For a person with bipolar disorder the barometer of life will at times seem to fall from a temperate normal mood, to the bleak chill of depression. It can also shoot up to the bright heights of hypomania or beyond to the brilliant blaze of mania. Bipolar Disorder, as its name suggests, is a condition characterized by periods of high mood in addition to the low moods that occur in the more common unipolar depression. When a person is hypomanic, they may feel unusually good and competent, or simply irritable. They apply their heightened energy to multiple projects.
Sleep seems less necessary.
There is a drive for pleasurable activities with uncharacteristic disregard for risk. Friends and relatives who know the person recognize that they are behaving differently out of character. If the symptoms are so severe that they cause marked impairment in work or social functioning, then the condition is called mania. Depression, the other pole of Bipolar Disorder, may also vary in severity from a relative decrease in enjoyment and interest, to a complete and painful lack of pleasure in anything. Often there are disturbances in concentration, sleep, appetite and energy as well as paralysis of decision making.