Bipolar and Anxiety: What is There to Be Worried about?

Let's tie together worry and bipolar symptoms. Manic symptoms can include (but these are not all the symptoms):

1. Irritability,
2. Goal-directed behavior (socially, work, school, or sexually),
3. Feeling pressured to speak,
4. Distractability

When someone is irritable, he or she can worry about being "edgy", about how being grumpy may be impacting others (even though it feels as if little can be done about it).

When someone is goal-directed, they worry about others getting in their way. Some people want to marry that someone special even though there is no mutual interest. Children may want to go play, and they worry that mom and dad will stop them so they lie (either lying by commission or omission , don't tell mom or dad where they are going, he doesn't stop by the house, or she doesn't call mom or dad. This person believes that he must finish that household project even though others are trying to sleep.

When someone feels pressured to talk, he can worry that someone is going to interrupt him, especially with something less important (cf. to the symptom of having an inflated self-esteem or having grandiosity). She can worry that it all won't get said.

If a person is highly distractable, trying to remember that last great idea worries him or her.

Depressive symptoms, the down side of bipolar disorder, include symptoms (these are not all the symptoms of depression) such as:

1. Feeling guilty or worthless,
2. Having difficulty concentrating
3. Feeling exhausted or tired
4. Feeling agitated or restless

When people are feeling guilty, they have regrets. They are anxious about what they have done or haven't done. They worry about who they are or about who they are not. They suffer from the pain of anxiety.

Those who cannot concentrate, focus, or make decisions struggle with anxiety, too. They could think clearly before, but, now, they can't. They worry about why that is, what is stopping their brain from working. They feel anxious, thinking they may never snap out of it.

Those who feel exhausted and tired, feel anxiety because they tend to worry about what has happened to all the energy they may have had before. Will they ever feel like themselves again?

Of course, when I feel restless or physically agitated, I usually feel anxious.

Of course, this isn't a comprehensive list. There are lots of things people can worry or feel anxiety about. On the other hand, people do not need to feel anxious. There is hope. It doesn't always feel like it, but there is.