Bipolar Disorder Symptoms In Females| A Deep Analysis

Bipolar disorder symptoms in females have to be known by all you ladies! You should read on to know more on this topic.

Bipolar Disorder, its very name suggests (bi: two, polar: poles) that it affects the bipolar person in two extremes. Bipolar Disorder is a type of mental illness starkly characterized by alteration of mania and depression.

In this article, we’ll specifically talk about Bipolar Disorder Symptoms In Females. We need to understand that males and females have different kinds of psychologies and behavioral patterns. 

Hence, gender plays a vital role in perceiving, experiencing, and fighting any kind of mental health disorder. 

World Health Organization states, “Gender determines the differential power and control men and women have over the socioeconomic determinants of their mental health and lives, their social position, status and treatment in society and their susceptibility and exposure to specific mental health risks.”

Let’s first comprehend what actually bipolar disorder is before moving on to its symptoms in females.

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What Is Bipolar Disorder?

Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder marked by spans of depression and mania or hypomania. Anxiety and substance use disorders are also associated with bipolar depression. Now, look at the detailed definition of Bipolar Disorder given by APA.

‘American Psychological Association’ explains Bipolar Disorder in the following words, “Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness in which common emotions become intensely and often unpredictably magnified. Individuals with bipolar disorder can quickly swing from extremes of happiness, energy, and clarity to sadness, fatigue, and confusion. These shifts can be so devastating that individuals may choose suicide.”

All people with bipolar disorder experience manic episodes but not all of them experience depressive episodes.

This definition covered its essence perfectly. It affects around 46 million people worldwide. The data is increasing over time. 

Below there is this data by Statista, that highlights the share of the population suffering from bipolar disorder gender-wise, worldwide. Females are leading though by minimal difference. 

Now, without beating around the bush let’s come to the crux of the article and the concerns of millions of females.

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What Are The Different Types Of Bipolar Disorder?

Before initiating the list of symptoms let’s first check out the types of bipolar disorders. Different types have different symptoms so it would be better and clearer. 

1 – Bipolar I Disorder

It includes severe mania that requires a person to be hospitalized. A bipolar person should at least experience one manic episode for approximately a week. For a person to be diagnosed with Bipolar I Disorder, the mania has to dominate along with hypomania and depression.

2 – Bipolar II Disorder

Women are more likely to be a victim of Bipolar II Disorder. In order for a person to be diagnosed with Bipolar II Disorder, one has to have experienced major depressive episodes for at least two weeks with episodes of hypomania.

3 – Cyclothymic Disorder

Some people may have symptoms that don’t fulfill the criteria to be diagnosed by either Bipolar I Disorder or Bipolar II Disorder. These people suffer from less severe symptoms of mania and depression for at least two years that don’t make a major impact on the person’s life. 

Bipolar Disorder Symptoms In Females

Symptoms are alarming signs of disease. So, dear ladies, this one is for you all. Help recognize the symptoms of bipolar disorder and take action accordingly.

There are 4 major symptoms of Bipolar Disorder accompanied by many small but impactful symptoms that fall under the said category.

Here are they.

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1 – Mania

Mania is an intense eccentric state where the person feels severely abnormally elevated in thoughts, moods, feelings, emotions, and actions.

It can be extremely dangerous for the physical and mental health of the person if left unchecked.

Let’s move to the particulars of mania as a symptom of bipolar disorder.

• Increased Impatience

You’ll become impatient at every big and small thing. You fail to have a sane level of patience and it will emerge as your hindrance in performing everyday tasks. You become grumpy.

• Highly Over-Confident 

You feel you can do and achieve anything. You will become extremely charged up to even conquer the world. That is purely abnormal.

• Shooting Thoughts

Your thoughts would run wild. You cannot stay at any point. You lose the calm. 

• Poor Concentration

Your focus will definitely go to the trashcan. You will feel so high as if jumping from one thought to another.

• Soaring Self-Regard

You have this very high self-esteem. You become overconfident of your worth and abilities. 

• Excessively Edgy

You become too uneasy and it exhibits from your physical structure. You become jumpy and irritated. It’s a sort of surge.

• Euphoric

You become highly ecstatic. You are in a state of beyond normal happiness. Your energy becomes uncontrollable.

• Decreased Sleep

You can’t even have a proper sleep. You can’t keep calm on your bed. 

• Reduced Appetite

You don’t feel like eating anymore. There is a fall in your hunger.  

• Talking Rapidly And More Than Usual

You talk excessively at a very high pace. you can’t stay and make the connection of your own words. It all just rushes.

• Increased Energy

You feel high all the time. There is an outburst of zeal and zest within you.

• Taking Up Risky Things Without A Second Thought

You will indulge in every kind of risky activity. End up putting your physical, mental, financial, spiritual, and overall well-being in trouble.  

• Highly Aggressive

Your anger shoots at everything and views that don’t get aligned with your own.

