There aren’t many people who understand that there is a true and very real difference between bipolar 1 and bipolar 2. Both of these illnesses need to be taken seriously when a person is confronted with them. Dealing with manic episodes and depression can have a person end up in the psychiatric clinic or on a suicide watch. Dealing with any psychosis, either in yourself or in someone close to you, starts with understanding and education.

What Is Bipolar Disorder?

Before understanding the difference between bipolar 1 and bipolar 2 it’s a good idea to get a little base knowledge on what bipolar disorder is in general. This psychosis is characterized by periods in which a person goes through manic episodes where they are very active, easily distracted and often may make decisions that aren’t good for them or their family. They may choose to go on shopping sprees and get high credit card balances, be sexually promiscuous or take drugs. After these episodes will come periods where people will get very depressed.

Bipolar 1 And Bipolar 2: What Are They?

The difference between bipolar 1 and bipolar 2 starts with the frequency and duration of the episodes the person living with the illness has.  With bipolar 1 the patient doesn’t always have a depressive episode following their manic episode, but their mania can last for as long as a week and leave them worn out. In the case the patient is hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic they may need to be confined for this entire period. During this time of psychosis they will feel extremely confident, be ambitious, may not sleep much and talk an awful lot.

These can be followed by episodes of severe depression, where a person may over sleep or have a lack of appetite or even need to be admitted to a clinic due to suicide watch. These lows can last for long periods of time and can cause a lot of problems. One of the other degrees of separation between bipolar 1 and bipolar 2 comes in the duration of the episodes. In bipolar 1 they are often much longer and more severe. There are always depressed states after the manic states.

Severity Of Episodes

Between bipolar 1 and bipolar 2; bipolar 2 is often referred to as the more mild forms of bipolar disorder. This is because people who suffer from this often continue work as normal and are very successful. Their mania periods don’t last for much longer than 4 days and they don’t suffer from long or hard periods of depression. Another difference between bipolar 1 and bipolar 2 is that bipolar one has all sorts of different degrees of episodes that come in differing severities and combinations. With the diagnosis of both bipolar 1 and bipolar 2 a person needs to work with a professional to make sure they are as well as possible and to insure that they seek the proper treatment so that they have the most normal day to day life.