DSM CRITERIA

Bipolar Disorder Symptoms and Characterizations

How It Looks To The Non-Bipolar

  • Symptoms of Mania   (Highs)
  • Symptoms of Depression   (Lows)
  • Bipolar I   and   Bipolar II   (Characterizations of Each)
  • Mania   and   Depression   (How These Symptoms Look to the Non-Bipolar)


    • Symptoms of Mania (Highs) *

  • Increased physical and mental activity and energy
  • Heightened mood, exaggerated optimism and self-confidence
  • Excessive irritability, aggressive behavior
  • Decreased need for sleep without experiencing fatigue
  • Grandiose delusion, inflated sense of self-importance
  • Racing speech, racing thoughts, flight of ideas
  • Impulsiveness, poor judgment, distractibility
  • Reckless behavior
  • In the most severe cases, delusions and hallucinations

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    Symptoms of Depression (Lows) *

  • Prolonged sadness or unexplained crying spells
  • Significant changes in appetite and sleep patterns
  • Irritability, anger, worry, agitation, anxiety
  • Pessimism, indifference
  • Loss of energy, persistent lethargy
  • Feelings of guilt, worthlessness
  • Inability to take pleasure in former interests, social withdrawal
  • Unexplained aches and pains
  • Recurring thoughts of death or suicide
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    Bipolar I*

    Bipolar I is characterized by one or more manic episodes or mixed episodes (symptoms of both a mania and a depression occurring nearly every day for at least 1 week) and one or more major depressive episodes. Most severe form.

    Bipolar II*

    Bipolar II is characterized one or more depressive episodes accompanied by at least one hypomanic episode (similar to manic episodes but are less severe, but must be clearly different from a person’s non-depressed mood).
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    Mania (What Mania Looks Like to the Non-Bipolar) *

  • Irritable, angry or raging
  • Racing thoughts, unable to concentrate, unable to hold a thought
  • Fast talking, or talking incessantly
  • Spending money like a millionaire
  • Obsessive compulsive
  • Grandiose ideas, wanting to start a horse farm and you have never owned a horse
  • Positive thinking (Peter Pan thinking)
  • Indiscriminate sexual encounters
  • Wanting sex multiple times a day with a partner
  • Aggressive, paranoid, psychotic, delusional (last stages)

    • Depression (What Depression Looks Like to the Non-Bipolar)*

  • Self-absorbed, selfish, demanding, unaware or unconcerned about the needs of others
  • Unresponsive, uncommunicative, aloof, withdrawn
  • Uninterested in sex and dismissive or distrusting of a partners tenderness or affection
  • Fractious, querulous, combative, contrary; finding fault with everything
  • Demeaning and critical of a partner
  • Changeable and unpredictable; illogical and unreasonable
  • Manipulative
  • Pleasant and charming in public and the opposite at home
  • Prone to sudden, inexplicable reference to separation or divorce
  • Prone to workaholism or avoidance of all responsibility
  • Increasingly dependent on alcohol and drugs, gambling, spending money
  • Obsessively addicted to TV, computer games and computer porn sites, and other compulsive distractions


    • *From Depression Fallout, Anne Sheffield, Three Rivers Press, N.Y. 1998

    Mark & Debra Meehl

    Contact us for bipolar information
    The Meehl Foundation, Inc.
    P.O. Box 2089
    Brazoria, TX 77422


    Recommended Reading:
    Friends and Family
    Bipolar Survival Guide


    Table of Contents


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    Debra Meehl, DD, MSW
    Pastoral Counselor
    DBT Therapist & Skills Trainer
    Board Certified Hypnotist
    President, Meehl Foundation


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