In this day and age, people have turned mental illnesses into adjectives that are used in a throwaway manner. If someone likes things organized, they claim to have OCD. If another feels very sad after a recent traumatic event in their life, they’re called depressed. If someone is skinny but physically healthy, they’re still labeled anorexic. In such cases, what these people feel or experience are valid emotions, but to label someone with a mental illness even when a medical professional wouldn’t necessarily think that they have this illness only trivializes the pain one experiences.

One of my pet peeves? A person who claims to be bipolar simply because they react to a situation one way and then immediately act another way for a different situation. What this does is it simplifies what bipolar disorder is. Which is why, if you’re experiencing mood swings, it’s important to note whether this is a temporary mood swing that easily passes or a mental condition that requires psychiatric attention in Pleasanton.

What Are Mood Swings?

Mood swings are a fast and significant change in one’s emotions. At one moment, you feel happy and have high energy, but then suddenly you feel sad and tired. Mood swings can be a sign of a personality disorder and mental condition, but it’s common for people to experience this without having a personality disorder.

If you consider yourself a night owl or an early bird, you might find that the time of day can give you mood swings. Early birds find that they are productive at work before lunch, but are sluggish and sleepy by the afternoon. On the other hand, night owls find that they get nothing done on the early hours of their shift, but suddenly find the drive to finish all their tasks towards the end of their shift.

What Causes Mood Swings?

Mood swings can be triggered by stress and anxiety, which is a normal occurrence in day-to-day activities. If you’re having a good day only to be insulted by someone, given additional work, or reprimanded by a professor or supervisor, you’re bound to feel like you’re suddenly having a bad day, especially if you’re sensitive to negative occurrences in life.Mood

Your mood swings may also be caused by stress added with sleep deprivation. Students who are up all night working on their projects and homework and then forced to listen to lectures and perform well in school may be irritable and moody, but a good night’s sleep over the weekend can help return their personalities to normal.

However, once your mood swings start to greatly affect how you function for daily tasks and how you interact with others, it may be a serious mental condition affecting your personality.

What is Bipolar Personality Disorder?

Mood swings are a symptom of many mental disorders, including anxiety, depression, ADD, and ADHD, but mood swings are mostly seen in patients with bipolar disorder, It’s not enough to be someone with a Kanye attitude with Drake feelings, as younger people put it these days, and be someone with an attitude but also showing their emotion, but a personality disorder so severe that it affects the way you function normally and socialize with others.

A person with bipolar personality disorder has episodes of hypomania where you’re inexplicably happy, restless, or excited, only to follow episodes of depression and fatigue. There are different kinds of bipolar disorder diagnoses, and only a licensed psychiatrist can tell you what kind of condition you have. Some other symptoms of bipolar may include:

  • During manic episodes:
    • Decreased need for sleep
    • Inability to concentrate
    • Increased impulse for risky behavior
    • Aggression
    • Hallucinations
  • During depression episodes:
    • Crying for no reason
    • Sense of guilt
    • Loss of interest in hobbies or overall self-preservation
    • Difficulty sleeping

In either cases, you may find it difficult to think or concentrate on short-term ideas and make decisions. You may even experience physical pain and loss of physical coordination when experiencing bipolar disorder.

When to Get Help

It’s normal to face challenges every day that make us sad and happy at short intervals. Feeling sad for a long time due to very stressful, demotivating, or negative experiences is normal, and it’s normal to feel depressed about it for long periods of time, depending on how bad the experience is. However, most people, even when they feel bad, are able to set aside their sadness and still function normally in work and school.

However, those who may have a personality disorder or mental health condition are unable to set aside their feelings, resulting in their sadness affecting the way they work. If you find that you are unable to work normally for a long time even after what has affected you has passed, you may need to see a psychiatrist to help you overcome your condition.

When dealing with mental conditions, it is important to understand the difference between mood swings that pass normally and mental conditions like bipolar personality disorder that can affect the way you live and think in the long run. If you feel like you are unable to cope with your mood swings, seek medical attention from a psychiatrist for proper treatment.

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