• Poor Judgement And Decision-Making

Because of your hastiness and euphoria, your judgment and decision-making abilities will suffer.

• Psychotic Features

 If the case is severe, you will feel, see and hear things that fall out of the natural realms of life like:

(i) Delusions: It is a false belief. It’s like believing something or someone that is outrightly false.

(ii) Hallucinations: It is something you perceive due to your senses. You may see and hear someone who is not around. 

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2 – Hypomania

Women are more prone to develop the symptoms of hypomania than men. Hypomania is a less severe form of mania with less intensity and density in its symptoms. Thus, it impacts less in your life.

The symptoms don’t cross the boundaries to fall under the category of mania so they remain under hypomania but it will get severe if left undiagnosed. Its symptoms particularly cannot include psychosis.

Hypomania does not require psychiatric hospitalization.

3 – Depression

Females are more likely to develop depressive symptoms than men.

Depression is an extremely low phase. This is an overwhelming low state of sadness and hopelessness. 

The depressive episode will last at least two weeks. Females with bipolar disorder are often misdiagnosed because their depressive symptoms are more dominant. they even are more prone to end up with depression and psychotic features.

Below there are detailed features of depressive episodes during bipolar disorder.

• Feeling Excessively Low

Your spirits will be down mostly. You become melancholic and it will display from your expressions. 

• Experiencing Turmoil

You will become restless and get messed up in the tumult. you can’t recognize your feelings and emotions.

• Feeling Worthless 

You don’t value your own being. For yourself you mean nothing. You feel as if you don’t own any value even as a human being.

• Total Pessimism

You become very pessimistic about yourself and your life. You indulge in every kind of negative thoughts and feelings. You kind of demoralized.

• Slowed Thoughts And Actions

You lose the coordination between your thoughts and actions. You think and speak more slowly than usual.

• Feeling Hopeless

You feel very futile and ineffective. There is no more hope left for you to be cheerful. It will greatly hamper your life because of negative thinking patterns.

• Lack Of Concentration

Due to low spirits, you cannot focus on any project. You will swing to and fro into your depression thus affecting your concentration for a longer period of time.

• Poor Decision-Making 

Your depressive episodes will negatively affect your decision-making skills. Your decisions will, in turn, affect your life.

• Unexplained Regret

Always a kind of guilt lingers over yourself. You regret without any justified reason. 

• Weight Alterations 

There will be changes in your appetite that will affect your weight inevitably. Some people tend to eat more and vice-versa.

• Sleep Inconcisties

Your sleeping pattern will disturb you. Insomnia or hypersomnia will take over you. 

• Memory Issues

Memory problems will surface. It will be hard for you to remember and recollect.  

• Feeling Lost And Losing Interest

You feel as if there is nothing much to say. You are confused and more lost. You even lose interest in the usual activities that once interested you to the core.

• Self-Doubt

You will succumb to self-doubt. 

• You Feel Like Crying

You become more tempted to shedding tears. You get absorbed in your tears. 

• Prompt to Death/Suicide

You think more often about suicide and ending your life. 

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4 – Mixed Mania

Mixed mania is a state during which symptoms of mania and depression occur simultaneously. Females are more likely to have mixed mania than males. You may experience symptoms of both mania and depression for a week or longer. 

It is also known as Mixed affective episodes. 

An Outline Of Bipolar Disorder Symptoms In Females

Bipolar Disorder symptoms in females may start later than in men. Bipolar II Disorder affects more females than Bipolar I Disorder.

The Symptoms of bipolar disorder in females also get affected by the following and require a different kind of assistance

• Menstruation
• Pregnancy
• Lactation
• Menopause
• Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
• Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD)

Bipolar disorder in females may also accompany:

• Thyroid Issues
• Anxiety Disorders
• Obesity
• Migraine
• Eating Disorders
• Alcoholism

Studies and research manifest people who have bipolar disorder are likely to have lower-than-average life expectancy oftentimes due to suicide.

Suicide is more likely in women under this disorder who have had:

• A mixed episode of mania and depression over years
• Early-onset of the problem
• Social Problems
• Personality Disorders

Rapid cycling is a pattern of bipolar disorder that occurs when you have at least four manic or depressive episodes within one year. It affects more females than males. Rapid Cycling happens due to advanced rates of:

• Substance Abuse
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Suicide
• Hypothyroidism

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This article provides a deep analysis of Bipolar Disorder Symptoms In Females by getting into its nitty-gritty. It is very important to watch out for particular symptoms in females and their effects due to hormonal changes.

Bipolar Disorder is securing its place in our lives so we need to be very vigilant of its symptoms.

The earlier we catch the disease, the better treatment we’ll get.

I hope you will get benefitted from this article by keeping your guards up. Kindly let me know your opinions so that I could up my work and help you even more.

I would love it if you share this article with a larger number of people to help them out. If you are a male, then also send it to all the lovely ladies in your life and support each other during tough times.

Thank You!