Need help understanding

mixed is both extreemes at the same time.... and rapid cycling is jumping from one extreem to the other really quickly. i hope that makes sense

Hi - public health information is targeted to a Year 6 reading level so information from SANE and Beyond Blue should be appropriate for you. Basically, the difference between Bipolar I and Bipolar II is that Bipolar I has florid manic episodes, whereas in Bipolar II the mania never gets beyond hypomania - a milder form that doesn't significantly interfere with functioning, doesn't have psychotic features, and doesn't get hospitalised. If you have mania with psychotic symptoms, have been hospitalised when manic, or it severely impacts your functioning, then it is Bipolar I. As far as the rapid cycling component goes, if you have four or more mood episodes a year, then it's described as rapid cycling.

Sounds like you're in a tough spot, I too have been bipolar, manic, and homeless, and now am homed, well, and stable. Maybe that might offer hope.

Psychotic symptoms are typically hallucinations and delusions, seeing / hearing things that aren't there / aren't real, believing things that aren't true. Grandiose delusions are typical in mania - like believing you are the Messiah (Jesus Christ). It's a separation from reality. I've had a conversation with a soft toy which i believed was real.

@Former-Member florid means extreeme or extravagant or excessive or "over the top" it basically means that you are in am extreeme state. so if someone is floridly psychotic it means they are very very very psychotic and that their delusions and halluciations are of an extreeme nature. the word kind of means a lot of things so it is hard to define.

Also @Former-Member the difference between mania and hypomania is mostly just how intense it gets and how much your functioning is impaired and of course if you get psychosis or not.

Mania is when your thoughts race and you get really excited and talk really quickly and some people also get very sexual to the point that it is inapporpriate. and you can be really irritable/angry. when i was manic I was talking quickly and couldnt sit still and all of my senses where hightened so i could smell things better and hear and see things better and all the colours became brighter and everything felt magical and amazing and i felt invincible and like i could do anything in the world like i could fly. it felt great really great and i didnt sleep for days at a time but i had so much energy and i was full of new and exciting ideas. but i also got psychotic and i was going to go somewhere to perfom a sacrifce to god which i thought would save the whole world from being destroyed. i was in hospital for weeks and couldnt really fucntion at all although i thought i could at the time.

Hypomania is not as intense it is more like i feel really good and i can get a lot of things done and i am just generally very busy all the time. i sleep less and things feel fast but not as fast as when i am manic and i am still able to function mostly. it is like mania but i call it baby mania because it is smaller and not as strong.