My husband has rapid cycling bipolar disorder. It does not follow a 6-months up and 6-months down pattern. He is usually hypomanic (exhibiting bipolar mania symptoms but not to the point that his behavior would be considered extreme). People who don't know him well would think he was just very sociable and talkative. However, his family members can tell when he is manic. The typical signs are: much more energetic, talks more, wants to constantly be "on the go," feels sociable, very humerous, feels strong, etc. Also gets critical and nit picky about other people's mistakes, and tends to get "lecturey" about things.

He normally stays this way for about 2 months, and then he has about 10 days of depressive-like symptoms. Then back to hypomania again. But in some cases, he can be up and down within a single day.

This type of bipolar is harder to diagnose.