In the depressive phase, individuals with bipolar disorder may have persistent feelings of sadness, anxiety, guilt, isolation, hopelessness, disturbances in sleep and appetite, fatigue and loss of interest in activities they usually enjoy.

In the manic phase, an individual may have an increase in energy, grandiose or delusional ideas, racing thoughts, and a decreased need for sleep.

In addition to mood disturbance, an individual can also suffer from psychotic episodes, suffering a loss of contact with reality and may report hallucinations, delusions and exhibit personality changes. Some people will also experience thoughts of death and suicidal behaviors.

Individuals suffering from bipolar disorder can exhibit different patterns of mood disturbance, with individual phases lasting days or months or being mainly manic or depressive in presentation, resulting in a clinical diagnosis of any of the six different forms of bipolar disorder.