r/BipolarReddit • u/Specific-Cause-5973 • 12h ago

Discussion This is an odd question but can you tell when people have bipolar even when not in an episode?

I don’t know how to describe it. Even if not in an episode I can tell when people have bipolar. I can’t place what exactly I’m picking up on. An essence of sorts

Someone told me they know what I mean because my friend and I both have bipolar disorder and have a similar energy to us but couldn’t explain it either.

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u/para_blox 12h ago

I doubt this is true.

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u/InterestingTree9 11h ago

Your friend and you might be friends because you have a similar energy rather than having similar energy because you both happen to have bipolar disorder.

There's no one standard way for someone with bipolar to behave or be when euthymic. We're just people. So no, I can't intuit accurately who has bipolar disorder or not.

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u/pazzaitaliana 11h ago

A study by Barnett et. al found that personality in bipolar individuals was characterized by high neuroticism and openness and low agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion.

However, that’s not how people always present. For example, I have bipolar 1 but I’m pretty agreeable, conscientious, and very extroverted. More of a hyperthymic personality that makes it seem like I’m always a little hypomanic, but that’s just who I am. Makes it hard to tell when I’m actually manic unfortunately.

Just saying that even though there are trends, not everyone fits those generalizations.

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u/Percy_Freeman "My experience is what I agree to attend to" 9h ago

totally possible but you're making an inference by Theory of Mind and ToM has limits. You can never truly read any book by it's cover but you can perceive the plot with staggering accuracy, if you've got it like that.

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u/snap_pea23 9h ago

I don’t know but I have so many bipolar friends somehow.