I am a student, with a meaningful background and identity. If I did not explain and share my story you would not understand who I am as a person, a student, an athlete, a friend, sibling, or a daughter. Just like any other student I qualify for many titles, but my titles are affected by my identity and background. I am a student diagnosed with a severe mental illness. I have been diagnosed with severe Bipolar disorder, breaks from reality, and a slight multiple personality. I both struggle and thrive with my condition learning how to deal with a mental illness has been difficult. My day to day life is more complicated than the average person. I wake up and sometimes have no idea what type of episode I'll be having. I go through extreme highs and lows witch can last weeks or months each. When experiencing a high or manic episode I can experience disconnected and racing thoughts that overwhelm me. My mind is like a marathon of its own that has a never-ending finish line. I talk in light speed to were people around swear they can hear different languages out of my mouth. Getting little to no sleep for days at a time up all hours of the night till sun rise. Distracted so easily if you are to ask me a simple question I will have you bouncing off topics for half an hour or if I don't cut you off right when I think of something I forget and never remember. My impaired judgment leaves reckless without thinking of consciences acting right on the spot hurting me latter. I experience delusions and hallucinations. My daily activities increase as if I'm super woman tackling the day. Not home for at least week at a time with back to back plans. I over exercise. One time on a manic over the summer of 2016 I would work out for hours upon hours a day still had so much energy after. It lasted about 2 months. I also start cleaning obsessively every little thing has to be perfect. Being on a high is amazing because you feel so good but it sets me back and gets me into trouble with school, work, personal relationships and sometimes puts me in danger. Then on a low or depression cycle I sleep all day as if I'm a bare in hibernation. If I do wake up for work or school I'm like a zombie worn out until I lay in my
These mood episodes include the manic episodes and the depressive episodes. The mood changes of mania include a long period of an overly happy mood and irritability; the behavioral changes are talking quickly, having racing thoughts, being distracted, increasing of activities, being restless, getting little or no sleep, being impulsive, and engaging in high-risk, pleasurable activities or behaviors (NIMH, 2015). The mood changes of the depressive episodes are loss of interest in activities that were once enjoyed and a long period of sadness; the behavioral changes are feeling very tired, having trouble with decision making and problem solving, being irritable, changing normal habits, and negative thinking (NIMH, 2015). Sometimes symptoms from both episodes can be present in a person’s current mood episode. This is called a mixed state. In the mixed state, a person can feel agitated, have a change in eating habits, and have suicidal thoughts; they also feel very hopeless and very energized at the same time (NIMH, 2015). About ten percent of people have at least four mood episodes every year which is called rapid cycling bipolar disorder (Schacter el at.,
“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.
Manic depression, also known as Bipolar Disorder is not your normal up and down mood change; it’s not like what most people experience, getting a little sad and getting over it. Instead it is extreme mood swing that “usually going from EXTREMLY happy to EXTREMLY angry” also include emotional highs and lows such as, depression and mania. Mood changes can happen as little as a few times a year or as often as several times a week; it depends on the person and their environment. At times, you feel very depressed and other times very relate. Bipolar disorder usually starts between the ages of 15 to 19 and rarely starts at the age of 40. When depressed or in a low mood you feel like you 're not happy all the time might even think that it’s not
Several of the mania symptoms include increased energy, restlessness, euphoric mood, extreme irritability, poor concentration, sleeplessness, abuse of drugs, and heightened sense of self-importance. Depressive symptoms include sad mood, hopelessness and pessimism, feeling of helplessness, loss of interest in activities, fatigue, sleeplessness or sleeping too much, change in appetite, thoughts of death or suicide. These two episodes go back and forth between normal moods. Mood episodes with symptoms of both manic and depressive symptoms are called episodes with mixed features. While experiencing a mixed episode, a person’s state of mind contradicts itself while he may feel sad and hopeless but extremely energized at the same time
These symptoms of mania occur with bipolar disorder I. In people with bipolar disorder II, the symptoms
There are two types of bipolar disorder, which are bipolar I and bipolar II. Bipolar I is when a person has had at least one manic episode in their life. Manic refers to a period when a person exhibits an elevated abnormal mood that can be associated with a higher level of energy. As a result this abnormal behavior can drastically disrupt a person’s life. Sometime during this period a person can suffer from episodes of depression that cannot be explained. Bipolar II is similar to bipolar I. The major difference between the disorders is that those that suffer from bipolar II is the moods cycle between high and low over time. An article in WebMD states, “However, in bipolar II disorder, the "up" moods never reach full-blown mania. The less-intense elevated moods in bipolar II disorder are called hypomanic episodes, or hypomania.” (http://www.webmd.com/bipolar-disorder/guide/bipolar-2-disorder) Hypomania is defined as a mild form of mania, marked by elation and hyperactivity.
