Bipolar and people with depression seem to share many symptoms. What is the difference between someone who is Bipolar2 and someone who has depression?
Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder are both mood disorders.
Bipolar Disorder is like a mood rollercoaster, swinging between extreme highs (mania or hypomania) and lows (depressive episodes). Imagine someone alternating between opposite ends of the same mood spectrum pole for no apparent reason.
During manic episodes, they're super energetic, happy, talkative, have inflated self-esteem, need very little sleep and may do risky things like spending too much money or sexual indiscretions. Hypomania is like a milder version of this. In their depressive episodes, they feel sad, hopeless, guilty, have concentration problems, can have anger towards themselves and other and can also lack energy or interest in things.
Bipolar folks can switch between these moods suddenly due to stressors like lack of sleep, high stress, infection, major losses or trauma. Ideally, they'd stay in a balanced state. But life's challenges can throw them into depression or mania.
Bipolar Disorder has different types, like Type 1, Type 2, and Cyclothymia, but to not bore you to death I'll leave it at what I described.
Major Depressive Disorder is a bit different. When you have this condition, you're mostly in a normal mood or a depressed mood. To be diagnosed with depression, you need to have a group of symptoms that make you feel really down or in what's known as a "depressed" state. These symptoms have to stick around for at least two weeks and make it hard for you to function well. Some of these symptoms include having low moods, irritability, anger, sleep disturbances, losing interest in things you used to enjoy, feeling guilty about things, feeling tired all the time, having trouble concentrating and struggling to eat properly. Some people that get severely depressed can even have suicidal thoughts or attempt suicide. People with Major Depressive Disorder don't go through periods of extreme highs like those with bipolar disorder; they mainly feel low for a long time or are at a normal/baseline state (they call that normal state Euthymic).
That's the difference in a nutshell.
Of note, there have been many members here on Getbig that over the years have displayed apparent manic behavior.
"
1"
