Bipolar 101 -- Answers to basic questions

kstella95 · Mar 23, 2019 at 10:59 PM

I’ve wondered for years if I have BPD, I’ve even asked my doctor about it before and his response when asking me the questions, was that I didn’t have manic episodes. What are some different ways mania presents?

komodo1971 · Jul 15, 2019 at 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kstella95

I’ve wondered for years if I have BPD, I’ve even asked my doctor about it before and his response when asking me the questions, was that I didn’t have manic episodes. What are some different ways mania presents?

Unless you present yourself at the doctor's office with clear mania, it is extremely hard to diagnose Bipolar disorder. I take it by BPD you mean bipolar and not Borderline Personality disorder which is also abbreviated BPD.

So, mania means that you have a distinct and abnormally elevated, expansive or irritable mood which last for at least at week or any period of time if you need hospitalization.

During this period, mania is characterized by the following and you need three of the symptoms:

Inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
Decreased need for sleep (e.g., feels rested after only 3 hours of sleep)
More talkative than usual or pressure to keep talking
Flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing
Distractibility (i.e., attention too easily drawn to unimportant or irrelevant external stimuli)
Increase in goal-directed activity (either socially, at work or school, or sexually) or psychomotor agitation
Excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have a high potential for painful consequences (e.g., engaging in unrestrained buying sprees, sexual indiscretions, or foolish business investments).

But, there is more. The mood disturbance should be so severe, that it causes impairment of functioning or could even warrant hospitalization, or there are psychotic features. And, lastly, the episode is not attributable to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication, or other treatment) or another medical condition.

So, you see, it are pretty severe symptoms before they speak of mania and bipolar disorder really cannot be self-diagnosed.

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kstella95 Member Member Since Mar 2019 Posts: 30 5	Mar 23, 2019 at 10:59 PM #1 I’ve wondered for years if I have BPD, I’ve even asked my doctor about it before and his response when asking me the questions, was that I didn’t have manic episodes. What are some different ways mania presents?
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