How Bipolar Disorder Affects The Lives Of Those With It

“Bipolar disorder, also commonly known as manic depression, is defined as a serious mental illness in which common emotions become intensely and often unpredictably magnified. Individuals with bipolar disorder can quickly alternate from extremes of happiness, energy and clarity to sadness, fatigue and confusion. All people with bipolar disorder have manic episodes abnormally elevated or irritable moods that last at least a week and impair functioning. But not all become depressed ” (American Psychological Association, 2015). Bipolar disorder can vary in each individual. The symptoms fluctuate in pattern, severity and rate of recurrence. Some people are more susceptible to either mania or depression, while others change proportionately between the two types of episodes. Some have frequent mood disruptions, while others live through a few throughout their lifetime.

In pop culture Bipolar Disorder is described as someone quickly switching emotions. The term gets flown around easily without evidence of the alleged diagnosis. This publication changed my perspective on mental illness due to always hearing society's opinion on the phrase. Kay’s experience shows an individual who suffered tremendously behind doors that no one else could relate to, having episodes last days to months not switching every minute like society's stereotypes. It is obvious that there is not control and while medication helps, there is a significant consequence when missing treatment. Additionally, material learned within this book can help fundamentally determine someone suffering this illness. For example, if someone has manic highs and lows that force them to change their daily lifestyle for a period of time and developes changing impulsive decisions there could be an underlying illness. Even though there are few details that can fall into the category of Bipolar, it is still rare and unless diagnosed by a doctor one should never jump to conclusions about another

Watching this case study taught me how people try to deal with having bipolar disorders and how it works or does not work. For me, it was shocking how much it takes for someone to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder and the fact that only half of all who suffers from bipolar disorder are actually diagnosed. Another thing that I found interesting was the fact that biological factors are hard to find when it comes to bipolar disorder, leaving it hard to diagnose bipolar disorder. Nevertheless, bipolar disorder is hereditable, and having bipolar disorder means that someone in your family had it before you. Additionally I found it odd that only 20 percent of those who suffers from bipolar disorder manage to live stabile and full functioning lives. The reason why I find this strange is due to the fact that I know someone who suffers from bipolar disorder who is fully functioning. The case study also taught me that the stigma in mental health is much worse for the people suffering from mental health issues than I expected. I believe a case study like this one is good for the stigma and hopefully it will help people admit to themselves that they suffer from a mental health illness. The last

Mental illness has plagued human kind for as long as we have been on this earth. The science of psychology has made great strides in past century. The stigma of being mentally ill has begun to fall away and people are finally starting to get the help that they need to recover. Bipolar disorder is one illness that we have come to more fully understand. Through assistance from a psychiatrist, family and medication a patient with bipolar disorder can enter remission and live a normal life.

This source gives the readers an in-depth overview of Bipolar Disorder and the causes of having the mental health issue. There’s a great distinction between the ups and downs people experience and bipolar disorder. Due to the ups and downs teens and children experience, bipolar disorder is hard to diagnose during those early years. The National Center of Biotechnology Information’s research program is run by Senior Investigators, Tenure Track Investigators, Staff Scientists, and Postdoctoral Fellows which makes the source credible. The source contained

Bipolar disorder has been gaining more and more attention over the last few years. With shootings on the rise, or at least the publicity of them, people are often pointing their fingers at mental diseases including bipolar disorder. An ongoing issue regarding mental illnesses, however, is the population has failed to fully understand what they truly are, the symptoms, and how to treat them.

My bipolar started out as a crippling depression, causing me to lose enjoyment in life, begin to self-harm, and have thoughts of suicide. This was a dark time for me, and since I was young, I did not quite understand what was going on and had no

Bipolar Disorder or manic-depressive disorder is a disorder characterized by highs, manias, and lows, depressions, and can therefore be easily distinguished from unipolar depression, a major depressive disorder in DSM-5, by the presence of manic or hypomanic episodes (Miklowitz & Gitlin, 2014). Bipolar disorder is generally an episodic, lifelong illness with a variable course (American Psychiatric Association, 2010). There are two classifications of bipolar disorder; bipolar I disorder and bipolar II disorder. If the episodes are primarily manic but there has been at least one depressive episode, the diagnosis is bipolar I disorder (Early, 2009). If the episodes are primarily depressed but there has been at least one episode of hypomania, increased mood that is more euphoric than normal but not quite manic, the diagnosis is bipolar II disorder (Early, 2009).

Bipolar disorder is typically a condition that affects people in their late teens and early adulthood. It is usually not thought to affect a child but it is something that, if present at a young age, can seriously affect the way a child grows up. Bipolar disorder affects every aspect of a person’s life and is not as understood as it should be. Researchers are still looking for the cause of this illness and how it can be treated but overall it is a condition that many people are undereducated on and that is something I’m hoping this paper might be able to change for some.

There is a dark stigma surrounding mental illness in general, and bipolar disorder is no exception. According to the Mental Health Commission of Western Australia, a stigma is “a mark of disgrace that sets someone apart.” Bipolar disorder is incredibly misunderstood by society at large, which leads to this stigma, prejudice, and discrimination. In everyday conversation, the word “bipolar” is frequently used to describe how someone is feeling at that moment. If a person is sad one moment and

This was reported in 2005 and has not been updated by the NIH since. Mental disabilities has exponentially risen since 2005 due to more information and research giving better insight, but yet have we discovered the correct approach to diagnosing and treatment. Because of this increase in bipolar disorder I chose to report on an article related to the understanding and treatment of bipolar disorder. The article, What is it like to be diagnosed with bipolar illness, borderline personality disorder or another diagnosis with mood instability, gives recognition to the fact that there are many people who have this bipolar disorder and they have expectations of being acknowledged and listened to. The article hypothesis is seeing if it is worthwhile looking into a different approach towards diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorders. It wonders if it would make a difference for these patients and their

Before I truly understood Bipolar disorder, it was still a fairly common word in my vocabulary. Anytime I thought someone was being moody or fluctuating between emotions, I joked by claiming that person to be bipolar. Several incidents of this involved one of my roommates who seemed to be happy one day, and quite the polar opposite the next. However, it was not until my clinical experience on the psychiatric unit that I realized what true bipolar disorder was, and that she did not fit the criteria. Even though I always thought my roommate was bipolar, I quickly found after being exposed to a diagnosed bipolar patient that my roommate was instead just moody. I decided to write this paper on bipolar disorder, not because I have struggle with it or know a friend or family member with this disease, but because I had several misconceptions about what it entailed.

The risk of suicide among persons afflicted with bipolar illness is unrealistically high. As many as 1 in 5 people with this disorder have committed suicide. This rate is nearly 30 times greater than that of the general population. Research suggests that people who commit

The three sources that I researched mostly agreed with my hypothesis that most people who suffer from bipolar feel different/isolated from others. They often struggle trying to make daily life decisions and work out what the “normal thing to do is”. (Margarita Tartakovsky, 2016, page 1). This quote from Margarita shows me that bipolar patients are different to others, and often find it difficult to act a certain type of way which to others seems