Understanding Bipolar Disorder Symptoms.

A Bipolar 2 Patient With Its Symptoms

Most of us are familiar with bipolar in general but not many know or have any idea about bipolar 2 or type 2 and its symptoms. According to the definition of (DSM-IV), Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, type 2 disorders comprise of one or more highly persistent depressions accompanied by at least one hypomania or elevated mood. One of the key differences between disorder 1 and 2 is that the latter reaches only the level of hypomania but not the mania episodes. If you experience severe manic episodes you are probably in category one.

Can be Confusing

Many doctors get confused when diagnosing the disease, because its boundaries are immense. Practitioners can often be mixed up with the different symptoms they encounter. At times just dealing with one patient, symptoms can go from mania to mixed feelings with a lot of people going from type 1 to 2 without fitting into any one. When doctor misdiagnose a patient they end up either under or over medicated which can make them dopey or down.

Symptoms of Hypomania

The negative thing about hypomania is that it is a part of bipolar disorder and can shift to either a full manic state or depression cycle. These patients do not get themselves into the kind of serious trouble that a bipolar mania do. They tend to call attention to themselves with behavior that hovers on the edge of being unacceptable. People with the symptom can be very pleasant people to be with, highly humorous and entertaining but they can quickly be irritating and hostile. Being around a hypo manic person for very long is fatiguing or distressful.

Start Rating Yourself

It would be good to have a mood chart say from 1 to 10, one being lowest of low (depression) and 10 is the high of the highest (mania) and try and rate yourself every chance you get. Five is the number for normal and not experiencing any moods. When your mind is clear at least once a day, try and rate yourself, because its hard to remember at the end of the day or the next day. Also very important to take note of the medicine you took and at what time of the day. When rating yourself always look for past behaviors and try to keep your mood chart for a while say 4 to 5 days. This exercise can be important to help your doctor determine a good treatment for your disorder.

Other Information

If you want to know more about bipolar and its symptoms there are pamphlets available at your local mental health centers. The internet also has valuable information about bipolar disorder, its symptoms and treatments.