Many of these teens who have bipolar disorder may also be psyvamps.  Psyvamps tend to have very high emotions.  One is often anger, for we also feel the drive of -- for lack a better word -- the "beast".  Because of our empathy (the ability to sense emotions in another person or large group of people), our emotions and those of others within stressful situations, tend to set us on an emotional edge where we may feel overly grieved and may seem abnormally depressed to outsiders who don't know what we are feeling.  We look like normal people -- how can they tell?  In no way shape or form can anyone who's not sensitive to the supernatural understand what we are feeling.  And sometimes, doctors would diagnose some of us as bipolar; some psyvamps may be bipolar, but much of the time it is that our empathy of others and ourselves intensifies our emotions.  We may be very abnormally violent, or we may be abnormally stressed, depressed or withdrawn, or abnormally calm or quiet, where we may seem like someone who is bipolar.

Bipolar disorder, as my mom explains it, is when you have racing thoughts, stress, worry ("how am I going to pay my bills, buy food, etc.?"), and you worry yourself into a hyper-sensitive frenzy.  On the flip side, you tend to get very depressed, or very violent, or you cry for days at a time, and you won't eat, etc.; you also have anxiety attacks where it feels like you're going to die, and you may even believe mentally that you're dying.  With psychic vampyres, however, we have such a tight grip on the mind that bipolar disorder would not fit most of us -- some of us yes, but not all of us.  Almost every teenager and young adult who's had a rough life is a troubled youth in today's society, so it's a common setting for bipolar disorder.  But often, what we feel is viewed by others as a behavior disorder, and that's not true, because they don't understand what we are feeling, and there is no way we can explain without sounding more crazy.

~LadyChrys~

Feedback:

Editor's Note: Sangpoursang disagrees, saying, "Stressed teens who have been abused certainly have the right to have a lot of emotional baggage, but stress and abuse do not cause bi-polar manic-depression.  Lots of older adults can and do have depression, and not necessarily bi-polar disorder.  Bi-polar manic-depression has a whole lot more to do with the neuro-transmitting chemicals in the brain, than it has to do with age, situation, or stress; and it is not age exclusive."

Anonymous:  "Been on this roller coaster all my life, and I believe the point made that being a psivamp could be mistaken as bi-polar (or the reverse) is valid.

"In my life there's been no abuse, (as was suggested).  I was just a basic normal (loner) teen (as normal as Hollyweird allows) and over the years I've learned to recognize my wild 'mood-swings'.  (Depression is obvious -- but manic can be a bitch!  When you feel that good you don't always realize you have limits.)  As a psivamp/empath, my bi-polar mood swings often play into my desire to feed when my emotional scales tip too far either direction, and I can/do use my psi-feeding abilities to somewhat level myself out.  Still, I've been paying attention to my 'cycling' for years and I've concluded that, at least in my case, being psi and being bi-polar are two separate conditions.

"I've observed that hitting an energy low will often cause me to feel depressed, yet I can be depressed even when well fed.  Same with manic.  While I tend to need to psi-feed if I remain manic for too long, I think it's more from the physical exhaustion that accompanies 'manic' than from the actual mental stress.  Riding a mountain bike can have the same effect on me."

Cliff:  "Empathy in general produces symptoms similar to bipolar disorder.  It's not surprising that psyvamps would show such symptoms, because (for myself at least) empathy is an integral part of the abilities in general.  Particularly before it is well controlled, empathy produces feelings that one can easily mistake for their own, meaning that they may not even recognize it as an external influence and may consider -themselves- bipolar."

Ronin:  "Most bi-polar people are also on drugs like CPZ (chlorpromazine), also known under brand names as Largactil, Chlorpromanyl, and Novo-chlorpromazine, which has a chemical effect on them of making them burn quickly and easily in sunlight.  Hence, vampire-like symptoms.  It does not mean they are vampires."

[Sanguinarius addendum:  "Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depressive illness, is a common illness characterised by recurrent episodes of mania and major depression. An affected person’s mood can swing from excessive highs (mania) to profound hopelessness (depression), usually with periods of normal mood in between. Some individuals may exhibit mixed symptoms of both mania and depression at the same time, while others may have more moderate symptoms of mania (hypomania)." -- from What is Bipolar Disorder?

It's not for me to say whether psyvamps do or do not have bipolar disorder, but I highly suggest that before you decide that you DON'T have it, you please go and get checked out. It is quite treatable, and is nothing to be ashamed of.  If left untreated, it can get worse.

For more information, please check out the following:

What Is Bipolar Disorder?

Mental Health Net -- Bipolar Disorder Symptoms

Bipolar