Bipolar Anxiety

The Bipolar Disorder Anxiety Connection
  Often people with bipolar disorder also have anxiety symptoms or anxiety disorders. Anxiety may be symptomatic of the depressed phase of manic-depressive disorder but it can also indicate a separate anxiety disorder. In fact anxiety without any underlying medical illness, i.e. as a psychiatric symptom commonly co-occurs with bipolar.

  Anxiety is more prevalent with bipolar disorder than with unipolar depression and the incidence amongst the bipolar spectrum disorders is higher than those in the general population.

  There are similarities between bipolar (a mood disorder) and anxiety disorders also referred to as the manic panic connection. Both display episodes of changed behavior. Anxiety or panic attacks usually occur in response to fear. With bipolar the altered behavior is reward orientated.

  Symptoms of anxiety are evident both in body and mind. Where the fear response is out of proportion to the threat as in anxiety disorders the body response may include chest pain, heart beating faster, sweating, reddening of cheeks and neck, dizziness, fainting, ringing ears, shortness of breath, headache, blurred vision, diarrhea, fatigue and weakness. Psychologically the sense of reality of the situation declines and feelings of fear, horror, panic etc take over.  Concentration decreases, thinking becomes disorganized and the adrenalin rush intensifies the senses leading to sensory flooding.

  Living with bipolar and anxiety disorder requires special treatment  taking both into account.  One ever present problem to be avoided is antidepressant-induced mania or cycling so generally mood stabilization is addressed before the anxiety symptoms.