Bipolar disorder

Symptoms of mania or hypomania include

• feeling extremely elated or full of energy
• making irrational decisions.

When someone’s experiencing mania, they also might take more risks or behave very differently to other times.

Get more information on the symptoms of mania on the NHS website.

Symptoms of depression include feeling extremely low, sad or hopeless most of the time.  

Get more information on the depressive symptoms of bipolar on the NHS website.

Psychosis is a mental health condition that causes people to have very different experiences of reality from other people.

Someone with psychosis might:

• hear, see or sense things which other people don’t
• have jumbled or paranoid thoughts, including worries about what other people may be thinking about them
• experience muddled speech

Lots of people might have these symptoms but not suffer from a form of psychosis.

Hearing, seeing or sensing things that other people don’t doesn’t necessarily mean you have psychosis or a disorder like schizophrenia. Talking to yourself or listening to your thoughts is different to hearing voices which are out of your control. Most young people who hear voices don’t have these conditions as the symptoms can be triggered by lots of different things.

Only a doctor or mental health professional can diagnose a psychotic disorder.

Living with psychosis

Whether you've been diagnosed with psychosis or not, there are some things you can do now to help manage the symptoms.

• Visit your doctor. If you’re worried about forgetting what you want to say, why not visit Docready to make a checklist before you go?
• Keep a diary. You can write about things that make your feelings worse, and think about how to cope if it happens again in the future. Try our mood journal.
• Create a plan for when you’re feeling unwell. Include things to help others notice when you’re struggling and what support you might need.