How Going Through Adolescence and Being Bipolar DiffersCecily: Hi, Im Cecily, Im a social worker. My question is this, Id like to know how do you tell the difference when an adolescent between the ages of 12 and 18 are going through normal hormonal changes and when theyre exhibiting signs of bipolar disorder.John Walkup: Cecily, theres a big difference between a child whos going through a normal adolescence and a child with bipolar disorder. The vast majority of teenagers would go to adolescence even with surging hormones actually dont have serious or significant mental health or behavior or problems. Children with bipolar disorder on the other hand or teenagers with bipolar disorder they have core symptoms that make them very different than your average teenager. First of all, they have a prominent disturbance in their mood so they have grandiosity, euphoria and marked in severe irritability.In addition to that children with bipolar disorder often dont sleep or dont need to sleep. They get involved in goal directed activities that are often times inappropriate. And they have marked disturbances in their personal relationships due to their mood disorders. Those kinds of problems are decidedly and distinctively different from what you see in an average teenager going through puberty and moving into young adulthood.