Bipolar Anger
Understanding Bipolar And Anger
Bipolar and anger go hand in hand along with a few other difficult symptoms that are associated with the disease including irritability, anxiety, indifference, pessimism and the tendency to be extremely self-critical. Also, there are always very intense signs of depression and mania.
Mania is considered a hallmark symptom of being bipolar, and anger can stem from this. An episode of mania has the ability to spiral out of control fast causing a tremendous amount of mayhem and disruption, not only for the individual but for all of those around as well.
The depression and mania extremes are far beyond what is considered an average mood swing. Symptoms include increased energy, decreased sleep, restlessness, incoherent speech, inappropriate behavior, impulsiveness, hyper-sexuality, creative thinking, disorientation, racing thoughts, irritability, hostility, hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, depressions and thought or attempts of suicide.
Irritability
Irritability is a huge underlying cause of the bipolar and anger association. Everyone becomes irritated from time to time from lack of sleep, a traffic jam, an unexpected bill that arises, etc. However, someone suffering with the bipolar disorder disease requires no reason to become irritated and annoyed which generally results in an outburst of anger.
Worry And Anxiety
Worry and anxiety can be present in various ways. The affected person will find themselves obsessing over the smallest things that really may not even be significant to worry about. For example, an average individual may wonder if they have enough gas in the car for their morning commute but someone with bipolar disorder may go out and physically check their gas gauge several times drive to the gas station to fill up, continue to check it a few more times and not be able to sleep because of the stress.
Pessimism
Pessimism is always taking a negative view on things and it certainly can contribute to the bipolar and anger combination. In cases of depression, the negativity is overly exaggerated without any good reason at all. The affected person could feel that no one likes them and the day is going to be terrible anyway so they think they should just stay in bed all day and hide away from the world, even if none of their thoughts are correct or make any sense at all.
Indifference
Indifference simply means to not care. The bills could go unpaid, dog unfed, laundry undone and the person does not care at all. A friend could call with a problem and they have no comforting words. When a person has bipolar disorder it is not really that they do not care as much as it is that they can't care.
Self-critical
It is a fact that everyone has flaws and you are usually your own toughest critic but someone depressed with bipolar disorder may make up things that aren't real to be critical over. This can often result in a great amount of frustration which can be perceived as the bipolar and anger connection depending on how extreme the case is.
Pure Anger
Then, sometimes, the bipolar and anger combination is just that, pure anger. It could be stemmed from irritability that has been pushed a bit too far or it could be caused from a mild irritant or absolutely nothing at all. Bipolar disorder is a disease and the individual needs no reason to be raging upset. People that suffer from this disorder have overly extreme highs and lows. When they are happy everything is perfect and wonderful, however, in the blink of an eye they can spiral down to a low faster than you can figure out what is happening. If the anger becomes violent or frightening the individual should seek help immediately before they cause harm to themselves or someone else around them.