Bipolar grandiosity is a symptom of mania, hypomania and mixed episodes in manic depression. In the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (DSM IV), bipolar grandiosity is used in combination with several other symptoms to confirm a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. This symptom also occurs in children with childhood onset bipolar disorder (COBPD).
Roget's II: Thesaurus defines grandiosity as "boastful self-importance or display" and offers the words "ostentation," "pomposity" and "pretension" to further illustrate this definition. In short, it is an exaggerated sense of one's importance, power, knowledge or identity. Bipolar grandiosity often has religious overtones. The term "grandiosity" is used to describe the larger-than-life feelings of superiority often experienced by those in a manic episode.
Examples of Bipolar Grandiosity
My experience with feelings of grandiosity mostly include a sense of having to "do it all myself." I don't feel that I can let others complete certain tasks, regardless of their ability, because they either won't do it fast enough, as well as, or exactly the way I want it done.
One perfectly ridiculous example is folding towels. No one else in my house will dare fold the towels because I want them folded in exactly the correct manner. They MUST be folded in half length-wise, then again; then folded in thirds on the horizontal. I want them that way because that is how they fit best in the linen closet. If anyone else folds them differently, I fly off the handle!
from Nightgirl on our Bipolar Disorder Forum
I am a committed mother and wife. Yet I found myself embroiled in an affair that I thought was the equal to Abelard and Heloise, Lancelot and Guinevere ... I'm so embarrassed and ashamed of myself now.
I am a reasonably good writer and poet ... I thought I was an amazingly talented poet and writer. I composed music, wrote songs, wrote poems, etc. I thought I could do ANYTHING.
I thought God was talking to me in visions. I felt I had a special connection to the universe. I thought maybe I was becoming a Buddha.
from Pendulumgirl on our Bipolar Disorder Forum
