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pleasestopasking@reddthat.com 1 month ago
Have you ever been screened for bipolar disorder?
“Mood swings” are a common misconception of bipolar disorder. Wikipedia says:
Most people who meet criteria for bipolar disorder experience a number of episodes, on average 0.4 to 0.7 per year, lasting three to six months. Rapid cycling, however, is a course specifier that may be applied to any bipolar subtype. It is defined as having four or more mood disturbance episodes within a one-year span.
So episodes of mania, hypomania, or depression occur over weeks and months rather than hours.
Well. Emotional swings like that can occur as part of a manic episode specifically. Mania just means the emotions come faster than usual, not that they’re good. Ppl w mania are actually frequently extremely angry, usually because they’re going a million miles an hour and don’t understand why everyone else won’t just keep. tf. up.
But yeah if op has always just been like that consistently without any ebb and flow over month’s / years then yes it points more towards a thought disorder. I used to have a really cool infographic from a textbook on the differential dx between borderline, bipolar, and adhd since they can all have very similar presentations or even just be comorbid in certain patients.
postcapitalism@lemmy.today 1 month ago
Untreated bi-polar disorder commonly gets worse and worse in terms of lows / mania until it hurts you or someone you care about. Seek treatment and medication.