Experiencing a manic episode causes symptoms of irritation or increased energy that lead to harmful and reckless behavior. Because of the high energy, some may become talkative and change subjects frequently. Having a hard time concentrating on one topic within the conversation between peers. Extreme confidence lead to irrational decision making during the manic episode. Complaining and expressing unfriendly attitude during those conversations. Symptoms of the following can last as long as a week.
Her first onset of symptoms in high school was when she was dealing with the “black and chaotic moods” (35) of her father (Jamison, 1995). At that time she started to notice around sixteen or seventeen, her own ups and downs that mimicked her fathers. Her ups were of little sleep and exhausting to those around her, while her downs as she puts it “became really dark and on the brooding side of life” (35) (Jamison, 1995). Her symptoms meeting the criteria for manic episodes with (1) decreased need for sleep, (2) flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing,
Bipolar disorder can consist of a wide variety of signs and symptoms. Due to the fact that bipolar disorders contain manic episodes and depressive episodes, there are different symptoms for each. According to Grande et al. (2016), during a manic state an individual will often experience an increased motor drive and an amplified mood for at least a one week time frame (p.173). If this were to occur during a hypomanic state, the same symptoms would persist, but for only four days. During a manic or hypomanic episode, there is a possibility for delusions
Behavioral changes experienced in each state vary much too. In the manic state, people talk very rapidly, switch their ideas or thought processes from one to the next, are easily distracted, cannot sleep, act foolishly and engage in gratifying, high-risk behaviors. While in
Steve Bressert states, “Bipolar Disorder is a mental disorder that is characterized by constantly changing moods between depression and mania. The mood swings are significant, and the experiences of the highs of mania and the lows of depression are usually extreme. (Bressert) ” In other words, mood swings, forms of mania, and depression can be intense for a person. A manic episode makes people have extreme happiness and no need for sleep. While a depressive episode makes you have extreme sadness, no energy, and makes you feel hopeless. A person with a bipolar disorder can have three years of normal moods between a manic or depressive episode. Going up and down between strong emotions can make someone feel like they cannot have a normal life. Cycling between emotions can be rapid or happen slowly over time, and it can happen as often as multiple times a week. However, most people experience a high manic episode or a low depressive episode over long periods of times. This does make it hard to lead a regular life. If you have experienced one manic episode, you will most likely have future episodes. Directly before you
Symptoms of bipolar disorders vary for patients. Overall, individuals with bipolar disorder have periods of unusual behaviors, intense emotions, and irregular sleep patterns (NIH, 2016). People with bipolar disorder will go through mood episodes: mania, hypomania, depression, and mixed episodes. In a manic episode, some will feel very energized and excited. To others, they will seem hyper. This can be dangerous because those who have manic episodes sleep very little, make impulse decisions, and can become aggressive towards those who question
Bipolar Disorder used to be known as “manic depression”, because the person experiences depression, normal mood and mania, which is basically the opposite of depression. Symptoms for Bipolar Disorder include feeling great, having a lot of energy, having racing thoughts, little need for sleep, taking fast, having difficulty focusing on tasks and
Traumatic experiences can take a toll on each individual in their own way. Just as any other disorder, a manic episode could occur at any moment causing the person affected to lose their every day way of living. Bipolar I Disorder is, “Episodes of mania that include an ‘abnormally, persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood and persistently increased activity or energy that is present for most of the day, nearly every day, for a period of at least 1 week’” (Scientific American: Psychology/Licht/Hull/Ballantyne/ 2014). This disorder comes with a number of symptoms such as inflated self-esteem, decreased need for sleep, more talkative, flight of ideas, distractibility, increase in goal directed activity, excessive involvement in activities that have high potential for painful consequences, and mood disturbances (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
When experiencing a high or manic episode I can experience disconnected, racing thoughts that overwhelm me. My mind is like a marathon of its own that has a never-ending finish line. I talk in light speed to where people around swear they can hear different languages out of my mouth. Getting little to no sleep for days at a time up all hours of the night till sunrise. Distracted so easily if you are asking me a simple question I will have you bouncing off topics for half an hour. I cut you off right when I get a thought or have something important to say, if not I forget and never remember. My impaired judgment leaves reckless without thinking of consciences