I'm not a doctor but I have suffered from this disorder myself every since I was a little girl. It took me a long time to be able to diagnose myself but now that I have, it has helped me to understand more about myself and why I am the way I am. For one, I also love to isolate myself, main reason is because when I am extremely hyper and talkative (hypo manic) many people can't even understand me because I talk to rapidly or my thoughts change very rapidly. One minute I can be talking about something and the next minute I can chagne the entire subject matter. I have to say that the easiest time to deal with me is when I am hypo manic with positive feelings. I might be happy about something and tend to talk about it and drive everybody crazy. But no negative behavior. Yet even this can cause trouble. If I am in a good mood and somebody kills my good mood I tend to explode with anger. I can cause a big scene when I am having a manic episode. Sometimes it gets so bad that I don't even realize what I am saying. After about an hour I would calm down. It's after this that I hit rock bottom and go into a full blown depression. The depression could last for days or months, depends on how bad it is. I always felt that I was a difficult person to deal with and consciouslly chose to isolate myself because it's more piecefull. I am sure your sister knows that her behavior might bother you that is why she chooses to isolate herself (im guessing). Guilt might be another reason. I have done a lot of research on bipolar disorder. One, doctors can't help. The only way doctors can help is by drugging you up with heavy medications. I recommend that you do the research and try to help her yourself. Don't let her isolate herself too much because if she is in depression, the isolation might make it worse. Another this is that you have to take a look at your sisters history as a child. Buipolar disorder can be both genetic and environment. Let's say a child has a gene for bipolar disorder and that child grows up always crying and miserable or in fear that child's chances of developing this disorder might would be higher than, let's say, a child who does not grow up in this state. A child's brain reacts to its environmental stimuli and if that stimuli creates fear than that child's brain will produce cortisol. And the more a child is exposed to that stimuli then the child's brain will start producing cortisol frequently. As the body and brain evolve so does the brain's ability to cope with experiences. If you constantly put somebody in fear throughout their lives then their brain might develop that habit of producing a lot of cortisol. As the mind ages it's ability to deal with emotions becomes more difficult. So I would say to take a loot into your sisters history. Another advice I want to suggest is that don't give up on her because most of the time it is out of her control. I suggest meditation. If she likes to isolate herself than suggest that she meditate. Surprisingly, it helps. Good luck!

I'm wondering if anyone, professional or otherwise, has suggested to her that she is bipolar. Would it be wise for me to approach her about her being bipolar? I would appreciate your feedback.

Thank you.