What are the most common symptoms of Bipolar Disorder? (In relation to depression.)?

What differentiates depression from Bipolar Disorder? I would really appreciate professional views! I could Google it, but I want a straight comparison; perhaps even from somebody that has/is still experiencing either of these. How did you come to recognize that you had Bipolar Disorder/depression? Any other information will be greatly appreciated.

Just curious. Thank you. :)

The difference between depression and bipolar is that we cycle between depression and mania. Read on for examples.

Here are some of my personal examples of the extremes. My moods generally last for a couple of months then there is a short period of being normal before I start to swing the other way

The low - Do not care about anything, stop showering, stop cleaning house, crying a lot, sleeping 14 hours a day, want to die but don't have the energy to plan it, hating yourself for every little bad thing you have ever done..... feeling guilty about everything you have done while manic, knowing that everyone else hates you too. I feel like my mind has stopped working, thoughts are dulled, can't read..... just lay there like a dead lump of nothing.

The High 鈥?these are symptoms as listed online followed by my examples

* FEELING EXTREMELY HAPPY OR IRITABLE* Like you just won the lottery or like your boss just cut your pay in half so he could give his daughter a raise but the feelings go on and on for weeks or months.

*INFLATED SELF ESTEEM* Believe that everyone loves you, everyone knows how smart, funny, pretty, sexy, you are. Think you are so good you can do anything.

* REDUCED NEED FOR SLEEP* 2 to 3 hours of sleep a night for weeks or months and you are never tired.

* TALK FASTER AND MORE THAN USUAL* Ramble on and on but the talk may be disjointed because thoughts are going by so fast you can't get them out fast enough. It's called pressured speech.

* BE MORE ACTIVE THAN USUAL* Needing to run 10 miles a day when you never used to even jog. Taking up 5 new hobbies.

* RACING THOUGHTS* Can be seen as confusion. It's very confusing because your thought go by so fast and you have no control over them it's like having 10 people all shouting at you at the same time.

* BE EASILY DISTRACTED BY SIGHTS AND SOUNDS* Ohhhh bright and shiny things. :) Because you have ceased to even try to listen to your own thoughts.

* ACT IMPULSIVELY, DO RECKLESS THINGS, REDUCED INHIBITION, SPENDING SPREES* Spending the mortgage money on furniture, buying 25 books about penguins because wouldn't it be cute if they could be a colony,* DRIVE RECKLESSLY* 120 mph down back roads with the radio blaring and not really paying attention to the road because of all the bright shiny things, *GET INTO FOOLISH BUSINESS VENTURES* cashing out your 401k to invest in a worm farm or going deep into debt so you can gamble because you know you will win, *HAVE FREQUENT, INDISCRIMINATE, OR UNSAFE SEX* like sex with strangers (without a condom) or with your sisters husband or your husbands sister. Suddenly decide you are bisexual because the opportunity for twice as much sex is there...... Oh my I didn't know I was into BDSM before... tie me up and flog me baby.

I am Bipolar 1 and while the other types of bipolar may not be as bad they are still much more extreme than the online symptoms portray. The above are things I have one while manic and that's just a few of them.

Extreme Moods. During the same day a person suffering from Bipolar disorder can vaccillate many times between extreme depression and lethargy (for some this happens in the evenings) to being overly energetic, sometimes for seemingly trivial tasks. After the peak in energy the person usually crashes with exhaustion and may sleep too much.

Bipolar people are very difficult to get along with at work and they are difficult with their family members too. They have a tendency to display extreme anger and be irritable, hypercritical. Their performance at studies or work slides - this also happens to people who solely have depression.

The person often catastrophizes magnifies issues that are trivial to others around him.

Shopping binges are common to both depression patients and people with bipolar disorder (if it is not being treated). The person also shows irrational impulsivity over consequential decisions.

The bipolar person often has grandiose ideas and may start imagining himself to be superior to others.

The bipolar person may also have hallucinations in extreme cases. The person also has thoughts of death or suicide.

All the above symptoms, in their totality, are to such an extent they severely hamper the day-to-day functioning of this person, and his ability to deal with people around him in a balanced way. The aforementioned cycles of bipolar disorder last for day, weeks and sometimes even longer.

It would be difficult or near impossible for someone who knows nothing about the symptoms of bipolar disorder to self-diagnose it.

Bottom line is, Bipolar disorder is treatable with medication, family support, psychotherapy and certain lifestyle changes.

Depression is just when you feel sad and down all of the time. With bipolar disorder you have the lows (depression) along with the highs (mania) that cycle. Originally it was thought that I just had major depression. After my doctors had watched me for a while they realized that I had more going on than just depression. I have rapid cycling so my mood typically change from day to day which can help doctors realize that you have bipolar but I've found it also confuses them since rapid cycling isn't the most common (usually people have months of depression then months of mania, but it does vary from person to person).

Bipolar disorder is characterized by extreme changes in moods from inappropriate sorrow to out of control elation. Depression is characterized by constant low moods.

During a manic episode, a bipolar person's sense of judgment is often poor and they tend to have delusions of grandeur about their abilities. They really believe that there is nothing they can't do. Or they go on wild shopping sprees. Mania can severely affect life for bipolar people.

Depression episodes in both mood disorders are pretty similar, but basically, depression does not come with manic episodes.

Also, people who are bipolar can experience rapid changes between these cycles and also have what is called the mixed state where you experience symptoms from both poles like in agitated depression.

Depression is a symptom of bipolar disorder. Manic episodes + depressive episodes usually equal a bipolar diagnosis.

i was diagnosed with bipolar disorder 30 years ago, by a psychiatrist.

I think you'd get the answers you want by doing the search for bipolar disorder on the internet.

take care.

im 14 and i suffer from bipolar disorder and manic depression
its really bad and its hard to deal with
and hard to handle with meds because i have 2 diff things