not really bipolar

do u believe that sometimes people just have a bad attitude and its not bipolar? My friend has a aunt who is bipolar and she is always mean and angry. I know that part of it. For me for instance, my psych says some of my depression is situational. What do u think about bad attitude? Just wondering.

I've met a few other people in my life who have had bipolar. Just a few, really. (And most of them from my family. )And none of them, would I consider "mean" or having a bad attitude. At least not on a constant basis. We all have our moments where we can say incredibly hurtful things, whether we intend them to be hurtful or not. This just kind of happens and something that we all have to deal with.

The few others that I have known have actually been some of the most generous, caring and giving individuals that I have ever known. Or maybe that's just because I can relate to them so much.

The ONE that could even remotely have been construed as having a bad attitude was my grandmother. (Not diagnosed, but I know enough to know that she probably DID have it.) But on the few occasions that I was actually allowed to see her, she was actually quite nice to me.

My grandmother was diagnosed with clinical depression. She was a big partier, so maybe today she would have been considered bp. Anyway, she refused to take meds most of the time and she was a very mean and demanding person! Actually, she was just plain scary because you never knew what mood she would be in. She was an alcoholic as well.
So back to your question, do I think bipolar is just situational-maybe, but mential illness no matter which label it has is very miserable, especially if you choose to make others suffer.
Bluemountains

Just like there are mean unpleasant "normal" people, there are mean unpleasant people dxd bp. The 2 don't have to be seperate nor does the dx have to explain the personality...

I think it is way too over diagnosed. I think there is a trend among the psychiatric doc's to over diagnose bp. I hope it stops...when I went to the hospital for it I took like 4 tests. I'm bp and I hate it although I'm dealing with it.

But just being a little more irritable etc doesn't mean bipolar!!! Ugh, it's so annoying to me how so easily this disorder is used...

I should listen to my music...always a saving grace.

In one of the incarnations of the DSM (don't remember which) 'irritability' was added to the criteria (I think both I and II with the irritability in I being more extreme) and in my opinion this is one of the things that has managed to expand the diagnosis of the disorder.

Although they can be confused as well, I think many of the other symptoms of mania (or hypomania) are more discrete/recognizable as 'abnormal' (in the sense of outside the realm of what's considered 'normal' experience) than irritability.

Anyone and everyone can get irritable sometimes, even very irritable, and lasting for many days, for any number of reasons. Whereas, for example, not sleeping for a full week and not feeling at all tired is something that's far more unusual. But it seems, if you are often depressed and in addition get very irritable at times, you can get diagnosed (at least with II).

I don't think they should necessarily exclude some sort of anger/irritability/rage from the criteria, but I think it needs to be defined in a much more specific way.

I know I get irritable sometimes. Sometimes I don't know why, sometimes it's my anxiety that's giving me a short fuse, or something has really p**ssed me off in an ongoing way. In my experience, these instances have not been a part of an episode, just life (and sometimes anxiety). I've only ever felt irritable in the context of an episode when it's a case of people being too 'slow' (because my mind is going so fast, I think I'm brilliant when manic, etc.) which irritates me. But that's in a specific context, not being just generally irritable at a given time.

I don't know why it was added, but I'm actually going to do some research and see what I come up with. I'm not denying that there aren't perfectly good reasons for it being there, I just think it's something that can be so easily confused with non-bipolar issues, since it's so non-specific.

Dysphoric hypo/mania presents with huge amounts of irritability, aggitation and anger. That's why it counts as a symptom. Also mixed episodes have a reputation of increased irritability as well, both I can say is true because of experience.

Just my 2c, I still stand by my above post though...

Speaking as someone with Bipolar I disorder with psychotic features, I am horrified at the number of times I read posts from people with bipolar disorder justifying bad behavior as a symptom of their illness. I've heard people justify cheating on their spouses, being rude to total strangers, mistreating their children, etc. all in the name of their bipolar disorder. If I am so manic that my behavior is that dangerously out of control, guess what, I get admitted. Sometimes, involuntarily. I have been sedated and restrained during severely delusional manic episodes. I've had psychotic depressions so deep that I was convinced I was receiving messages from the radio to harm myself. NEVER have I mistreated another human being during any of my severe swings. When I am doing well, I am fully functional. I am a research scientist. I raised a wonderful daughter. I have been remarkably successful given the severity of my illness. I'm so tired of the whining. My advice to everyone with bipolar disorder: TAKE YOUR MEDICATION, go to therapy, communicate fully with your psychiatrist, ask questions, and choose your treatment team carefully.

How do you distinguish irritability/agitation/anger as part of a bipolar episode vs. irritability/anger as not part of an episode, in your experience? Are you only irritable/angry when you also have other symptoms of hypomania, or do you experience these outside of hypomanic episodes? I guess my question is, how do you tell the difference?

my irritability and anger is from nowhere. That's the difference. Some days if my kid spills milk, I'm like whatever. Other days, I fly into a rage. I don't like to be touched during mania unless it's sex. It's really hard because I have kids and my oldest wants me to hug her and sit on my lap. I feel like she's hanging on me during these times and I get all fidgety feeling.

