My dad is a very accomplished business man with a loving wife and three children, including myself. The problem however is he seems to have lots of mood swings. For example, we will be sitting at the dinner table and I will try to get a dinner roll and I'll be trying to get it to the stuck pan and he'll just go from smiling to upset about how "every night everyone always tries to grab the rolls first and divide them up and how yadda yadda yadda" he just goes on and on and says how he's right. My mom sometimes sticks up for herself but he gets upset and yells more, so my siblings, my mom, and I all roll are eyes at each other. Then like a few minutes later someone will say something and he'll be laughing and smiling and having fun with the rest of the family like nothing happened. I don't know if he's taking the "stress" from work out on us or what.
I suspect his father abused him, but no one's ever flat out told me, and I will never know, being my grandfather is dead. I know my dad is not abusive physically, maybe a tab verbal. But i really think he's bipolar. I have done a little research on it but nothing has been really clear about "symptoms." My little younger cousin was just recently diagonised with bipolar disorder. No one else in my family has, but I wouldn't be surpirsed if some of my other relatives on his side were. I do have to say on a funnier note, my uncle (of the bipolar cousin) thought she was possessed before they took her to a doctor, so maybe that give you a little more of an idea of my crazy family. Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone could give me a little synopsis of bipolar disorder in terms I will be able to understand. And anything else would be great too! Thanks

It sounds to me like your dad might be having some problems, but this definetly isn't bipolar disorder. How old is your little cousin? I'm curious, as alot of the time bipolar disorder can't be diagnosed 'til the teenage/young adult years. The thing with bipolar disorder is that it's not constant moodswings, they last from 2 weeks to 6 months. That's how it's easier to tell if it's bipolar disorder or not. Second, it's two extreme moods: depression and mania. In depression the inflicted doesn't eat, is constantly sleeping, and has very little energy. In mania, they have high energy levels, rarely sleep, and have a tendency to spend large sums of money as my mother did. The general resource of my knowledge comes from my mother who is bipolar. But if your dad's moodswings are that sudden then and of that nature he doesn't have bipolar disorder.