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Bipolar disorder typically has an age of onset of 30 years old although many people have onset in their teens. Bipolar disorder is a complex genetic disorder with vast mood swings that range from major, or clinical, depression to mania, or extreme, elation. The mood swings can happen gradually or suddenly. When mood swings happen frequently, the process is called rapid cycling. People with bipolar disorder may suffer impairment in occupational and social functioning. About 80-90% of manic patients eventually experience a full depressive episode.

The symptoms of mania seen with Bipolar Disorder include:

• Inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
• Decreased need for sleep
• More talkative than usual or pressure to keep talking
• Flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing
• Easily distractible
• Increase in goal-directed activity or mental or physical agitation
• Impulsivity (e.g. reckless spending, reckless driving, hypersexual thought and acting out, unplanned travel, foolish business investments).

If you or a family member has these symptoms and daily life is being compromised as a result, you may wish to contact Dr. Westerback's psychiatric office for a consultation by calling (805) 497-1618.