something on this website. Speak with a GP, psychiatrist, pharmacist, or another qualified prescriber. Seek urgent medical help for serious side effects, overdose concerns, severe agitation, mania or psychosis, allergic-reaction symptoms, dangerous withdrawal symptoms, serotonin-syndrome concerns, or thoughts of harming yourself or someone else.

If safety may be at risk

If you or someone else may be in immediate danger, may harm themselves or someone else, or feels unable to stay safe, use emergency help now. In Ireland call 112 or 999, or go to the nearest Emergency Department. Outside Ireland, use your local emergency number.

Bipolar disorder is characterized as a mood disorder, often referred to as manic-depressive disorder. Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder which carries a psychiatric diagnosis. Persons with bipolar disorder may experience periods of deep depression with breaks of mania as a complete mood shift. People with bipolar disorder often have cycles of elevated and depressed mood that fit the description of “manic depression.” Typically, when a person’s illness follows this classic pattern of elevated mood, depressed mood, hyperactivity, impulsivity, low energy, etc., recognizing and diagnosing bipolar disorder can be relatively easy. … See the full article on PsychCentral at http://blogs.psychcentral.com/relationship-corner/2016/12/warning-signs-of-bipolar-disorder-22-signs/

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