Bipolar Symptoms in Women: Recognizing the Signs and Navigating the Condition

An estimated four million women in America are living with bipolar disorder. Even though men and women both experience bipolar disorder, their symptoms aren’t always identical. Women with bipolar often have more depression and other symptoms linked to their menstrual cycles. 

At Oceans Healthcare, it is important to provide women and their loved ones with the information they need to make informed healthcare decisions. That’s why we’re taking a look at bipolar symptoms in women. 

The exact causes of bipolar disorder are not well understood, but professionals believe that there are multiple factors that play into the development of the condition. The fundamental causes of bipolar are thought to be the same for men and women.

Most research suggests the three biggest factors that contribute to the development of bipolar disorder are:

Four primary types of bipolar affect both men and women, with certain features of each affecting the sexes differently. Let’s take a look at each of them. 

Bipolar I features manic episodes that last for at least one week. When a woman is experiencing mania, she will have an excessive amount of energy, speak at a quicker pace than normal, and will not feel the need to sleep as much as she usually does. She will also have an inflated sense of self or believe she has abilities that aren’t realistic. Mania is intense and causes severe problems at work, at home, and in a woman’s social life. Studies have shown that mania is not as common in women with bipolar disorder as it is in men, although women do experience mania. 

Most women with bipolar I will also experience a major depressive episode, although it is not required for a bipolar I diagnosis. If mania is an extreme “high,” then depression is the extreme opposite “low.” During a depressive episode, women have very low energy, may speak and move more slowly, and feel exhausted constantly, leading to more sleep. 

In bipolar II, depression is the more prominent feature. Women with bipolar II will experience a depressive episode that lasts for at least two weeks. If it is not properly treated, these episodes can last for months. During a depressive episode, women often experience feelings of emptiness, have a hard time completing their normal daily tasks, and even have thoughts of suicide.

Women living with bipolar II will also experience a period of hypomania that lasts for four days. Hypomania isn’t as severe and doesn’t last as long as a manic episode. In fact, most women with bipolar II usually receive treatment for their depression before hypomania because hypomania is often a welcomed change with a boost of energy. 

Bipolar II is significantly more common in women than it is in men.

People living with cyclothymic disorder have milder symptoms of depression and hypomania. While cyclothymic symptoms aren’t as intense as full depressive or manic episodes, they are more frequent. Most women with bipolar I and bipolar II experience periods of relative stability in between manic or depressive episodes. However, women with cyclothymic disorder only go about two months at most between episodes. 

To be diagnosed with cyclothymic disorder, a woman must experience depressive and hypomanic symptoms over the course of two years without having full depressive or manic episodes. She must be symptomatic for the majority of those two years, and she can’t go more than two months without symptoms. 

Some women experience unspecified bipolar disorder, where they experience depressive or (hypo)manic symptoms. However, the symptoms aren’t intense enough or don’t last long enough to fit into one of the above categories. 

This doesn’t mean that women with unspecified bipolar disorder don’t face many of the same challenges as women with other forms of bipolar. It simply means that their symptoms present differently.

Many of the symptoms are the same for both men and women. The symptoms of bipolar disorder can vary dramatically depending on what kind of episode a woman is experiencing. 

As noted in the section above, women’s manic episodes can cause serious problems at work and home due to an abundance of energy. It often leads to impulsive or unsafe activities, like unprotected sex or overindulging in alcohol. 

During a depressive episode, women may no longer be interested in activities that used to bring them joy, feel a persistent sense of worthlessness, and find it difficult to maintain personal hygiene. 

Let’s take a look at some of the specific ways bipolar symptoms affect women. 

On average, people with bipolar disorder get diagnosed around age twenty-one. However, women make up the majority of people whose symptoms begin later in life, between ages forty-five and forty-nine. Not only do women have a later onset of symptoms, but they also face a longer delay in treatment due to misdiagnosis. While the average man has a delay of seven years between the onset of symptoms and treatment, the average woman has a delay of 11 years, according to one study.

Women with bipolar disorder are more likely to have intense depressive symptoms than men with the same condition. They are also more likely to experience psychosis during a depressive episode, where they lose touch with reality, which can lead to hallucinations, paranoia, and delusions. 

Because women are more likely to have depression as a symptom of bipolar disorder than men, they’re also more likely to be misdiagnosed with major depressive disorder. This can contribute to the delay in treatment for women with bipolar. 

There is evidence that a woman’s menstrual cycle will impact how she experiences the symptoms of bipolar disorder. Women with bipolar disorder are more likely to experience premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) than most women. Hormone fluctuations caused by a woman’s menstrual cycle have been shown to worsen depressive, manic, and hypomanic symptoms, although they do not cause bipolar disorder. 

Pregnancy also has an impact on some women with bipolar disorder, as they have a higher risk of experiencing a manic or depressive episode directly after giving birth. Also, women who have had an episode after giving birth once are extremely likely to have the same experience after additional pregnancies. 

Women who have bipolar disorder are at higher risk than the general population of experiencing postpartum psychosis. This includes hallucinations where they hear, see, smell, taste, or feel things that are not there. Delusions, or strongly held beliefs that aren’t based in fact, as well as paranoia, are also common symptoms of postpartum psychosis. This is a serious medical condition that requires immediate attention. 

Women living with bipolar disorder are also more prone to certain symptom patterns than men are. Examples include: 

These symptom patterns aren’t exclusive to women, but they can be helpful when identifying bipolar in women.

Women with bipolar face longer delays in treatment than men, but that doesn’t need to be the case. If a woman in your life is experiencing symptoms of bipolar disorder, you should encourage her to get the care she needs. Treatment for bipolar disorder will provide her with the skills she needs to successfully manage her bipolar symptoms. 

At Oceans Healthcare, we empower women to navigate life with bipolar disorder successfully. We provide care to more than thirty-four thousand clients annually across more than thirty locations, and we’ll help the woman in your life, too. We foster a collaborative environment so the women in our care have a whole team brainstorming about the best treatment for them. Call us now at 888-293-6899.

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