I am normally (rather to the world) a pretty easy going laid back person but get me in an episode and things that normally wouldn't bug me, make me go off the deep end. In fact, I've started texting my husband things like "if i get pissed later, please read this text to me to remind me I'm ok with this" when he goes out with friends. It's totally unpredictable that way. But it seems that while I can't control it, I have learned to direct it differently. I might get crappy later but I won't obsess about it and dramatize it so much.

I think that if you talk to people dx'ed with bp and have irritability, you'll find that their irritability is different than the normal persons.

I experience it both ways... My hypos are only euphoric for 3 or 4 days. After that I'm aggitated and irritable and just touching me will make me bite your head off, because I'm sensitive to touch at that time and my skin feels raw, not just because I'm being a right biyotch. I WILL "overreact" to the slightest thing, to the anything, the everything! I NEED to be left alone. The sound of my daughters voice is irritating, even if she's talking to my mom in the next room. Honestly, everything grates me. Its irritability on friggin steroids. No lies. Huge red flag is yelling at my daughter over something that didn't bug me yesterday, or shouldn't bug me at all. eg. Her singing a made up song. Yes I've gone off at her for that Gosh I felt bad, but I promise I apologized...

Then like last Saturday, I woke up irritable, no other symptoms present, yet is was as intense as ever. My skin was crawling from the aggitation. It was so huge, larger than life, and so overwhelming I was in tears toward the end, because it just wouldn't leave my body. I locked myself up for 12hrs just so I wouldn't have to subject my daughter to me...

Normal irritability, is like when things and people are annoying me and I want them to STFU or dissapear because they work on my nerves and I spend my time imagining their heads exploding, or walking into oncoming traffic. Ok maybe someone elses is less violent, but mine is what it is

The former irritation on steroids, is when everything is so aggravating every single irritation feels like nails on a chalkboard except my brain is the friggin chalkboard!

I hope that clarifies it some... I can try to do better if it doesn't.

Untreated, bipolar illness can be really a pain in the backside. Treated, one who has bipolar disorder is probably better in mood states than the general public. (I don't care for the word "normal" because there is no such thing.)

And don't underestimate the role of alcohol or other drug use in mood impairment, please. I suspect that some alcoholics may have been diagnosed as bipolar when they were actually acutely sensitive to alcohol, as an allergen.

It's no wonder psychiatrists have a challenge on their hands to identify bipolar illness in some. Is it truly bipolar, or alcoholic allergy, or other drug sensitivities? So, maybe that's why they must request drug abstinence for months before giving a diagnosis.

One problem with the bipolar patient who has an overly strong conscience is that he/she may keep emotions bottled up until a trigger releases the volume of anger in what I call a "blast". That's probably how I would describe bipolar anger as opposed to anger from the general population. When you consider that 93% of bipolar patients never undergo diagnosis or treatment, you've probably all experienced the anger of a bipolar patient assuming that it might have been that of a member of the general population.

If I had to give one possible way of identifying bipolar anger, I would say
that it takes on a greater emotional state or atmosphere than anger does
that is released on an intellectual level. (Maybe that's why it is partly
a mood disorder: the emotions get in the way of intelligence.)

Difficult to know for sure, my friends, among some.

thanks everyone, sure is a interesting subject isn't it

When I am irritable during a manic episode things I get irritable about make no sense. For example, during one episode I was in my car behind another car. The driver of the car had her sunglasses resting on the top of her head. I was immediately irritated by it and wanted to tell her off. It made no sense!! I, of course, did not do anything, just sat there and fumed.

I'd say that I've noticed a difference between the type of grumpy I get because the things that normally wouldn't bother me, bother me.

Like... I'll get EXTREMELY PO'd at my cat for meowing. Just one meow. Or I'll get annoyed as all crap if he wants to cuddle up (who gets mad at a cuddly cat?!?!). Have flipped out on my students because SURPRISE they talked when they weren't really supposed to. They do this every day and I am normally good natured about it because when we DO end up quiet... it's usually me who breaks the silence!

Normally if I'm a "normal" grumpy there's a bit more of a reason for it - like something that ISN'T an every day occurance, or if it's something that really shouldn't be happening (eg for the past month there's been a cab parking between my spot and the entryway to the building... I don't have a car but the fact is, that's NOT a parking spot. So I let the rental company know. That's a legit thing to be annoyed about!)

Also if I'm in a normal sort of grump, it's very situational and will be done and over shortly. If I'm getting annoyed with EVERYTHING that normally wouldn't bother me... it'll kick around longer.

Everyone in my family thought that my sister was bipolar because she was always throwing the worst temper tantrums. She would go deep off into her beliefs and no one could argue with her. I was always the peace maker and guy who was rational. Of course, the most non-rational thing happened when I became manic, then psychotic, and now I'm diagnosed as bipolar. I hardly think attitude has much to do with it. Unless of course depressed or raging manic.