What are the symptoms of bipolar disorder?
Each phase of bipolar disorder—mania and depression—has its own set of symptoms. The main feature of mania is extreme happiness (euphoria) and/or extreme irritability along with several related symptoms. Depression includes feelings of sadness or numbness along with a loss of interest or pleasure in things you usually enjoy. People with bipolar disorder do not always experience manic and depressive symptoms equally. Read a full list of bipolar symptoms.
Since there are two distinct parts of bipolar disorder, there are also two separate sets of symptoms of bipolar disorder. These symptoms of bipolar disorder many times reflect opposites from the manic to the depressive sides of the illness. The most obvious of the opposites in the symptoms of bipolar disorder is level of energy and activity. In depression, the person will feel a loss of energy and suffer from fatigue. That person may even appear to be slow. On the other hand, the manic person will have an increased level of energy and much more than usual activity. Degree of self-esteem is another of the symptoms of bipolar disorder. A depressed person feels unworthy or is guilt-ridden. A manic, though, is so full of him- or herself that he or she has unreasonable ideas of him- or herself or even delusions of grandeur. This loss of self-esteem may be what leads the depressed person to be indecisive, and overblown self importance that urges the manic to become reckless. Neither the depr
