Quiz: Are Your Bipolar Disorder Symptoms Under Control?

Are Your Bipolar Disorder Symptoms Under Control?

If you’re unsure whether your bipolar symptoms are worsening, this assessment can help you find out.
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Updated on October 15, 2025
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Everyone experiences ups and downs in life, but the emotional highs and lows of bipolar disorder are different. Unlike ordinary changes in mood, bipolar episodes are more extreme and may persist for days, weeks, or even months.

“‘It [can] take a decade for people to get correctly diagnosed,” says Holly A. Swartz, MD, medical director of the Depression and Manic Depression Prevention Program at the University of Pittsburgh and treasurer of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders. The delay, she says, “can lead to people getting inappropriate treatments that won’t effectively control the full range of their symptoms.” Once diagnosed, it can also take some trial and error to find the right treatments that help you effectively manage your symptoms.

If you’re wondering if your treatment is effectively managing your symptoms, this assessment — which was crafted with the help of Dr. Swartz and Jeffrey Borenstein, MD, president and CEO of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, an organization that awards grants to researchers studying mental health conditions like bipolar disorder — can help. Take the quiz to find out whether your bipolar disorder is truly under control.

If you or a loved one is experiencing significant distress or having thoughts about suicide and needs support, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7. If you need immediate help, call 911.

Question 1

How are you feeling compared to how you normally feel?

bipolar-symptoms-assessment-question-1-1440x810
  • A. Worse than usual.
  • B. Neither better nor worse than usual.
  • C. Better than I normally feel — energized, pumped, and ready to take on the world, 24/7.
  • D. Alternately both better and worse than usual — definitely not the same as how I normally feel.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Bipolar Disorder. Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance.
  2. Bipolar Disorder. National Institute of Mental Health. 2025.
Additional Sources
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Angela D. Harper, MD

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Angela D. Harper, MD, is in private practice at Columbia Psychiatric Associates in South Carolina, where she provides evaluations, medication management, and psychotherapy for adul...

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Jen Laskey

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