there are many forms of bipolar disorder. i don't know how many. i have bipolar 1 disorder with psychotic features. i tend to get manic and land myself in a psychiatric hospital when i am un-medicated. the bipolar aspect of my disorder: mood swings severe emotional highs and lows and occasional rapid cycling between feeling really good and really bad don't get me hospitalized or into any kind of legal trouble. the psychotic features of my brand of bipolar disorder have gotten me into lots of trouble. it is hard to behave in a way that makes sense when your mind doesn't. auditory hallucinations can be very confusing. visual hallucinations can be terrifying. i have never become manic and not become psychotic and a danger to myself or others. when a person is judged to be a danger to them self or others by a mental health crisis team they get institutionalized and held against their will in an inpatient psychiatric facility until they are no longer a threat to themselves or others. fortunately i only become psychotic when i am manic and mood stabilizers take care of that for me. it is unfortunate that i can't enjoy the euphoric feeling of being manic without becoming psychotic and then becoming a danger to myself or others. i am really missing out. being manic feels really good. alienating others and sometimes getting arrested does not feel good. in-patient psychiatric facilities are annoying places to live in but at least they are tolerable and know how to treat my mental illness quickly and efficiently by getting me back on my medication. my longest psychiatric hospitalization lasted 2 months. i generally only have to be hospitalized for about a week when i stop taking my medication and become manic/psychotic. i have been hospitalized for psychiatric reasons more than 2 dozen times. when a patient is ready for release is up to the staff not the patient at a psychiatric facility. i take lithium every day. lithium is a mood stabilizer. when stabilizing in a psychiatric ward or hospital other medications are also necessary in order to make me sane again. i have to take one of the following anti-psychotic medications to stabilize my sanity during a manic/psychotic episode: risperadol prolixin or thorazine. i have tried many more psychiatric medications before but these ones work for me. i don't like taking anti-psychotic medications because they have many unpleasant long term and short term side effects. fortunately i only have to take anti-psychotic medications while i am stabilizing and not to maintain stability. i don't mind lithium that much. i do have to take lithium or another mood stabilizing medication every day in order to maintain stability. i have met many other people with bipolar disorder before and there are many different kinds. i have met many other patients that have had other forms of it while i've been inside psychiatric facilities. i can't remember the names of any other forms of bipolar disorder but i do know a lot about mine.
how many bipolar disorders are there. because i'm studying on did which is one of them but i heard there was more?