Not evey bipolar patient experiences the illness in the same way. Many never even experience full-blown mania.
Absolutely true.
And the disease is treatable with medication. Caught and treated early, it never needs to escalate into danger.
>>Many never even experience full-blown mania.<<
Or it manifests years later.
We had a patient who was treated for depression for 40 years. One day, no one knows why, she swung Manic.
She started at a local restauant and bought for everyone in the place. Then into the mall to treat children to gifts. It went on for a week before her daughter caught on, although she lived with her, the daughter worked and had daycare, but the workers were not there full time. Only four hours that the daughter was gone for ten. Lots of damage can be done in six hours.
By the time she got to us, she had gone through 30,000 in savings. My boss hospitalized her to get the depression meds out of her system and begin to treat her for the manic swing. That was six weeks that she was hospitalized.