Suspicion narrows the eyes and purses the lips. I know my own dysphoric mania makes me as mean as a snake and as suspicious as a jealous husband. I’m not talking about a few minutes of this-the changes can last for months. The eyes can widen with euphoric mania and often get mean and narrow with dysphoric mania. This creates the all-black eye.” Clue #3 The Eyes Change Shape Mania sounds like it’s something to do with adrenaline, so I would think the eye is the same color, but the pupil is huge. It’s documented that adrenaline can make the pupil take over the eye. She said, “Oh, I’m not surprised by that. I tried to figure this out on my own and finally asked an eye doctor about it. Once I started asking clients to notice eye changes in a loved one, I heard many stories of how dysphoric mania turned the eyes “black.” We focus these sparkling eyes on our unsuspecting prey and they are lost! Clue #2 Darker Eyes in Dysphoric Mania How we look at people is a big part of this. We all know how easy it is to get a relationship when you’re euphoric. I have seen what look like silver, shimmering flicks in the whites of my eyes when euphoric. Believe it or not, this is often physically true as well. We “sparkle”! When I look in the mirror during a euphoric manic episode, I’m entranced with my face. Clue #1 Sparkling Eyes in Euphoric ManiaĮuphoric mania often creates a shimmering quality to the liquid in the eyes. This is why looking for physical clues is a good first step if you’re trying to figure out whether someone is manic. If mania makes us lie to ourselves, think of how great we can be when lying to the people who want to help us! I will say and do anything to make you believe me: “I’m just finally better! Do you want me to stay depressed! This is the real me! Get off my back!” I can tell you for a fact that when I’m manic, I want to make you think I’m not. It’s important to remember that mania is devious. Here are three clues you can use to recognize mania in yourself, in a loved one, or in a client. I don’t see the big picture and my worldview narrows. (I swear I see in black-and-white when severely depressed.) Conversely, dysphoric mania narrows my vision, and I squint and look angry around the eyes. The world is in technicolor when I’m manic. My vision changes profoundly with euphoric mania-colors become very vivid and start to move around. Once you start looking for mania in the eyes, you can spot a person’s mania (or your own) often way before other manic symptoms become more pronounced. It’s all in the eyes! Mania profoundly affects the entire eye-from lids and lashes to pupils and color rings. The hallmark of mania is not sleeping and not being tired the next day. Dysphoric mania is an energized bad mood. (Dysphoric mania is also called “mixed mania.”) In really simple terms, euphoric mania is an energized good mood. There are two types of mania: euphoric and dysphoric. Bipolar II, which is what I have, only has hypomania, but let me tell you: Hypomania can be very, very intense. Bipolar I has hypomania and full-blown mania. There are two levels of mania in bipolar disorder. The first step is to understand the basics of mania. Once I figured out my own pattern, I created three clues to help family members and health care professionals spot mania in a person with bipolar disorder, simply by observing the eyes. I thought my face changed depending on my mood, but until I actually took pictures, I wasn’t sure how much it changed. I started charting my facial changes during mood swings over ten years ago. I’m depressed in one and hypomanic in the other. The above pictures were taken in the same year. Tracking Facial Changes during Mood Swings But mania! Oh, mania! It can look like happiness! Or rage! Or someone finally coming out of a depression and feeling real again! Mania is tricky. Depression shows on our faces like a book cover. It’s easy to see depression-at least the kind of depression we associate with slumped shoulders, feeling “dead” inside, and crying. Physical Signs of Bipolar Depression & Mania These cutting-edge connections and questions have inspired new-and ongoing-scientific studies. Fast, pictured above, discovered correlations between changes in her eyes and mania, then brought her findings to the attention of the bipolar and research communities. It’s all in the eyes! Mania profoundly affects the entire eye, from lids and lashes to pupils and color rings.

Soulless eyes pictures