First of all I have to ask who the "man" is trying to convince (medical professionals or just the people whom he is trying to manipulate) and why he is trying to manipulate them - what is he trying to gain. Perhapse he truley is psychologically/emotionally disturbed, just not with Bipolar (could be BPD - Manipulation is a major feature of this disorder and also with major mood swings)? I don't know whether someone can fake Bipolar Disorder(manic depression) as I AM NOT A DR. (and by the way think its absurd for anyone else who IS NOT A DR. to make any "diagnosis" WITH SUCH CERTAINTLY. Unless you are a medical professional you really can't say for sure, even if you are certified its difficult to tell). However I do know that anyone who would "fake" Bipolar or any other illness to manipulate someone has serious psychological problems and issues. Regardless of whether the person in question is or isn't suffering from some clinical illness, the people around the person do not deserved to be victimized or abused, and for the sake of both parties there has to be some sort of intervention and some resolution. I personally don't think that its impossiblity to fake it, though you'd have to be exceptionally skilled in a # of different areas to pull this off. What you really need to do is ASK A PROFESSIONAL and get a second opinion as well cause Dr.s aren't infallabile even though some might think they know exactly what they are dealing with. Well, thats just my (very long) opinion, I hope you get it all sorted out and Good Luck to you.

oh, for the post 174 days ago, the 3 family members faking bipolar disorder have severly abused everyone around them, especially me. i was ALWAYS their focal point of all abuse from them. so, why are THEY the ones pretending to be bipolar and i am the one who moved away and have no contact with them or their children? because they are manipulative enough to fool doctors into diagnosing them and prescribe DRUGS, they lie to the cops to get out of trouble very well and the courts don't care about victims in these situations as long as they don't have to deal with them. they (the family) should have put all of this energy into earning a degree.

i have 3 immediate family members who are manipulative enough to pretend they are bipolar. i know for a fact that this is just a ploy so they do not have to be held accountable for their actions. they are also trying to collect "crazy checks' (social security) this way because they are too lazy and sorry to work.

I don't care how much you read about bipolar, you don't know what it's like til you have it. You cannot fake something like that, when someone is actually planning on killing or hurting themselves it's different then someone faking it. It would be the same thing as someone learning everything about heart disease and suddenly having it. Not possible. People with bipolar have abnormalities in their brain that shows up on certain tests. If someone is "faking" you just do not know enough about it to be fooled by it.

You have no idea. To fake bi-polar is pretty much impossible. You need to try to understand the disorder more... It would be easier to fake complete insanity

It is possible to fake anything intangible but it would take so much work and you would have to fake it for the rest of your life. A good therapist would see through a fake very quickly. Read up on the disease, I mean really read up on it and you'll see how tough it would be to fake true bipolar disorder. As a matter of interest, diagnosis often takes years. Neither you nor anyone else on this forum is qualified to make such judgements. Unless you have the relevant training and can consult with the person. It is comments like these that only add to an already stigmatised disease. Just because you can't see physical signs of the disorder does not make it any less real than say cancer. If you had it you'd realise it is very real. Stigma is the reason people with this disorder don't seek treatment and becoming a statistic.

ABSOLUTELY!!! My sibling is faking it. He is blaming all the bad things he did on bipolar disorder when he is actually to blame for everything he did.

I would imagine it would be quite easy to fake most non physical disorders simply by reading up on the symptoms. Always wondered why M.E for eg was mostly suffered by people who hated their jobs ;o) Depression is a real illness though and as the previous person said, there are usually family or personal issues involved there.

I think it is possible to fake bipolar

Yes! It absolutely IS possible to fake bipolar! And I know people who do it! ON THE OTHER HAND, it is also possible to overcome bipolar without all those ridiculous drugs and their horrible side effects. I've done it myself. I've been diagnosed manic depressive twice (last time was about three years ago - the last time I went to a psychiatrist, in fact!). Bipolar and manic depressive aren't always properly diagnosed, and they don't always have to be manipulated with drugs. Sometimes depression is a natural state of a poor life and poor choices or bad things that happen to us. Ask yourself this, if bipolar is always physical, then why is it that children as young as three and four who are diagnosed bipolar have ALWAYS been put in horrible situations by parents, siblings, etc.? Wouldn't they be bipolar NATURALLY, WITHOUT having had hideous things happen to them? I've worked in behavioral health offices, and I'm telling you the children with so-called bipolar have ALWAYS been put in hideous situations by others - a parent with a drug problem, molestation, etc. Bipolar is a lie. I know. I've lived it.