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Bipolar Symptoms: Bad Temper

Everybody gets angry once in a while--and for justifiable reasons. There are certain characteristics that define a normal angry outburst, including a raised voiced, a strong desire to get one's opinion across and trying to settle the score quickly. The angry outbursts of people suffering from bipolar disorder aren't transitory; they have extremely volatile tempers, and the slightest thing that doesn't go their way will result in a violent demonstration, broken dishes and furniture, black eyes and threatening behavior.

  1. Function

    • People suffering from bipolar disorder may have unpredictably violent mood swings and displays of temper. Outbursts that may seem completely insane to the normal onlooker may be absolutely normal behavior to the person who suffers from this debilitating mental disorder. Caught up in this volatile mindset, believing they are justified in their actions when they're stomping noisily around, throwing things, threatening others with violence, destroying property and yelling their lungs out--bipolar sufferers continue this pattern of mood swings and violence, unchecked.

    Types

    • Teenagers are difficult to diagnose with bipolar disorder, as they are full of raging hormones, their brains are still developing and their bodies are changing. Teenagers are naturally angry and are hard to figure when they display anger and tension, whether they are just naturally being a teenager or having a manic episode.

    Identification

    • Easily provoked and apt to erupt at any given moment if left undiagnosed and unmedicated, the bipolar sufferer displays irritability as well as the inability to handle negative situations in his life. Instead of handling negativity normally, the bipolar sufferer reacts in a violent manner.

    Misconceptions

    • When anger and violence is aimed at the people who love them, it's easy to believe that when the sufferer is having an episode, the loved ones are to blame. Instead, realize that mental illness is the culprit and it's not a personal attack, even though it may seem that way at the time.

    Features

    • Symptoms of bipolar disorder mimic several other psychiatric disorders, including schizoaffective disorder, borderline personality disorder, cyclothymic disorder and others. Only a qualified health professional is able to diagnose sufferers of bipolar disorder and give them the help they need to feel better.

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