How common is bipolar disorder?

Bipolar disorder is extremely rare before puberty but becomes slightly more common during teenage years. It occurs in 1 in 100 or fewer children and teenagers. In adults it affects 1 in 100 people.

The condition can be hard to recognise in teenagers because more extreme behaviour can be part of this stage of life.

What causes it?

Although the causes are not fully understood, bipolar disorder tends to run in families. In people who have bipolar disorder, episodes may be triggered by physical illness, stressful events or lack of sleep.

What are the symptoms?

In bipolar disorder, a person can have:

Below is a list of the symptoms in each episode. A young person needs to have at least one manic or hypomanic episode to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder. There needs to be several of these symptoms happening at the same time for at least several days. If there is just one symptom, then it is unlikely to be bipolar disorder.

The mood changes can sometimes occur very rapidly within hours or days (‘rapid cycling’). For some, the mood symptoms are less severe (‘cyclothymia’).

In between the highs and lows, there are ‘normal’ periods that can last for weeks or months. However, for some, especially when they have had the disorder from some time, these periods of ‘normalcy’ can be shorter or difficult to see.

Symptoms during a ‘high’ or manic episode