Is this normal behavior for a bipolar person?
My friend "Amy" is bipolar. I've been friends with her for about ten years. I know she is bipolar because she has told me herself, several times. She displays the classic "depression" and "mania" symptoms.
But, she also displays other weird behaviors, and I cannot find information on whether or not they are normal for a bipolar person. I'll list a few examples of the odd behaviors she's displayed over the ten years I've known her...
(Note: these instances take place between high school graduation and being in our mid-twenties.)
* She once went through a phase where she was irrationally afraid to use the city bus, because the people who rode it were "too scary." This being in a small, peaceful, midwest town, where the "worst" people you'd meet on the bus are maybe a smelly guy who hits on you, and a disabled person who makes you uncomfortable. (At this point, neither me nor "Amy" could drive, so her refusal to use the bus caused extra havoc when we tried to plan outings together.)
* She once wore an obvious, fake-looking wig for a few months, to hide a "bad haircut." The haircut was perfectly normal looking, chin-length, but she decided it made her "look like a boy." Her co-workers asked her why she was wearing a fake looking wig, and she explained to them that she HAD to. The wig slowed her down when crossing streets and walking, as it was liable to fall off, and she often wore a hoodie over it. It seemed like she was trying to be incognito, for some reason. It was overall very odd.
* At least one time we were walking down the street, and she saw an ex-boyfriend and quickly said "We can cross here!" and tried to J-walk across the street, without looking for cars.
* She went through a phase where she was calling me on the phone EVERY SINGLE DAY, to talk about NOTHING. When I told her I couldn't talk, she always asked "Are you mad at me?"
* Most recently she's been addicted to texting. A few months ago I got a phone with a texting plan and she began spamming my phone DAILY with texts. (We are both in our mid-twenties at this point.) I told her four or five times that I could not and would not text daily and she would act super-offended. Then when I apologized for sounding harsh, she would take that apology to mean that she can go right back to doing it. It got so bad that I was missing texts from family, because my phone was text-beebping CONSTANTLY. So I had to tell my parents that texting was not a good way to reach me...due SOLELY to this ONE friend.
* I finally lied and said that my family couldn't afford texting except from each other anymore, then blocked her number. Immediately after she went to Face Book and began spamming my Face Book page as she did my phone before.
* Face Book. Years ago, she stopped using it altogether, because of an argument she and another friend had. She almost seemed to have a phobia of Facebook as she did with the bus years before. Now that she is using FaceBook again she is using her roommate's profile instead of her own (despite having TWO of her own profiles). It is overall very bizarre.
* She exaggerates her problems with other people, often making them out to be abusive, leaving out crucial details. (For example, she once claimed that a boyfriend was "emotionally abusive" by calling her a "slut," but failed to mention that she cheated on him.) It is a pattern with her, that a boyfriend or co-worker or roommate who for all the world seemed like a totally normal, nice person was "secretly abusing her."
* She's become VERY immature about "friendship." Recently she declared me her "best friend" (again, we're in our 20s). I told her "You're ONE OF my best friends" (which is true). But lately she's using the "you're my best friend" excuse to guilt-trip me into talking to her every day.
* "Amy" has a toddler daughter, who seems to spend a lot of time living with "Amy's" parents. Trying to find out how often and why this is the case is like pulling teeth.
................Now as I said, this friend is supposedly *bipolar.* The thing is, I have been reading about Borderline Disorder, and it seems to fit a lot of her behaviors. So I am wondering if these behaviors are just common in both disorders, or if it's possible my friend has been misdiagnosed?