Bipolar disorder & its effects on personality

I consider bipolar disorder to be one of the many facets of my personality. In fact, I would argue that it somewhat *defines* my personality.

Obviously bipolar disorder is not a personality disorder, but I feel as though I've somehow "adapted" my personality to compensate for some of the direct symptoms of the disorder. For example, I tend to be irritable and self loathing, so I like to use humor to cope with those things (comedic relief, anyone?); thus, I have a humorous personality. (Well, *I* think I'm humorous anyways. Okay, not really... but everyone is entitled to an opinion!)

Can anyone else relate, or am I just spewing a load of crap? (Probably a load of crap, but hey -- I've got to try.)

Do you have bipolar?
Or are you bipolar?

Depends on my mood

If you are bipolar, that's why you identify with it as being a part of your personality rather than you managing an illness because you have bipolar.

After more than 25 years in the system I feel like I've gotten my real self back just in the last couple of years. I'm back to my laid back go with the flow attitude. But I also had PTSD so it complicated the issue. I think my tension and irritatableness were from dealing with the symptoms and not the real me.

....but then next time I get an episode I'll be irritating again

I think bipolar people, at least those I've met have the best sense of humor of anybody anywhere. Those here on PC too.

I don't know if it defines my personality, but it definitely affects my mood. Like for some reason I feel low for no reason, and I am usually high at night. I don't understand this crap to be honest.

I was just teasing

my sense of humor sucks ):

As the saying goes: laughter is the best medicine

Well, that's the motto I live by

I think you might be right to some degree. I think I adapted my personality to fit the disorder.

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My personality is different depending on if I'm manic, stable or depressed. There are certain patterns each mood will follow, and certain things which pop up consistently during an episode. While I don't believe I'm defined by my depression or mania, I do accept certain behaviors to be part of my personality at that time. All my experiences in this life have developed me into who I am at this moment.

Ultimately, we are talking about facets of our brain that are not well understood. I would say our personality and disorder are intermingled to some degree. I, too, am very funny. Depressed or manic, I keep people laughing and then I laugh, too. It's about the only thing that keeps me feeling grounded and sane.

Someone can just have a great sense of humor (personality trait) or they can use humor to mask other issues (coping mechanism). It doesn't make the person more or less funny regardless of whether it's a personality trait or coping mechanism.

In essence, it would be very difficult to discern someone's personality traits from their coping mechanisms and other facets of dealing with a mental illness. I tend to be pretty judgmental. Can't help it. I see some freaky drawn on eye brows and I'm like..."Why???" I don't want to think it's a personality trait that I'm mean like that. I prefer to think it's a coping mechanism because I'm afraid people are always judging me and won't like me. If I judge them first, I beat them to it. Another layer to that is that some of our traits are learned. My mother was very judgy and I got it from her. I'm not awful. But I wish I wasn't judgy at all. But in essence, how could I really tell if it's a personality trait vs. a coping mechanism? I don't know that answer.

I definitely have personality traits directly related to my bipolar disorder as well as generalized anxiety disorder and now we've discovered the common combo of bp and adhd. Adderall has saved my life. It keeps me focused and also offsets the sedative effect of some meds like antipsychotics and xanax. But it doesn't interfere with the job those drugs do.

Anyway, yes, if I'm really nervous I act completely different than if I'm manic, completely different if I'm depressed, and way different when I'm stable. Sometimes I don't know which me it is until I have my morning coffee. But again, I've been stable for months, but there are still subtle mood differences that give me a darker personality and more twisted sense of humor and other times I'm more light-hearted and just into weird random funny stuff. My personality is definitely a reflection of my bipolar disorder. But I've never been this stable for this long!

Yes, that's a very interesting way to put it. I didn't think of it that way.

I think we all *do* undergo change in our personality during a mood episode. For example, I'm normally an introvert, but when I'm hypo/manic, I am the biggest extrovert you'll ever meet.

Personality does not change, moods do. Therefore, your behavior is a reflection of the change in moods. IMO.

I think it depends on how you look at things, though.

Scientifically speaking, there is evidence that your levels of dopamine affect your personality:
Dopamine linked to a personality trait and happiness | Cornell Chronicle

And I wouldn't be surprised if serotonin, GABA, etc. affect your personality, too.

Whether or not the effects of neurochemical levels cause noticeable enough changes in personality is subjective. We can obviously identify changes in personality via various tests; therefore, we know these changes exist when neurochemical levels are altered.

Now in my opinion, the amount by which your personality changes due to the neurochemical imbalances caused by bipolar disorder depends on you, the person. For some people, these changes are quite evident. Perhaps for you, the changes are so subtle that it feels like they don't exist... which is a fair assessment. I don't expect everyone to notice changes in their personality.

However, I will agree that mood greatly influences your behavior, but behavior and personality are two distinct entities. Though, I would argue that personality does affect behavior. An extreme case is antisocial personality disorder.

ok then..

lol

But in all fairness, I bet a lot of people can't sense a change in their personality. Maybe Elsa and I are just hypersensitive!

I know it's affected my personality. Especially my anxiety has affected it. It's turned me into an oh my god OH MY GOD!!! sort of proned to freaking out person.

Though I suppose you could argue that's a behavioral thing.

You and Elsa? What about me? Oh, I haven't quite "gone there" yet.

I looked up "personality" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Of course there are a million definitions from: a famous person; to a quality that distinguishes humans from animals.

The most applicable definition for this conversation is, "The quality or collection of qualities which makes a person a distinctive individual; the distinctive personal or individual character of a person, esp. of a marked or unusual kind."

Based on this definition alone, I am bipolar. These are not just moods, they are personalities.

There's the hypomanic, hypersexual, paranoid, reclusive me. There's also a less hypomanic very outgoing and talkative and wacky me. There's this weird mixed state, which is a very talkative outgoing but kind of dark and out of it me. There's also this guy who will come home from work sometimes, for weeks at a time, throw his keys on the coffee table and go get in bed. Sometimes I sleep 2 hours, sometimes I sleep 20.

Then there's the stable me, which is this weird, hyper-rational mix of all of the above.

Again, these are not moods, they are distinct personalities. If I met a different individual only one time when in any of these states, they would each describe a completely different person. They would describe different versions of what they think my life is like, and they would have completely different ideas of who they thought I really was at the core, as a person. My personality.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't understand.

I missed this one. So is around ten today.
Meditation blue. Meditation.

I have noticed that since my diagnosis I've become a lot more sensitive in terms of how people speak to me, or what they even say to me can set me off on a tangent. Then again, I'm still a newbie of sorts, what the hell do I know? Even though I've probably been dealing with this since my teens when I was first diagnosed with SAD.

New to the forum....

My personality changed slightly from pre to post BPII. As a teen I was definitely a morning person and slightly introverted (INFP). During the BPII decades from my late teens, I grew overly extraverted (ENFP), maybe due to bouncing in the hypomanic spectrum, I become a night owl too.

After the correct diagnosis and an effective treatment/protocol in 2014, my personality shifted back closely to the introverted personality my teens. Interestingly, today I am mildly introverted again (INFP), yet can easily shift into a slightly extraverted mode for short periods of time when I desire to. I am now both a morning person and evening person. Has anyone experienced personality shifts like this too?

I don't think my personality changes, per se. To me, I think they are just temporary symptoms.