Symptom Tests

[Self-Test] Bipolar Disorder in Adults

Could your intense mood swings — alternating between high-flying mania and deep depression — be a sign of bipolar disorder? Take this self-test to determine whether to see a professional to seek a diagnosis.

By ADDitude Editors Verified Medically reviewed by Roberto Olivardia, Ph.D. Updated on January 21, 2023
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Bipolar Symptoms Test for Adults

Bipolar disorder (once called manic depression) is a very serious condition that is marked by extreme — and sometimes violent — mood swings. Patients with bipolar disorder typically cycle back and forth between euphoric mania and debilitating depression, each lasting for weeks at a time. Bipolar has several subtypes, the most common of which are Bipolar I and Bipolar II, which is often misdiagnosed as depression. Around 70 percent of people with bipolar disorder also have ADHD.

Bipolar disorder is highly genetic, and usually comes on in the late teens or early adulthood. It affects approximately 2.6 percent of the U.S. population — or roughly 5.7 million Americans. It’s found across all genders, races, ethnic groups, and income levels, and it is sometimes mistaken for ADHD.

If you suffer from exaggerated psychological highs and lows, you may have bipolar disorder. Take this bipolar disorder test and then bring the results to a mental health professional for evaluation.

Adapted from the Goldberg Bipolar Spectrum Screening questionnaire (c. 1993) designed to screen for the possibility of bipolar spectrum disorders in individuals 18 or older who have already experienced at least one episode of depression. If you answer Yes to a significant number of these questions, consult a licensed mental health practitioner. An accurate diagnosis can only be made through clinical evaluation. 

Do you occasionally feel extremely angry or hostile, for what seems like no reason?

Do you act uncharacteristically active and surprisingly outgoing?

Do you experience moods where you feel very revved up or agitated?

Does your self-confidence seem to swing wildly from great self-doubt to great arrogance?

Do you go through periods of great sadness, as well as periods of euphoria where you find almost anything funny?

Do you vacillate between desires to be very social and to just be left alone?

Do you occasionally become much more interested in sex than usual?

Do you experience some periods of mental slowness that alternate with periods of immensely creative thinking?

Professionally, have you noticed a wide gap in the quantity or quality of your work — where you’re dramatically productive at times, but virtually useless at others?

Do you become unusually talkative or overly gregarious, even in situations that may not warrant it?

Do you feel both high (overly happy) and low (depressed) at the same time?

Do you go through periods of great optimism and other periods of great pessimism?


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Bipolar Disorder in Adults: Next Steps

1. Take this Test: Full ADHD Symptom Test for Adults
2. Learn Where ADHD and Bipolar Disorder Overlap
3. Take This Test: Do You Have Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria?
4. Take This Test: Do You Have Emotional Hyperarousal?
5. Listen to the Webinar “How Bipolar Disorder Looks A Lot Like ADHD: Detection & Treatment of a Misunderstood Condition,” with Roberto Olivardia, Ph.D.
6. Download Is it Bipolar or ADHD? Solving the Puzzle
7. Find: Specialists or Clinics Near You