During a manic episode, the individual with bipolar disorder will exhibit moods that are elevated and perhaps irritable, leading to a possible strain on relationships with friends and family. They may have lapses of judgment during these times that attribute more power to the self than is actually there. They may exhibit grandiose behavior and have extreme levels of energy that is put towards goals that are often lofty or even unattainable realistically. In this way, their reasonable levels of functioning are adversely affected by the manic episode.
The individual may have greater self-esteem during these times as well as being more socially aggressive towards people with whom they have relationships. In some individuals, psychosis is possible during manic episodes. They may sleep poorly or perceive that they do not need to sleep adequately. Their ability to logically put ideas together is often adversely affected and they may take risks that are seen to be extreme or ill-advised. During a depressive episode, most of these behaviors are reversed, save for decreased sleep levels, which also affects the relationship of the person with bipolar disorder and makes them perhaps less likely to initialize and maintain relationships.
The individual may also eat less and profess not to have any appetite. Instead of focusing manic energy towards social and other activities, the individual will withdraw from these activities during the depressive episode. They may become apathetic when it comes to making decisions and feel worthless in a general sort of way, and during this time the most mundane of problems often assume mammoth proportions.
During depressive episodes, the bipolar individual may also have an equally unrealistic self-concept as they did during the manic episode, but instead of grandiose thoughts about the self, during depressive episodes the self-concept becomes negative and often unrealistically guilty, leading to isolation from those with whom they are in a relationship. The individual may blame himself/herself for something that is clearly not rationally or reasonably their fault. There may even be suicidal ideation during this episode, which would concern anyone in a relationship with them.