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Between the highs and the lows
For people in the United States living with bipolar disorder, or wondering whether that is what this is, and for the people who love them. Who answers, at any hour. What bipolar disorder is, and its types. What a high can look like, and why the milder kind gets missed. The lows, and both at once. Getting the right diagnosis, which can take years. Treatment and the medicines, and why not to stop them alone. Children and teenagers. Finding help and people who have been there. Staying steady day to day. What families can do. And the words to say when you call. No quiz and no score. One thing at a time.
Right now
- Thinking about ending your life, or in danger? Call or text 988, at any hour. In an emergency: 911.
- Need a person, and can’t talk? Text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line, any hour, free), or text 988.
- Taking medicine and thinking of stopping? The National Institute of Mental Health says: avoid stopping medication without talking to your health care provider first.
- There is real hope in the facts. The Institute says treatment helps many people, even those with the most severe forms of bipolar disorder.
More help
- In a low? When the heaviness won’t lift, Check in with yourself and One step at a time.
- Awake at night? Can’t sleep?
- Keeping track? Mood log.
- For the bad nights? A safety plan and a hope box.
- Your wishes, in writing, for a time you can’t say them? A psychiatric advance directive.
- Seeing or hearing things others don’t? Psychosis.
- What it has led to? When drinking or drugs are the problem, Money help and Make peace.
- Work or school? Work accommodations, How I work and School help.
- Seeing a doctor soon? Appointment prep and Low-cost care.
- Worried about someone? When you’re worried about someone and Caregiving.
- All our free tools and Get help now.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The facts come from pages read on October 1, 2026: the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (its Bipolar Disorder brochure, revised 2025; its bipolar disorder topic page; Bipolar Disorder in Children and Teens, revised 2023; Bipolar Disorder in Teens and Young Adults: Know the Signs; and the mood-stabilizer and safety sections of its Mental Health Medications page); MedlinePlus, from the U.S. National Library of Medicine (Bipolar Disorder, last updated October 2023); NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (its page on bipolar disorder, which says it was reviewed in August 2017); and the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (its bipolar disorder and support-group pages). The Institute’s Help for Mental Illnesses and Tips for Talking With a Health Care Provider pages, Crisis Text Line, FindTreatment.gov and the NAMI HelpLine page were read the same day for our other pages. NAMI, the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance and Crisis Text Line are private organisations describing their own services. We did not call or text any line, contact any provider, search any directory or attend any group. We did not read the Institute’s pages on psychotherapies, brain stimulation therapies or clinical trials, the Food and Drug Administration’s pages on any medicine, any medicine’s label, anything about these medicines in pregnancy, the research behind any treatment, or what insurance covers; where the page links to one of these, it says we did not read it. We give no figure for how common bipolar disorder is. The page has no questionnaire and gives no score, on purpose: a list of symptoms is not a diagnosis. Lines marked “Ours” are our own suggestions. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not a treatment provider or a government agency, and takes no money from anyone named here. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].