Mixed Bipolar Disorder

What Is Mixed Bipolar Disorder?

Mixed bipolar disorder is a form of bipolar disorder. In regular bipolar disorder, moods alternate between elevated and depressed over time. A person with mixed bipolar disorder experiences both mood “poles” — mania and depression– at the same time or in rapid sequence.

Who Gets Mixed Bipolar Disorder?

There are many, many people out there with bipolar disorder. About 2.5% of the U.S. population suffers from some form of bipolar disorder — almost 6 million people. That means that someone you know probably has bipolar disorder.

Mixed bipolar disorder is a common pattern in people with bipolar disorder. Estimates vary widely, but between 20% and 70% of people with bipolar disorder experience mixed episodes.

Those who develop bipolar disorder at a younger age, particularly in the teenage years, are probably more likely to have mixed bipolar disorder.

Most people are in adolescence or their early 20s when the first symptoms from bipolar disorder begin. Nearly everyone with mixed bipolar disorder develops it before age 50. People with an immediate family member with bipolar are at higher risk.

Mixed bipolar disorder is defined by periods of mania and depression that occur at the same time, or in rapid sequence. These combined manic-depressive periods are called mixed mania or mixed manic episodes:

Mania in mixed episodes usually involves irritability, racing thoughts and speech.
Depression in mixed bipolar disorder is similar to “regular” depression, with feelings of sadness, loss of interest in activities, low energy, feelings of guilt and worthlessness, and thoughts of harming oneself.

This may seem impossible — how can someone be manic and depressed at the same time? Because mixed manic episodes are a form of mental illness, they defy any predictable pattern of feelings or behavior.

For example, a person in a mixed manic episode could be crying uncontrollably while announcing they have never felt better in their life. Or they could be exuberantly happy, only to suddenly collapse in misery. A short while later they might suddenly become extremely happy again.