Symptoms of Bipolar Depression
The Dark Side of Manic Depressive Mood Disorder
Most people who have bipolar disorder suffer both with episodes of mania and episodes of depression. Here are some of the symptoms of bipolar depression.
What Is Bipolar Disorder?
Bipolar disorder, formerly known as manic depression, is a psychological mood disorder of extremes. The manic highs and depressive lows can be severe, and often significantly interfere with a person’s ability to function.
Manic-depressive individuals don’t merely experience the typical range of moods common to most. Their extremes of emotion extend far beyond the normal range, and, left untreated, these mood swings can worsen over time, making the disorder more and more difficult to treat as it progresses. Bipolar disorder can leave relationships in shambles, make consistent employment a difficult prospect, and result in financial ruin, even suicide.
What Is Bipolar Depression?
Most people who have bipolar disorder have suffered with episodes of mania and with bouts of depression. There are many types of depression. People commonly suffer from depressed mood when they encounter disappointments in life or struggle with loss and grief.
Those with manic depression experience what is called major depression (a diagnostic contrast to the minor, unipolar depression that everyone encounters at some point life). Mental health professionals give the major depression of manic depressive patients a special name, bipolar depression.
Symptoms of Bipolar Depression
Signs of major depression may include the presence of some of the following symptoms for a prolonged period of time, occurring every day or nearly every day:
- Depressed mood
- Diminished interest or pleasure in all or most activities
- Significant weight loss when not dieting, weight gain, loss of appetite, or increase in appetite
- Insomnia or hyposomnia
- Psychomotor agitation or retardation
- Fatigue or loss of energy
- Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt
- Diminished ability to think, concentrate or indecisiveness
- Recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal ideation with or a suicide attempt
How Do Bipolar Patients Experience this Mood Disorder?
Some people with this disorder have substantial separate episodes of mania and depression throughout their lives. Some struggle more with bouts of depression. Some are more prone to manic episodes. And, although these moods may seem like diametric opposites, bipolar patients may also experience mania and depression at the same time. This is called a mixed episode.
Bipolar Information
For more information on manic depression see the mental health website Psychology Prof Online or the Mayo Clinic's Bipolar Disorder Information or look to other Suite 101 articles, including Symptoms of Biopolar Disorder, Bipolar Disorder Medications and Antidepressants & Bipolar Disorder.
This article is only meant to provide information of symptoms that are associated with bipolar disorder. Do not use this information for self-diagnosis. Only a trained mental-health professional can diagnose mental illness.
Additional Sources
Ramirez Basco, Monica (2006). The Bipolar Workbook: Tools for Controlling Your Mood Swings, Guilford Press.
Mondimore, Francis Mark (1999). Bipolar Disorder: A guide for Patients & Families. Johns Hopkins Press.
